BOOK: Curious Poses: 30 Yoga Postures and the Stories They Tell

Curious Poses: 30 Yoga Postures and the Stories They Tell by Lucy Greeves introduces readers to the monks and maharajas, gods and gymnasts who shaped Hatha Yoga as we know it. Have you ever wondered why Yoga postures look the way they do, or how they got their names?...

Carrying Inner Peace Out into the World

It is a tradition in Integral Yoga that after daily meditation we repeat Shanti mantras, or peace prayers. These prayers are a beautiful way to end one’s formal meditation sitting and are a spiritual support in that they are affirmations of peace. The Yoga tradition...

The Magic Mat

As someone who enjoys crafting, the advertisement for the “Original Magic Mat” (a die-cutting crafting aid), suddenly took on an entirely new meaning after experiencing Yoga teacher training. I’ve seen this ad before, but I’ve never thought about anything more than...

Yoga Nidra: A Gateway to Samadhi

Yoga Nidra is yogic sleep. But, it’s a sort of sleepless sleep. You are awake and at the same time you are sleeping. The scriptures call it “jagrat sushupti,” awakened sleep. You sleep, but you don’t sleep. During regular sleep, you sleep but you don’t know that...

Working with Self-Judgment

In this episode, host Avi Gordon (director of the Integral Yoga Teachers Association) and his guest, Swami Asokananda, talk about how each works with self-judgment, resistances to daily sadhana (spiritual practice), pratipaksha bhavana, and other topics regarding...

Spiritual Independence

Independence implies a freedom from being controlled or unduly influenced by an outside source. Spiritual independence suggests the freedom to live in harmony with the spiritual truth at the heart of our being. It implies freedom from depending on any outside source...