Unravel The Thread: Living the Yoga Sutra today

I hope you find these ideas useful to keep returning to presence without strain, struggle or self-judgment. Peace and health, rubén This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit simpleyoga.substack.com/subscribe

A simple way to establish a connection between our body, our breath and our body. I hope that you enjoy it. Peace and health, rubén This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit simpleyoga.substack.com/subscribe

In SIMPLE YOGA, we understand range of motion as the potential range of healthy movement available, including the minimum as well as the maximum amount of movement. Moreover, because this particular perspective on yoga emphasizes the importance of acting with awareness, the notion of Range of Motion is expanded to mean the totality of potential range of healthy movement that we can consciously do....

Namaste, I hope you have been well, happy, and healthy. This short practice is an invitation to cultivate relaxation. It’s an important skill to master. Relaxation is important for our health, beyond just stress reduction. It is also the basis for meditation. It is a practice that feels good while you are doing it and afterwards. I hope you enjoy this opportunity to recharge. Thank you for practic...

In our busy lives, there never seems to be enough time to pause because there is always something demanding our attention. In addition, our technology seems to invite us to engage with an endless stream of notifications, messages, and updates. It seems that we are training, consciously or unconsciously, to keep our attention jumping from one idea to another, from one task to another. For example,...

Y.O.G.A. As we embark on this journey, it is useful to define what we are doing. There are innumerable definitions of yoga. And there are so many expressions of yoga that it can be confusing to know what a person means when they say they are practicing yoga. One way to interpret Patañjali's definition of yoga in The Yoga Sutra is that yoga is our ability to modulate our ways of being, which includ...

I have been studying, practicing and teaching yoga for over 20 years because it works. For me, yoga is the most complete and effective system for cultivating presence and living a meaningful life. (I am aware that there are other systems out there, but yoga is the one that has worked best for me). Experiencing the benefits of yoga personally is what inspires, motivates and energizes me to dedicate...

Weaving the Yoga Sutra: Health, Summary and application (part 6) How to apply the integral definition of yoga What stimulates your appetites? How do you satisfy your appetites? How do you feel as a result? Is there a balance between your appetites and your elimination?  What are some effective ways to quiet your mind? Are your movements deliberate or are they mechanical?  How do you regulate the i...

Weaving the Yoga Sutra: Health, compassionate interaction (part 5) Can the way I interact with others reflect or influence my health? How do I interact? …With myself? …With the people around me? …With family and friends? …With acquaintances and strangers? …With other sentient beings? …With my surroundings? …With the world at large? Is it possible that offering a disinterested helping hand to other...

Weaving the Yoga Sutra: Health, calm mind, cheerful attitude (part four) Does having a calm mind and a cheerful attitude contribute to your state of health? What is the state of your mind? Is it possible to modulate the state of your mind?  What is your general attitude? Can you modulate your emotions? How does yoga affect your state of mind and attitude? Is there a relationship between a calm min...

Weaving the Yoga Sutra:Health, optimal posture and graceful movement (part 3) How are your posture and movements? What are the reasons we have for practicing yoga postures and movements? Is our optimal posture likely to be influenced by our personal history, context, circumstances, needs and activities? According to the Yoga Sutras there are four components to the practice of yoga postures, includ...

Weaving the Yoga Sutra:  Health, appetites and elimination (part 2) Is it possible to integrate adequate appetites and efficient elimination? What are the appetites that you have at the physical, mental and emotional levels? Are our different types of appetites interrelated? What influences our appetites? Is there a difference between needs and wants? How does our elimination relate to our appetit...

Weaving the Yoga Sutra: What is health? A definition of health and its relation to Patanjali's eight limbs of Yoga How do you define health? How does your definition of health guide you through your daily activities? A comprehensive definition of health that broadens our awareness of health by including the physical, mental, emotional, and social dimensions of our being. Are all aspects of your be...

