Question: In the course of studying yoga and visiting different spiritual communities, I’ve come to find that there are a lot of different conceptions of what bhakti-yoga is and what bhakti is meant to teach […]
Why Does ‘Bhakti’ Mean Different Things to Different People? READ MORE
More and more practitioners are looking to yoga as much for sparks of inspiration, knowledge, or wisdom, as they are for a workout. And more and more yoga teachers are feeling inspired to share their
5 Keys to an Effective Dharma Talk READ MORE
Question: I’m enrolled in a Yoga Teacher Training program. On the first day of the training the instructor asked us to share our idea of what ‘yoga’ meant to us. Everyone had their own idea
Can ‘Yoga’ Mean Whatever We Want It To Mean? READ MORE
What happened to civility? One could of course argue that the world has always been a very uncivil place – particularly for people outside the dominant power structure – but I think most of us
Civility and Humility READ MORE
Svadhaya, usually translated as ‘self-study’, is contemplation on the true nature of the self that’s guided by scriptural wisdom. Rather than mere speculation or self-psychologizing, svadhyaya is a process that provides us with a map
How to Teach ‘Svadhyaya’ – Guided Self-Inquiry READ MORE
I routinely speak about ‘awakening our spiritual senses’ in my classes. As often as not, a student or two will linger after class to ask what I mean by ‘spiritual’ senses. The idea that we
Awakening Our Spiritual Senses READ MORE
One of life’s great challenges, when you’re 8-years old, is to keep yourself entertained when you’re the only child at an adult party. Such was the challenge for Anton, the young son of a couple
At times it seems as if the world has gone off its rocker. Maybe it has. When the going gets tough it’s tempting to retreat from the world. And a respite may be just what
A Deeper Spirituality READ MORE
I just returned from a trip to India, where the sights, smells, and sounds are all very different from what we are accustomed to here in America. One sound in particular was conspicuous by its
The Elephant in the Room READ MORE
Most people who’ve spent a significant amount of time hanging around the yoga-sphere have heard at least one yoga teacher put forward the proposition that, according to the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, when one attains
