Sleep as a Spiritual Practice

There are many stories in the Zen tradition that offer a perspective on sleep, such as the enlightenment of Ananda, where he stayed awake for several days on end trying to attain Great Liberation. He finally decides to give up on attaining enlightenment and get some...

Yoga Nidra: Portal to Our Essence-Nature

Julie Lusk, MEd, E-RYT-500, NCC, has a new book out: Yoga Nidra Meditations: 24 Scripts for True Relaxation. Featuring twenty-four Yoga Nidra scripts written by author Julie Lusk and thirteen of the world’s master teachers—including Swami Satchidananda—this book...

Teachings from the Gita: The Real and the Unreal

The entire Bhagavad Gita is a series of questions and answers between Sri Krishna and his disciple, Arjuna. In chapter 13, Arjuna asks for knowledge about prakriti and Purusha. Arjuna asks: “What is knowledge and what is it that is to be known?” In those days, none of...

What Yoga Has to Say About Health

Yoga is the original mind-body medicine that has enabled individuals to attain and maintain sukha sthanam, a dynamic sense of physical, mental and spiritual well-being. The Bhagavad Gita defines Yoga as samatvam, meaning thereby that Yoga is equanimity at all levels,...

Happiness in Daily Life: A Yogic Formula

In the world today, most people approach the study of Yoga through the asanas (physical postures). And for many schools, that’s where the study of Yoga ends. People want to be healthy and have a trim physique. One may ask, why do you want a trim physique?  In some...