Unravel The Thread: Living the Yoga Sutra today

Weaving the Yoga Sutra: Range of Motion, Action, Awareness All yoga practices offer opportunities to explore and expand our awareness. The notion of Range of Motion is expanded to mean the totality of potential range of healthy movement that we can consciously do. Range of Action is the complete set of possible variations along the many variables involved in healthy activity. Range of Action encom...

Weaving the Yoga Sutra: Two natural tendencies Recognizing two natural tendencies that support us To overcome tendencies toward negativity it is useful to remember that we have two very useful natural tendencies that require no effort: Moving toward feeling better and moving away from pain. Become familiar with how they feel, what happens when you move toward feeling better? What do you feel when...

Weaving the Yoga Sutra: Gradual progress Can you recognize that you are making progress toward your goal? Examine your past actions, are you moving toward your goal? Some of our actions may have taken us away from our goal. This happens to most of us. Noticing that we stray from the goal is an indication of progress. Would you trade places with an earlier version of yourself?' https://simple-yoga....

Weaving the Yoga Sutra: It's up to you Embarking on the journey of self-discovery is your choice YOGA, You Organically Growing Aware. Four aspects of yoga. Yoga cannot change your beliefs, dispositions, intentions, and actions, only you can! And because this is a lifelong, personal process, it is imperative that you make the conscious decision to do it for yourself. https://simple-yoga.org   This...

Weaving the Yoga Sutra: Natural breath, long breath Bringing our awareness to the process of breathing In this practice we explore two ways of breathing, natural breath, and long breath. We alternate between these two options, paying attention to where the breath creates movement. As you pay attention to your breath, is it easy to stay focused? Do you feel more relaxed and at ease? https://simple-...

Weaving the Yoga Sutra: What are you feeling? What do  you notice when you pay attention to your emotions? In this practice, we explore how emotions manifest in our bodies through sensations, as well as the connections between emotions, thoughts, and memories. We have also explored the origin of emotions and our ability to modulate them and their effect on our overall mood. https://simple-yoga.org...

Weaving the Yoga Sutra: What are you thinking? What do you notice when you pay attention to your thoughts? In this practice we explored the nature of the thoughts we notice in our field of awareness. We paid attention to how our thoughts manifest, we also noticed their fluctuations, their location, their origin. We also explored staying with a thought and trying to bring it to completion. https://...

Weaving the Yoga Sutra: Awareness and its content Are there differences between awareness and its content? In this practice we alternated between noticing the content of awareness through your perception of sensations in your body and focusing on awareness itself, your ability to witness.  Although simple this is a very useful and powerful skill because it enables you to be present and to notice t...

Weaving the Yoga Sutra: One goal Is it possible to have only one goal in life? Why one goal? the simpler our goal, the easier it will be to assess if we are moving in that direction or if we are off track. What happens when we enhance the quality of our participation in our lives? How do our actions contribute to enhancing the quality of life wherever we are? https://simple-yoga.org   This content...

Weaving the Yoga Sutra: Second Fundamental Need How important are your relationships? Our second fundamental need, the need for meaningful connections. Are your beliefs about the world influencing your ability to relate to others? IS it helpful to have other people along your journey? What do others contribute to your life: love, friendship, support, guidance, challenge, inspiration? What happens...

Weaving the Yoga Sutra: First fundamental need How do you express your uniqueness? Is authenticity affiliating with a particular set of beliefs? Have you consciously participated in the creation of those beliefs? What do you do when you discover that one of those beliefs no longer fits your experiences? Do you believe that there is a specific self within you? Does that self change, or does it alwa...

Weaving the Yoga Sutra: Two needs and one goal What are your fundamental needs? and What is your life's goal?  Each one of us is unique. And our first fundamental need is to feel that uniqueness and to express it. Our second fundamental need: We need to connect with other people in a meaningful way. The most important goal is to be present by embodying awareness wherever we are. If you had to choo...

