The five basic obstacles below we will recognize through the variety of spiritual traditions. Kleshas are the familiar stories, emotions, self-images, beliefs, and patterns that keep us identified with an idea of who we are which is not who we are.  Through the practices of self-observation and self-inquiry, we can gradually increase our sense of self-understanding....Continue Reading

The nature of practice refers to any skill we want to learn, from how we treat our family members to developing a unique talent to the work we do in the world.  The Yoga practice is much like cultivating a garden. That which we’re attending to will grow with steady attention. Steady improvement comes from...Continue Reading

Child’s pose. Assuming the attitude of a child often frees us from the need to know everything. We are each individual eco systems, like little terrariums. For sustained well being, we need to understand how to feed and care for our unique selves.  This requires learning to listen. How it feels on the inside always...Continue Reading

The eight limbs of yoga are a constant companion in a life-long practice as a student of yoga. Most of the focus of yoga practice in America has been on one of the eight limbs, asana or postures. Without the other limbs, the practice is deprived of its power. Patanjali’s eight limbs of yoga outline...Continue Reading

Practice and All is Coming ~Pattabhi Jois He didn’t say “practice anywhere you want and all is coming.” I’m saying that. For the record. A new teacher training student called this morning. She asked me a question I get asked a lot. She asked if it was ok if she practices at a another local...Continue Reading

Yoga contains a densely rich philosophy that is traditionally recognized as being most successfully transmitted from guru to student. I did not come to yoga from a road out of India. I was raised in Marin County, in Northern California in the sixties and seventies in a place where free love, drug use, and the...Continue Reading

‘Right Thought, Right Speech, Right Action.’ If you attend my classes regularly, this is a phrase that many of us have become accustomed to. I began saying it at the end of every class after hearing one of my teachers say it a number of years ago, but I wanted to know where it came...Continue Reading

When ‘Eat Pray Love’ by Elizabeth Gilbert came out two years ago, it spoke to thousands upon thousands of people, including me. As a result, I conceived yoga retreats to Italy last June and Bali last month while joining my first teacher, Sherri Baptiste’s journey through India last October (www.powerofyoga.com). I have recently concluded my...Continue Reading

Happiness cannot be found Through great effort and willpower, But is already present, In open relaxation And letting go. Don’t strain yourself; “There is nothing to do nor undo. Whatever momentarily arises In the body mind Has no real importance at all, Has little reality whatsoever, Why identify with, and become Attached to it, Passing...Continue Reading

I went to Santa Fe to visit a close friend. She suggested we drive three hours north to Crestone, a ‘town’ perched at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, in Colorado except no town is visible. There are trees and rocks and lovely vistas the occasional dirt path that leads up the mountain to the...Continue Reading