The micro adjustments your hands do in a handstand are the same that your feet do when you stand. Close your eyes in tadasana, sway gently, and feel it.

This may sound weird, but one of the things I did when I was first obsessed with yoga was I bought a ring for my toe.  I was trying to get more in touch with my hands and more in touch with my feet.  I thought my hands were fairly smart, but I wanted to get my feet a little smarter – and I wanted to get my hands more stable.  The feet know how to hold us up, the hands are still learning.

While you might not choose to wear a toe ring, thinking of the hands as feet is a cool approach if you are wanting to advance in arm balances.

Give this a try:

When standing in tadasana (standing up with both feet parallel and palms together in front of your chest), close your eyes and feel all the tiny movements and adjustments in your feet as you sway, sway more and feel it.

If it’s too much, you can keep your eyes open, but if you just fall that’s ok too, just come back and start again.  It’s easier to balance when you are seeing something on the outside, though it’s less beneficial in the long run.

Then do the same in vrikshasana (tree pose), close your eyes and feel the subtle and micro-adjustments in your grounded foot.

These same micro adjustments are what you should be feeling in your hands in handstand.

As a matter of fact, as I recently pointed out here, all growth – in relationships, health, you name it – is really about micro-adjustments and finding balance.

-Daniel

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In what ways might you care for the relationship?  How might you invest energy into the relationship?

The bones maintain and actually create strength when they work, when they bear weight, and when they face challenge. That’s how the bones get stronger. They literally change shape as we age.

There are those who say that spiritual advancement means realizing that we are not our body.  In fact in many ways yoga philosophy says this.  Yet at the same time we know in some way we are related to this body, we are inhabiting it, we are with it, it’s part of us.

And so, being optimalists rather than perfectionists, we might seek an optimal positive relationship with body.

Yes, your body is that partner, Your body will be with you this entire life, guaranteed.  Husband, wife, children, friends…maybe so maybe not, we don’t know.

One of the pitfalls we can encounter in the relationship with our body is social comparison.  We’re prone to do it even in yoga class.  In social psychology terms it’s affectionately called “Keeping Up With The Joneses.”  Like, The Joneses got a new car, we better get a new car…  So we can do that with the body by saying Well, so and So’s got 4% body fat, they have 6 pack abs… and if I don’t, somehow I feel less good about myself.

Here’s the theory I’m working with: Even though we are not our body, we optimize our experience in life – spiritually and emotionally – by optimizing our body.  I mean our comfort in it, not necessarily what it looks like – it’s our perception of it that matters, our feeling inside it.

So we can borrow a page from the book The Biology of Belief, Bruce Lipton’s pioneering work.  He says that a cell’s health is not determined by its environment, nor determined by its genes, but by our perception of the environment, how it seems to us.

There is no reality about the body, it’s really about the perception. 

We all know somebody who has had some challenge with their body image (it might be us).  Which really usually amounts to we have no idea how beautiful we are.  We think we’re fat or ugly, and whatever anyone else says it doesn’t matter.

If we are going to make comparisons between our body and another body, then we should compare ourselves to someone who is a fat slob.  Because then we feel better about ourselves.  There is no reality anyway.  I’m only kind of joking when I say that, because, if we make social comparisons, then if we compare ourselves to someone who has more, or looks better then we feel bad.  If we compare ourselves to someone who has less, or looks worse, then we feel better.  There is no actual “reality.”

If we want to be smarter, healther, we leave out the external reference and consider just for ourselves.  How do I feel about my body, how do I feel inside my body.  We can do the same for our living space (How do I feel about my home?)  regardless of whether the neighbors just got a pool or not.

The first pitfall to avoid in developing the optimal relationship with our body, our main partner: Avoid Social Comparisons.

Unless we’re very advanced, and then we can actually use them in a healthy way, like You know So and So goes to yoga every day, I want to hang out with her.  We can have our social comparisons be inspiration, rather than an opportunity for self-deprecation.

A good use of social comparison in yoga class is Holy cow did you see what she did, she’s amazing.  Not You know what, she’s a jerk anyway, show off. Or I could never do that, I’m no good.  When somebody does something amazing, can we say, Wow, if they can do that, all I need to do is practice and I’ll be able to do it!

Our second pitfall is what social psychologists call, the Hedonistic Treadmill.