Weaving the Yoga Sutra: Yoga, Conscience and Tendencies Living with wisdom is living with awareness Yoga is a call to action. Yoga is awareness. Yoga is being aware of your tendencies. Yoga is awareness of your relationships. What happens when you try to live with conscious awareness? What are the tendencies that you discover in your body, your posture, and your movements? Which tendencies do you...

Weaving the Yoga Sutra: The Gift of time Are you taking time to explore your relationship with yourself?  Giving yourself time is an essential skill for engaging in meaningful projects and for establishing meaningful relationships with yourself, with others, and with the world around you. What is the relationship you have with time? Do you feel like you have enough time or that you have to be runn...

Weaving the Yoga Sutra: Open mind and heart Is it possible that opening your heart and mind might offer you a portal to awareness? Are there obstacles preventing you from showing up to each moment with an open mind and an open heart? What assumptions color your mind? What predispositions color your emotions? What is the relationship between your mind and heart, does your open heart automatically i...

Weaving the Yoga Sutra: What do you want? Is there a difference between what you want and what you think you want? Without desire, there is no motivation to do anything. Desire is a meaningful and heartfelt aspiration, carrying with it the spark of energy to move you toward what you find meaningful and inspirational. Invite yourself to investigate your desires. Create your own meaningful affirmati...

Weaving the Yoga Sutra: Results, success and guidelines Do you feel healthier, happier and more energetic? Two approaches, exercises to connect with the ability to be present and improving our understanding of our mental processes. You know your yoga practice is working because your life experience is improving. Am I noticing a tendency to participate more actively in my life instead of endlessly...

Weaving the Yoga Sutra: Feeling Practice What do you feel and how do you feel it? Are there any places in your body drawing your attention? Is it possible that resting your attention on some area causes a change in the sensations themselves? What happens when you remain curious to find out how a sensation is unfolding? Might it be possible that the whole point of the sensation or emotion is to hig...

Weaving the thread of the Yoga Sutra: Feel How do you tdeal with your feelings, sensations and emotions? Do you choose to ignore what you feel? Do you prefer to distract yourself when there are uncomfortable thoughts or sensations? Do you resist feeling? Do you try to manipulate the world so that you are not exposed to any sensations, emotions or feelings that you do not like? What would happen if...

Weaving the Yoga Sutra: Validate - being with what is Make a conscious choice to acknowledge that your experience is valid Recognize that the experience you are having is valid simply because it is happening to you. To validate is to make a conscious choice to acknowledge that your experience is valid, even if what you are experiencing is anxiety, fear, or happiness. You validate by acknowledging...

Weaving the Yoga Sutra: Are you a follower? Would you rather follow a teacher or a teaching? Part of the learning process involves recognizing if the teacher is trustworthy and well-intentioned. The other part is testing the teaching to ensure that it is applicable and useful for us at the time. By paying attention to the teacher, their actions and the coherence between their actions and their wor...

Weaving the Yoga Sutra: Learning to learn The essence of learning is tolerable discomfort. All learning will, by definition, help us transcend our current views and understanding, and thus, in the process we are going to feel uncomfortable. The better we are at managing this discomfort the more effective our learning and the more likely it is that we will continue learning for the rest of our live...

Weaving the Yoga Sutra: What do I know? Is it possible that what you know leads you to a sense of unity and integration? What do I know? How do I know what I know? Is what I know the result of my direct experience? Is it possible that my knowledge is colored by one of the five afflictions, my sense of identity, my likes, my dislikes, and my desire to keep my identity alive? https://simple-yoga.org...

Weaving the Yoga Sutra: Pause and relax Pausing is a way of creating space for presence Pause to redirect your attention to your senses. Connect to the direct experience of the present moment by feeling what is happening. As you pause and feel, notice if there is any tension or resistance. Then RELAX. How often do you take time just to be? Does your experience change when you pause, feel and relax...

Weaving the Yoga Sutra: Best friend or worst enemy? Are you helping or hindering yourself? When you are making choices, would it be useful to pause briefly and ask yourself: "At this moment, am I being my best friend or my worst enemy?" What evidence do you have of being a true friend to yourself? Are your choices and actions supporting your heartfelt intentions and purpose?  https://simple-yoga.o...