You wave your ice cream cone in front of your friend’s face when you know she is on a diet…and it falls flat on the ground.
You notice that the tire that needed constant filling with air—and which you ignored—is now flat just as you are heading out the door to attend a special event. You won’t make it there in time, now.
You try to keep up with the flexible person next to you in yoga class, and wake up the next morning with a sore back and neck.
The eight limbs of yoga first appeared in ancient yoga writings, called the Patanjali's Yoga sutras. The Yoga Sutras offer an intention for living that is still relevant today. The word sutras means to thread or weave. When practiced with attention and presence they refine and stabilize every aspect of our lives.
For what are we living? What is the purpose of life? How does one live out life goals?
We have come to understand that yoga is present in every living, breathing moment. It is a body of knowledge, a practice, and a way of life. It dwells in many aspects of our daily existence—how we see the world, the words we use, the ways we relate, the choices we make, and ultimately how we move and act to shape our experience. Its presence is subtle and permeating. As we begin to understand the greater framework of yoga, we can look to the Yamas and Niyamas.
Hari Krishna Hari Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hari Hari
Hari Ram Hari Ram
Ram Ram Hari Hari
We have come to understand that yoga is present in every living, breathing moment. It is a body of knowledge, a practice and a way of life. It dwells in many aspects of our daily existence: how we see the world, the words we use, the ways we relate, the choices we make, and ultimately how we move and act to shape our experience. Its presence is subtle and permeating. As we begin to understand the greater framework of yoga, we can look to the Yamas and Niyamas.
On first glance, this principle may seem straightforward. From a young age, we are encouraged to share rather than take. We witnessed shoplifters get caught, burglars go to jail, and infidelity break marriages. The action of stealing is evident. Yet the subtler forms of stealing through intent and thought are often hidden in our habits, so deep that they are disguised. Asteya is the third Yama or self-restraint of Patanjali’s Yamas and Niyamas.
I feel I have always been a tantrika by nature. I often imagine lifetimes where I must have danced in the ancient temples of India with other women who remembered this Divine truth. How we, as the tantrikas, must have been the souls to which one turned when they were unable to contact the holy within them—whether out of guilt, shame, or fear from what horrors or traumas they had experienced.
While it may seem very straightforward, the question “What is yoga?” is in fact rather complex to answer. Fewer things have more misconceptions than yoga does.