Coming from a western tradition, yoga’s fourth limb can be unfamiliar as it turns toward eastern mysticism. So to understand the significance of breathing, especially in Hatha yoga, it helpfs to know something about yoga’s perspective on the cosmos and the human condition.
With the first two limbs of yoga addressing the moral ‘dos’ and ‘don’ts’, the third is concerned with what we in the West usually associate with yoga, namely the bodily postures or asanas.
He inhaled slightly, brought his attention back to the head in the centre of the sight’s reticle, and squeezed the trigger. The gun barked, and kicked into his embrace, though not enough to take the couple from view.
This is the second instalment in a series about the “eight limbs of yoga”, which together constitute a guide or path toward Samadhi, the limbs that is, not the posts ;).
It’s a personal view on an ancient subject, so draws on many sources.
Unlike the second limb of yoga, the Niyamas or yogic “Dos”, the Yamas define the “Don’ts”; the rules aimed at curbing our negative tendencies and keeping us “on the straight and narrow”. Between them they constitute yoga’s ethical foundation which is meant to not only facilitate positive karma, but to also help manage the energy that comes from awakening the Kundalini Shakti within.
What we know as yoga was collated and defined by the Hindu mystic Patanjali around the third century CE. Though the word is now most often used to refer to the set of postures (asanas), these constitute only one of the eight sutras or set of rules he wrote down.
Both Quakerism and yoga are similarly quiet, private practices, light on dogma and focused upon realising the divine within.
Perhaps starting a business is always a challenge, a lonely path with obstacles and doubters aplenty; one which calls for extraordinary self belief, resilience, diverse skills, and not so much objectivity.
Where to begin with this one? A potted history, overview, philosophy, fitness, weight loss…
It’s hard to follow a post about summer festivals with one on Armageddon, but it’s harder to ignore the headlines. The unthinkable has always been planned, but now it seems we’re being prepared for a “tactical” nuclear war.
Something about boys 