Weaving the Yoga Sutra: Could this be your best moment? Would you trade places with an earlier you? Is your level of awareness greater than it was before? It may be useful to recognize that right now you are the oldest you have ever been, with more experience and wisdom than you ever had before. At the same time, right now you are the youngest you will ever be. Could this be your best moment? http...

Weaving the Yoga Sutra: Choosing to be happy What is my perspective on the world? And how does it influence my ways of perceiving and being in the world? When I follow my natural tendency to move toward feeling better and away from feeling pain, does my awareness increase? Am I trying to manipulate the world to fit my expectations? Is this making me happy or unhappy? Wanting the world to please ou...

Weaving the Yoga Sutra: A mantra for presence Our words influence our thoughts and perspective. What words do you use frequently? Are those words useful to be present or are they potential distractors?  What happens when we replace our tendencies to predict and worry with the mantra Let's see? https://simple-yoga.org This content is inspired by the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali according to the  book Un...

Weaving the Yoga Sutra: Sensitivity and feedback Are you noticing changes in your sensitivity? Do you play internal games to override the common sense feedback you receive? Which do you trust more, the feedback sensitivity loop or your inner tendencies? What happens when you follow your sensitivity? What happens when you follow your tendencies? Do you recognize any of these tendencies in yourself?...

Weaving the Yoga Sutra: Distractions The most important skill to cultivate Distractions will happen, sooner or later, either a few times or countless times. Even when we get distracted , noticing that we got distracted indicates that we are present and that we are aware that our attention moved away from our intended focal point. What is important is to keep returning to our focus, to this moment....

Weaving the Yoga Sutra: Range of Awareness - Open awareness Open Awareness is the experience of being open to whatever each moment brings Would it be useful to grow in our ability to modulate our awareness so that we can choose to focus on an idea or object or just be in open awareness?  What happens if you try this exercise several times? What do you notice? https://simple-yoga.org   This content...

Weaving the Yoga Sutra: Range of awareness - Concentration What does it feel like when our mind focuses on just one thing? Exploring the range of awareness by focusing our mind on a single object of concentration. When we try to concentrate on a single thing, most of us find that our minds are easily distracted. This exercise strengthens our ability to concentrate. This ability only becomes strong...

Weaving the Yoga Sutra: Rango foawareness and experiences What happens when you explore your Range of Awareness? Most of us find that developing our sensitivity to natural processes enriches our experiences. in yoga, we try to expand our awareness so that we can participate in our lives consciously and intentionally. We experience the world through our senses, and our mind makes sense of the senso...

Weaving the Yoga Sutra: Complaining Do you ever complain? What do you complain about? Is it possible to modulate your complaining? Are our complaints a way to release a build-up of tension and irritation? Or is our complaining an expression of frustration because our expectations do not match the situation we find ourselves in? The first path is a very practical way of turning complaints into acti...

Weaving the Yoga Sutra: Changing direction - Uplift Practicing pratipaksha bhavana in our lives A simple and effective way to turn unhelpful tendencies around. Notice the tendencies and replace them with life affirming and uplifting tendencies. Would it be possible that cultivating an uplifting attitude makes us feel happy and radiant? Are you curious to experience what happens when you immerse yo...

Weaving the Yoga Sutra: Exploring resistance What do you resist? Resistance tends to arise at the boundaries between pain and tolerable discomfort. How does resistance manifest itself in you? What can we do when we feel resistance? Is our resistance a way of defending our sense of self? Is it possible that our resistance is a sign that we are trying to hold on too tightly to a belief or self-conce...

Weaving the Yoga Sutra: Range of Awareness in Ashtanga Yoga Can Range of Awareness be the integrating element of all the limbs of yoga? What happens when we explore the possible options available to us in the Yamas, Niyamas, Asana, Pratipaksha Bhavana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi? Can the idea of Range of Awareness help us enhance our sensitivity? And, what happens as we ref...