Being Healthy Human Beings
Excerpted from the "Introduction" to Yoga Therapy: Foundations, Methods, and Practices (712 pages, forthcoming November 2017, North Atlantic Books/Penguin Random House)
Mark's Musings
These writings are informal reflections on practicing and teaching yoga. Click on any title to read the entire piece.
Yoga for Healing and Wholeness
Excerpted from the "Introduction" to Yoga Therapy: Foundations, Methods, and Practices (712 pages, forthcoming November 2017, North Atlantic Books/Penguin Random House)
About This Book
Excerpted from the "Preface" to Yoga Therapy: Foundations, Methods, and Practices (712 pages, forthcoming November 2017, North Atlantic Books/Penguin Random House)
Many people come to yoga classes with acute or chronic conditions of compromised health, or ordinary conditions such as pregnancy, that indicate the value of a specialized or adapted practice. In any given large yoga class there are usually students who have at least some minor ache or condition that suggests modification of postural and breathing practices.
Pain, Suffering, and Yoga
Excerpted from the "Preface" to Yoga Therapy: Foundations, Methods, and Practices (forthcoming November 2017, North Atlantic Books/Penguin Random House):
The pain and suffering I experienced with typical childhood nicks and ailments pales in impact to what I experienced at age 10 when my mother developed breast cancer.
Tantric Meditation
Meditation as taught in most yoga classes invites us to follow the path of Patanjali's method, which starts with Pratyahara, meaning "to relieve your senses of their external distractions." Put differently, it's a practice of isolation, one in which we go inside, separating our awareness from a world that Patanjalian yoga (indeed, most yoga) sees as illusory.
A Guide on the Yoga Path
Part of the sublime nature of yoga is that there are infinite possibilities for deepening and refining one’s practice.
Steadiness, Ease, and Presence of Mind
Steadiness, Ease & Presence of Mind
There are several basic elements that are ideally communicated to our students in every practice and given even greater clarity with newer students. Among the most important is the idea that yoga is neither a comparative nor a competitive practice, despite some people doing their best to make it so.
Playing the Edge
Perseverance & Non-Attachment
As we come to the experience in an asana in which we no longer feel any significant effect or effort in being in it, we might simply stay there, being in it, or we might find ourselves opening to a variat
The Dance of the Breath and Bodymind
When doing a yoga practice, we come to various asanas. In approaching them, we’re already experiencing sensations. If we’re actually doing yoga rather than merely exercising, then we’re breathing consciously and using the breath to refine how we’re exploring the asana. Breathing consciously, we’re bringing more conscious awareness into the bodymind, ideally as suggested by the sensations that are arising in the moment, adapting our movement and positioning to be more stable, relaxed, and present.
Waking Up in Yoga
In doing yoga, we are gradually awakening to a clearer and truer understanding of who we are in our deepest, innermost being. How did the Buddha awaken? Bytuning in. It’s the same in yoga: the best teacher one will ever have is alive and well inside. Much of the practice is about coming to hear that inner teacher, to listen to and honor the inner teachings.