Hedonism is the philosophy of happiness that says I am happy when I have sense-pleasure.  Ice Cream Orgasm theory of happiness.  Or pay raise, or new car, or anything that feels really good for about 10 seconds.  Or maybe, if we’re lucky we stretch it out a few days, maybe a week, but the thing is that like a junky we always want more.  Next hit has to be bigger.  I got a pay raise, now I need a bigger pay raise.

The hedonistic treadmill tells us to stay away from anything that is really painful or difficult.  But actually it has been shown that easy pleasure doesn’t really lead to happiness.  In fact it undermines it.  It tells us to avoid exercise and go for the sofa, to avoid healthy foods and go for sugar.  And we know, though, when we get fat and lazy it does not lead to health and happiness.

In developing our relationship with our body, this lifelong partner, there is no achieving that relationship – there is only finding balance.  Like the balance in a handstand, and like all relationships, health is about micro-adjustments.  I ate a little too much, or I didn’t eat quite enough.  I exercised a little too much, I didn’t exercise enough.

It is interesting to know that the bones maintain and actually create strength when they work, when they bear weight, and when they face challenge.  That’s how the bones get stronger.  They literally change shape as we age.

Eventually, in developing our optimal relationship with body (because even if we are not our body, we are at least temporarily in it, relating to it) it stands to reason that everything else we do in life that connects to the body, whether it’s work or play, relationships, parenting, everything in some way we do through our body.  So eventually the prayer stops being May it come easy, and becomes May I enjoy the challenge.  May I appreciate the benefits that come through working, through resistance. May I find balance.  May I create balance.

In yoga, we use the body to affect the mind.  In yogic philosophy, it is said that of all the layers of body, spiritual is the most subtle, physical is the most gross.  We primarily work with the physical, knowing it will affect the more subtle.

And in the same way, our outer layer, this physical body, becomes our radar, our meter for our overall health.  It’s both the meter and the method for affecting full-system health.

- Daniel

ps. Here’s Bruce Lipton in his own words:

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The thyroid gland, located in the front of the throat, generates hormones that regulate aspects of digestion and metabolism.

Isn’t it funny how one can feel relieved to discover that there’s an illness or a nameable condition behind vague symptoms such as exhaustion and weight gain?  Well, I was both relieved in that sense, and also distressed.

The symptoms that go with hypothyroidism include feeling sluggish, tired or depressed and having difficulty losing weight no matter what you try.

The American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) claim that thyroid disorders in the United States exceed diabetes cases by over 40%, with 27,000,000 people suffering from different kinds of thyroid imbalance, many of which go undiagnosed.   I don’t know how they got these numbers, but among the women I know who are 60 and older, many are taking thyroid medicine.  I’m only 41, dang.

Hormones from the thyroid gland, which is located in the front of the throat, regulate other functions that ultimately control aspects of digestion and metabolism rates.

Too much thyroid hormone production results in hypERthyroidism, resulting in anxiety, insomnia, and weight loss, among other symptoms.

My problem, though, is hypOthyroidism - a sluggish thyroid – which helps explain my very bodacious figure (loving what is!), and also how easily I have been getting exhausted for the past couple of years.

Thyroid functions can be tested in a variety of ways

• TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) test
• T3 and T4 testing. T4 is considered a prohormone or hormone enhancer, while T3 is the biochemically active thyroid hormone, much of which is produced by converting T4.
• A thyroid antibody test can be given to check if thyroid dysfunction is stemming from an autoimmune disease, like Graves’ disease or Hashimoto thyroiditis.

(Of course, it’s for you to decide if you wish to try addressing the symptoms without medical assessment.)

My TSH was 7.670 (and it should be less than 0.27), my T4 was .96 (should be over 1.2), and my T3 was 2.7 (should be over 3.2).  My cholesterol was also a bit high, which can be linked to thyroid.

Most hypothyroidism is caused by insufficient iodine. Many people believe that eating “Iodized Salt” addresses this problem, but it doesn’t for a couple of reasons – the iodine used in iodized salt is not in a form easily absorbable by our bodies, and also it is not very stable, diminishing when exposed to air and humidity.  So much for that.

So apparently it’s best to eat unprocessed salts, and eat iodine rich foods.

Iodine Rich Foods:

Shell fish – a great source of iodine, but take care in choosing since areas of the Pacific and Gulf of Mexico have been contaminated.

Seaweeds – an excellent source of iodine and many other minerals. Kelp can be taken as supplement tablets if you don’t like to eat it. Brown seaweed has many other benefits in addition to iodine nutrition and can also be taken as an extract. Again, pay attention to geographical sources.

