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Practicing Yoga Tapping the Rhythm Inside You

  An ancient discipline dating back more than eight thousand years, Yoga must have something of phenomenal value to have not only survived all this time but seen an incredibly popular and upward swing in the 21st century. The  benefits of Yoga   are well documented and extensively so. In recent years I have begun to look at the practice of yoga from some slightly different perspectives and have found it only makes yoga so much more exciting.  From Stretch to Stability Here are some different angles that would be worth exploring in the practice of yoga: Yoga provides the realization that we don’t know and affords an opportunity to explore what we don’t know! It sounds so simple yet it is so interestingly challenging! The human psyche is very comfortable with well-established labels. Even a little crinkling of the label can cause discomfort. So, inadvertently and unconsciously it seeks to indulge itself in action that will only reinforce what it is familiar and comfort...

Sri Sri Yoga Practice

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  The Sri Sri Yoga is primarily Hatha Yoga, integrated with other paths of yoga for full blossoming of human potential. In the Sri Sri Yoga, wisdom and a combination of gentle yet effective series of asanas/postures and pranayamas are taught for the well-being of the body, while an equal emphasis is placed on techniques for nurturing the mind and spirit. The Sri Sri Yoga brings you back to your natural self, thereby nurturing all the virtues that you are born with.   Content of an Sri Sri Yoga class: In the  Sri Sri Yoga , techniques of yoga are brought to you in a very joyful and thorough manner. Sri Sri Yoga is a blend of the following: Asana (Postures): A series of asanas are taught for the well-being of the body and mind, suitable for different levels of yoga students from beginners to advanced (Hatha Yoga) Pranayama: A series of pranayamas for awakening the Kundalini and regulating the flow of prana energy ( Hatha Yoga , Kundalini Yoga) Meditation: Meditations for fu...

Control How Much, How and What You Eat with Yoga

Are you finding it hard to resist extra helpings of dessert? Do you binge on chips and chocolate when you know you shouldn’t? Start adapting a yogic lifestyle and see: you just might find yourself resisting that gooey cookie. How can yoga help me attain permanent weight loss? There is more than one answer to this question, but one very important aspect is that  yoga  helps you establish a good connection between your body and your mind. There is much more to yoga than just the physical positions, which make you supple and strong. Yoga is also a road to becoming calm and centered in your mind. When your thoughts are still and you, feel connected to your Self and to your stomach it is a lot harder to overeat and stuff yourself with food and drink, which makes you dull and overweight. To eat or not to eat a second helping of chocolate cake? Scientific experiments have shown that people who eat too much often do so because they no longer FEEL that they are overeating. Pe...

Live in the Moment

  Dispassion does not take joy away from you. Dispassion gives you joy that nothing else can give you. There is a verse in Shankaracharya’s composition Bhaja Govindam: Kasya sukham na karoti viragaha?, which means, “What pleasure cannot be given by dispassion?” It gives all the pleasures because you are so totally living n the moment . The so-called dispassion in the world seems so dry. People who think that they are dispassionate are melancholic. They are sad. They run away from the world and then they call this as dispassion and say that they have renounced the world. This is not renunciation. That is not dispassion. People escape out of sorrow, out of misery, out of apathy. And escapists think they are dispassionate. Dispassion is something more precious, refined and more valuable in life. Here is a story. When Alexander the Great left for India, people had told him, “If you find sanyasis there, just catch hold of them and bring them back here. They are very precious in India.” ...

How chanting deepens your yoga practice

  “The purpose of yoga is not only to keep good physical shape but also to experience infinity. Each posture should be done keeping in mind that the goal of the posture is not just the correctness of the posture,but also to experience infinity. This starts happening to you with a little practice.” - Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Yoga is said to be the union of the mind, body, and breath. It’s a state of being when all these three aspects are integrated and put together. Chanting deepens the practice of yoga and elevates the consciousness. It helps to calm the mind. A calm mind is more responsive and acts out of its best potential. 3 forms of chanting The power of chanting has been there in different forms in traditions, cultures, and religions across the world. In his discourse on the  Patanjali Yoga Sutras , Gurudev says,   “When we chant mantras loudly and together in a group, then it is called as Kirtana. When we recite in a normal or medium tone of the voice, then it i...

The Path to Enlightenment

  Yoga is the journey as well as the goal. There are many paths of yoga described in the ancient Indian scriptures. Just as all rivers lead to the ocean, all paths of Yoga lead to Self-realization. Though the journey may begin on any single path of yoga, but for full blossoming and fulfilment an integrated approach is essential. The Srimad Bhagavad Gita is one of the earliest works on yoga to outline four main paths to yoga: Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Gnana Yoga and Ashtanga Yoga. The beauty of Sri Sri Yoga is that it touches on each one of these paths The Path of Karma Yoga “Thy right is to work only, but never with its fruits; let not the fruits of action be thy motive, nor let thy attachment be to inaction. As the ignorant men act from attachment to action, so should the wise act without attachment, wishing the welfare of the world.” As described in the Gita, the path of Karma Yoga refers to performing good actions in a spirit of selflessness and nonattachment; ther...

Om chanting: Clearing obstacles from your path

  Patanjali Yoga Sutras- Knowledge Sheet 23 Remembering the Lord with Om "Tajjapastadartha bhavanam" tad  =  its ;  japaha  =  repetition ;   tad  =  its ;  artha  =  meaning;   bhavanam   =  feeling “When you remember it (the Divine) by repeating the word, the word uttered gives you the feeling of the Divine.” - Patanjali Yoga Sutra #28 This is an important sutra.  Japa  is what? It is a sound that can remind you of that state of feeling. For example, if you say mango, the word mango itself immediately gives you the idea and the feeling of the fruit. If you are fond of mangoes your mouth starts watering. There is an immediate reaction. Say Christmas or Diwali, it automatically generates the feeling of gifts and celebration. So,  tajjapastadartha bhavanam  means, when you say Om you remember the totality of the being that is the very core of this existence, which is free from misery and which ...