Pranayama and its relation to Asana
Pranayama is a compound word comprising two words, Prana and Ayama.Prana is the vital energy, that which distinguishes animate things from inanimate things. Animate things absorb energy from their surroundings, metabolise, feel, act and grow, have a beginning and an…
Healing the heart through yoga
Through the practice of Yoga, one experiences a series of progressive transformations in the quality of the mind. We are not made up of different minds. The same mind goes through a change. This happens in the course of one…
Understanding gunas to find balance in your life
Everything in Prakriti consists of three gunas (qualities). In western understanding this is close to “energy”. These three qualities are present in all objects to varying degrees. One quality is always more present or dominant than the others. The three…
7 body parts to know in Sanskrit to memorize the names of yoga postures
Viparita Karani, here resembling Sarvangasana, illustrated in the 1830 manuscript of Joga Pradīpikā originally written by Ramanandi Jayatarama in 1737 Posture names are sometimes difficult to remember for a beginner. By learning a few basic Sanskrit words, one can easily…
How Yoga brings transformative quality to everyday living
The entire universe can be divided into 2 main categories: Prakriti and Purusha. Prakriti is matter + energy. Prakriti is limited by time, space and form. Prakriti functions on cause and effect, which popularly people call Karma. Karma is the…