In this article, Integral Yoga teacher April Gauri Hunziker (pictured here) explores the issue of how a yogi and vegetarian remains humble and avoids self-righteousness while remaining faithful to his or her principles. She poses some hard questions we may want to ask...
To fully understand Swami Satchidananda’s teachings on the relationship between Yoga and diet, specifically, the psychological and spiritual benefits of a vegetarian/vegan diet, it’s important to know something about the three gunas, or the qualities of nature. The...
When I first studied Raja Yoga, or Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, in my Yoga Teacher Training Class of 2001 at the Integral Yoga Institute, New York City, I clearly remember Swami Ramananda saying something like, “First your mind talked you into eating the ice cream, then...
One of Patanjali’s sutras buried in the Second Pada is: "Pain that has not yet come is avoidable" (2.16). This is very similar to, I would even say, exactly, what the Buddha taught: that suffering can end—as stated in the Third Noble Truth—though we hardly seem to get...
In an another article, (Inside the Yoga Sutras: What Do You Believe) we explored the five different types of thought whirlwinds, vritti, that were categorized as either painful or painless. This examination of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras (sutras 5-11) in the first Pada...
If there is one thing we start to see with Yoga practice, it is that thoughts constantly bombard our minds. Remember being in Paschtimottanasana for what felt like forever with a tornado of swirling thoughts, from that embarrassing event 20 years ago to what’s for...
You may be an experienced meditator. Even so I wouldn’t be surprised if many of you go through periods of a few days, weeks, or months, when for one reason or another you don’t get up in time to have a formal sitting. This is not unusual. And, you are not alone if you...
Depending on our temperament, we can pursue the journey of awakening in various ways. If we wish to develop the will and gain mastery over the mind, we can take a Raja Yoga approach. If we tend to be analytical and intellectual, there is the path of Jnana Yoga. If we...
We learn from our study of Yoga and Vedanta that their goals are one and the same: realization of the true Self. Both sages Veda Vyasa, and Sri Patanjali, in his Yoga Sutras, taught that by cultivating viveka (discriminative discernment) the cause of suffering...
Maharishi Patanjali prescribed inner and outer purification as a prerequisite for pursuing the path of Yoga. Yama, or the five abstinences, might be described as enlightened self-control. Niyama, or the five observances, might be defined as self-regulation. In this...
Patanjali’s Yoga system is written in sutras. A sutra is a terse verse. It is an aphoristic saying. It is pregnant with deep, hidden significance. Rishis of yore have expressed philosophical ideas and their realization in the form of sutras only. It is very difficult...
Patanjali once beautifully said, “Dukham evam sarvaam vivekinaha.” For a viveki, a person with discriminative knowledge, everything is painful. When you realize that everything is painful you cease to develop attachments toward those things. In fact, it is to relieve...
Raja Yoga is the king of Yogas. It is concerned directly with the mind. The Yogi sits at ease, watches the mind and silences the bubbling thoughts. The Yogi stills the mind, restrains the thought-waves and enters into the thoughtless state or asamprajnata samadhi....
When the word Yoga is mentioned, most people immediately think of some physical postures for relaxing and limbering up the body. This is one aspect of the Yogic science, but actually only a very small part and relatively recent in development. The physical Yoga, or...
In this article, Integral Yoga master teacher Rev. Jaganath Carrera discusses sutras 1.27 through 1.29 of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. In these sutras, Sri Patanjali introduces us to the OM mantra and the practice of mantra japa, which he explains is a most effective...
Our whole experience of life is based on the stories we tell ourselves about what occurs. These stories begin with our mind’s interpretation of what it perceives. Swami Vivekananda describes this like an oyster making a pearl. A parasite gets inside the shell, and...