Coconut oil, organic, cold-pressed is a good source (yay!).  It can be used for cooking or in baking, or simply taken plain. It has many other benefits as well.  (To make coconut oil truffles, combine coconut oil with cacao powder and honey, and any type of nut or dried fruit – store in fridge.  Add cacao butter for more temperature stability).

Other thyroid-friendly foods include butter, egg yolks, cod liver oil. Good news: fats are helpful for thyroid health!

There are also a number of videos and articles on the internet explaining how to use yoga and pranayama to support thyroid health, such as this one.

Hypothyroidism can also be caused by excessive stress for a prolonged period (Uh, that’s me).  So yoga, meditation, and a good look at lifestyle choices can be in order.

My doctor initially recommended a bioidentical thyroid supplement, but I decided to start with a couple of months of iodine-rich foods and an iodine supplement (J.Crow’s Lugol’s Solution) to see if that could do the trick, since the thyroid medicines apparently need to be continued forever.

I’ll let you know how it goes when I get my levels tested in another month.  I would love to hear others’ thyroid stories in the meantime.

- Contributed by Karali Pitzele, Radiantly Alive explorer extraordinaire – bio here

Some research based on NaturalNews.com and Yogawiz.com

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Karin Uphoff author of Botanical Body Care teaches the “doctrine of signatures” as a way to dissect the clues that nature gives us to the healing properties of food.  Next time you are cutting fruits and vegetables in the kitchen, notice how their form points to how they function in the body.  Here are some fun examples from Karin’s book:

• Celery – when you cut a stalk, look closely to the profile of the end you sliced; Does it look like a bone with porous cells? (it’s teaming with mineral salts that strengthen our bones)

• Tomato – sliced across the middle horizontally, can you see the 4 chambers of a heart? (they’re filled with lycopene that protects the heart)

• Avocado – does the rough, dry, hardened skin remind you of weathered skin? (it’s high in vitamin E and other oils that treat dry skin)

• Orange and grapefruit – does the white membrane holding the segments together look like connective tissue? (they’re high in rutin and bioflavenoids to build tissue walls)

• Walnut – does the pattern of the nut look like the brain?  It even has 2 perfect halves! (it’s high in essential fatty acids that build and protect neural tissue)

Maureen Gilbert

Finding the medicine in your food is a fun game for adults and children and a way to become more familiar with your own anatomy as well!

Consuming food in its whole, unprocessed, natural state is always the best way to unlock it’s full healing potential and is always preferable to trying to access nutrients via supplements.

Not sure what your body needs most right now?  Bioenergetic analysis is the fastest and easiest way to get insight into the functioning of your body from an energetic and physical standpoint.  Readings can be done remotely or in person and will show you specifically which organs need support.  Maureen Gilbert a certified bioenergetic analytic can then recommend how best to support your body, mind and spirit.

For more information seewww.conscioushealingcenter.com

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The next morning I felt restored, and somehow not as hungry as I anticipated.  I realized that my body had already gotten into the fasting zone, and decided to continue for another day.  The first day is the hardest, after that my body seems to feel less hungry and tired.

Many times when I think about fasting, I feel overwhelmed, intimidated, or resistant, but it always seems that once I get going, I remember how energized I feel and find it *much* easier than I imagine.

This time I did 2 days of water fasting, but other times I have fasted for a week or more on Master Cleanse (fresh lemonade with maple syrup and a dash of cayenne), Jamu (tumeric and lime water sweetened with honey or stevia), or coconut water – always with loads of H₂O as well.

Just so you know, I am a voracious and dedicated eater, and those who know me wouldn’t guess that I have such a love of fasting.

Some reasons I fast include:

• Detoxing – your digestive tract, organs, and fats store toxins you eat, breathe, and take in through your skin, and fasting for several days allows your systems to unload them.  Lemon is a powerful cleanser for your liver.
• Restoring health – digestion takes a lot of your body’s available energy, and fasting can allow your physical resources to go to the area of infection/inflammation.
• Increasing energy – it seems counterintuitive, but during most of my fasts I have increased rather than decreased energy, though it does fluctuate.  Daniel talks about his experience with energy during fasts in this post.
• Remembering what my body does and doesn’t need – I get into cycles of eating loads of carbs or animal protein, and when I fast I always remember – with my brain and my body – that my body doesn’t need all that to feel great – it’s like a dietary re-set.

