9 Tips to Practice Yoga at Home

  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...

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...

  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.” ...

  “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...

  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...

  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 ...

  Sitting in a chair may sound very easy and comfortable. But sitting in an imaginary chair might be a little challenging! And this is exactly what we do in Utkatasana or Chair Pose. The literal meaning of Utkatasana is intense posture or powerful posture. ( Utkat =Intense, Powerful;  Asana = Posture/Pose; pronounced as U-t-kat- asana). You need just a little bit of determination to stay longer in the Chair Posture. Make sure you read the contraindications before you start. 9 Steps to Chair Pose / Utkatasana Stand erect with your feet slightly apart. Stretch your hands to the front with palms facing downwards. Do not bend your elbows. Bend the knees and gently push your pelvis down as if you are sitting in an imaginary chair. Be comfortable or at least try to be! To get a better feel of the Chair Pose, imagine reading a newspaper or typing on a laptop as you remain seated. Ensure that you keep your hands parallel to the ground. With awareness, sit straight and lengthen yo...

  Patanjali Yoga Sutras - Knowledge Sheet 12 As you all know, there are three gunas or qualities. They are sattva, rajas and tamas. Three gunas come into our life in cycles. When sattva comes, there is alertness, knowledge, interest and joy in everything. When rajo guna comes, more desires, selfishness, restlessness and sadness arise in us. When tamo guna comes, delusion, attachment, lack of knowledge, lethargy, all this comes. These three come in life, turn by turn. But one who is centered will watch, witness and just move through that very naturally, innocently, without being averse to it. Skill in action is yoga When aversion comes what happens? You are promoting it. Whatever you are averse to, you stay with it and whatever you crave for, you continue to crave for it. You allow the craving to continue. Without craving or aversion, moving through the guna is pure skill and that is yoga. It is said: ‘Yogaha karmasu kaushalam’ - the skill in action is yoga. Yoga itself means skill...

  When somebody is anxious, they are unaware of time, of every moment passing, isn’t it? This is because the whole focus is on the event, on the happening, rather than just on the time. When someone is waiting for the train to come, they are waiting. So the whole focus is on that object rather than on the time. Just a little shift in this, a little tilt in this, is when you are waiting for the doctor or waiting for something else, then you are just waiting for the moment. Are you getting what I am saying? Each moment is in the time. That is yoga. Mind is in the moment, waiting for nothing, but it is waiting. Are you getting this? It adds a different quality to the consciousness. This aspect sharpens the mind, the intellect, and the heart. This is yoga of action. This is the next sutra in Patanjali’s second chapter known as “ Sadhanapada ”. Sadhanapada is a practice on the path. (II Sutra 1)  “ Tapaha swadhya yeshwarapranidhanani kriya yogaha ” Tapaha  =  purification...

  Are you tired from the festive vacation? But did you go on one to get tired? Vacations are going to come in the future too and you are going to get tired again. What is the solution to this never-ending chicken and egg story? Read on… The dancing shoes have danced their way back into the shoe rack. The resolutions are done with, the bags unpacked from the vacation. You are charged up to take the challenges of the New Year, charting down your fresh targets and occasionally glancing at the new calendar for the next long holidays to come. Memories are still fresh from the holiday gone by. But are you? Often, people complain of neck pains, stiff back and sore legs after a long holiday. They take a vacation for a change, for or a break from monotony, to rejuvenate, to pamper their senses, but end up too tired for anything during the last leg of the vacation. Here, we bring you six  good yoga practices  to revive yourself after the festive holiday season.   Nadi Shodhan ...

  “ Sati mule tadvipako j a ty ayur bhogaha ”   (II S u tra 13) sati  =  if existing;  mule  =  root;  tad  =  its;  vip a ko  =  ripening;  j a ti  =  the body into which you are born;  ayuhu  =  life-time;  bhogaha  =  experience “If the  roots of karma are existing , they ripen and result in the body into which you are born and the fruits of the karma are experiences throughout the lifetime.” Patanjali explains more about the genesis, how we gain our birth.  Jati  means in which body you are coming,  where you are born. You are born as a chicken, monkey, human male or female. Your birth is determined. The length of your life is determined. What you will get in your life, your enjoyment, the miseries, are also determined. Why is someone born in Ethiopia and someone else born in Switzerland? Is there any explanation? Patanjali has. He gives an insight into i...