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...

Elements of Integral Yoga Hatha: The Ultimate Balancing Act

Saci Murphy, E-RYT 500 will lead a weekend workshop (July 28-30, 2023) that includes the practice of the elements of Integral Yoga Hatha. Hatha Yoga transforms the physical body—our tool for all our goals, activities, and endeavors—by optimizing function and...

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...

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...

The Fruit of Practice

A meditation teacher of mine once quoted a Burmese teacher as saying “When everything that can go is gone, what’s left is the truth.” That sentence resonated with me. I heard it maybe 20 years ago and I still reference it and repeat it a lot. And I think that’s...

How Meditation Can Help in Times of Loss and Heartbreak

In grief and loss, the mind is powerfully affected. The way we think is changed. The content of our thoughts is altered. Particularly in early and traumatic grief, we forget things, we lose things, we are distracted and inattentive. Alternatively, we can be utterly...