The New Masculinity and The New Feminism

The New Masculinity and The New Feminism

On a moonlit night in 1973, I was standing on a rooftop in Madras, thousands of miles from my home in the South Pacific. Having met with my teachers, Krishnamacharya and Desikachar, I was suddenly filled with a sense of wonder. It was sublime: a deep, spontaneous feeling of well-being, bliss, and love. I felt completely nurtured, my whole body fully integrated with everything in the natural world and with everyOne around me...

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Lineage and Yoga Wars

Lineage and Yoga Wars

Recently a storm of protest arose in our community against Kausthub Desikachar, who has taken legal action to copyright the word Vinyoga for his yoga business around the world. Kausthub is the son of T. K. V. Desikachar and grandson of the great Tirumalai Krishnamacharya. You may like to read Leslie Kaminoff’s post on Facebook “I teach Viniyoga… So Sue me.” Here is my response...

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A Soft Message for a Hard Time

A Soft Message for a Hard Time

I recently saw a YouTube video in which the actor Jim Carrey gets really excited about having discovered Eckhart Tolle. It seems that in reading and listening to Tolle, Carrey also had a sudden “wake-up” moment, as Tolle had. He realized that he is consciousness itself, the one who is aware of every “thing,” even of his worries in all their profound insignificance...

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Why Yoga Is neither Physical nor Spiritual Gymnastics

My teacher Mark Whitwell is fond of saying that "Yoga is neither physical nor spiritual gymnastics", and is very passionate about explaining the reasons why this is so. Focusing especially on the popular American brands of (Hatha) Yoga, Mark expounds the principles of practice and methodology of teaching that make Yoga what it really is: A devotional personalized practice and spiritual discipline of pleasure. (...)

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