Padma = “lotus” Mudra = “gesture, seal” Padma Mudra = “lotus flower gesture,” “lotus seal” How to do it: Bring your palms together in front of your heart. Softly open your index fingers, middle fingers, ring fingers, and center of…
Ganesha Mudra
Mudra = “seal,” “gesture” Ganesha is “the remover of obstacles,” and “lord of new beginnings” Ganesha Mudra = “Remover of Obstacles Gesture” How to do it: Place your left hand, palm facing outward and thumb down,…
How I Became a Warrior (by Jeff Foster)
Once, I ran from fear so fear controlled me. Until I learned to hold fear like a newborn. Listen to it, but not give in. Honour it, but not worship it. Fear could not stop me anymore. I walked with…
Sama Vritti Pranayama
Sama Vritti means “equal movement or equal breathing.” Pranayama is the practice of expanding our prana, our vital life force or vital life energy, through various breathing practices. In sama vritti pranayama, we work to find equal rhythm between…
Abhaya Hrdaya Mudra
Abhaya hrdaya mudra is the “fearless heart mudra.” Abhaya means “fearless.” Hrdaya means “heart, essence, core, center” of something. Mudra means “gesture or seal.” I like to think of mudras as energy circuits. When we work with mudras, the gestures…
Open to the Flow
I’m feeling some resistance to write on this topic, which, as you’ll see, is pretty ironic. It feels big, it feels confusing, mostly, it feels sticky. But, in my own experience, the actual implementing of this practice has only felt…
Luminous Beings
“For my ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is. Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter…” –Yoda (The Empire Strikes Back) This is…
Dive into the Dark
Negative connotations often surround the idea of darkness. The ideas of moving into or towards the darkness often hold evil or “bad” associations. The dark is often thought of as a place to be feared. There is, however, a very…
Forgetting and Remembering
This is the story of how we begin to remember –Paul Simon, “Under African Skies” And that is a story of yoga. So many of the myths, stories, and teachings of yoga center around the theme of forgetting and remembering,…
AND
The word yoga translates as “union” or “yoke.” In our practices, we are often working to bring into union, balance, and harmony oppositional actions and energies. One of the teachings we learn from Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras is the idea of…