There’s also something called “Intermittent Fasting,” which is where you fast every week for one day.  The day can span just parts of 2 days, say 2pm one day to 2pm the next, so you don’t have one long hungry day.  The benefits of this are much like those of longer fasts, and because you do it regularly it really affects your health over the long run.

Sometimes I run into problems with intermittent fasting though, where I really load up on calories when I come off it – which defeats part (though not all) of the benefit, so I seem to do better with longer durations less frequently.

Some of the benefits of Intermittent Fasting, according to Brad Pilon, author of Eat-Stop-Eat, include:

• Increases Longevity – Intermittent Fasting reduces oxidization to your body’s cells and extends their life, slowing the aging process.
• Reduces risks of diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and stroke – which also leads to increased longevity.
• Improves nor/epinephrine levels – which increases focus and alertness.
• Increases Human Growth Hormone levels, increasing mass of bone, organ, and muscle.
• Decreases the risk of cancer by helping the body get rid of abnormal cells (the body uses abnormal cells for energy before normal cells when fasting) and slowing the growth of malignant cells.
• Improves autophagy and associated immune functions, preventing infections and illnesses.
• Decreased blood glucose levels
• Decreased insulin levels and increased insulin sensitivity
• Decreased systemic inflammation
• Weight loss

A few or my tricks for fasting in general:

1. Drink water every time you feel hungry – carry a large bottle around
2. Avoid being around people eating  – really, just go in the next room till they’re finished
3. If water or lemonade fasts sound too hard – do a juice fast for the first one
4. Come off the fast gradually – you can get sick if you fast for a week and come off with really heavy foods
5. Know that you might occasionally get tired or a little sick as your body detoxes during long fasts – this is a good thing and won’t freak you out if you know to expect it.
6. Be sure your body is eliminating regularly – if you fast for more than a day, your bowels will slow down and the toxins being flushed from your organs can sit in your intestines and have adverse effects – better to do a “smooth move” tea, or a daily salt flush (see my Colon blog entry for info on this) to keep it moving.  More on detoxing your colon here.
7. Long fasts are not a road to weight loss – because after a few days your metabolism slows, also you tend to re-gain any lost pounds.  Intermittent fasting is better for that in the long-run (if you don’t double up on carbs when you come off it)

I hope this helps demystify the process  – it’s easier than it sounds!

** If you have a medical condition please talk to your Dr first though.

- Contributed by Karali Pitzele, Radiantly Alive explorer extraordinaire – bio here

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Many folks start spring cleaning with the arrival warm weather – or, in the case of Bali, with the departure of the rains – and this momentum offers a really juicy opportunity to create shifts in the energy of our living spaces that invite new patterns into our lives.

A few years back someone gave me a book on clearing clutter with Feng Shui (by Karen Kingston), and by the time I had read the first part of it, my view on the role of my stuff had radically altered, and I decided to get rid of a third of what I owned.

I realized that my material objects represent energy – and that if I was looking for was increased energy, creativity, and dynamism in my life, my physical spaces needed to reflect that.

While I don’t have a very strong attachment to the Feng Shui system – it may or may not be true that the corners of my house/room represent particular parts of my life, or that hanging mirrors, covering drains, using colors etc. will affect these – using the simple feng shui map in the book to look at my home gave me an opportunity to reflect on the different aspects of my life and to consider the state of my stuff.

The Feng Shui Bagua map tells you what parts of your home/room correspond to the different parts of your your life – and therefore what aspect of your experience will be impacted by excessive build up of clutter etc.

I then estimated that 50% of my stuff hadn’t been touched or used in at least two years and started to think about my tendency to accumulate. I realized that there were several reasons I was keeping things:

• In case I ever needed them again, or because I hoped to use them someday (the clunky humidifying machine I haven’t touched in 4 years, that abs cruncher machine, those pants three sizes too small!)
• For sentimental reasons – they reminded me of an event or a person (candles from my friend’s wedding, paintings made by former students, a big sweater that belonged to my first boyfriend)
• Because they were perfectly good and useful (that Panini maker, fondu pot, the rickety shelf I pulled in off the curb when I first moved into my own apartment that is ugly but still serves, the soup pot that no longer has a lid and never gets used, semi-broken sports equipment I had intended to fix for years)
• Because they are essential to my sense of self (books from my masters degree program, art supplies from art classes I took 8-10 years ago, CDs from when I was in my teens, a collection of t-shirts from my college days)

But when I looked around and really assessed what things reflect who I am now, how I live my life, and what I am thinking about, it was clear that I had many layers of my former selves in heaps in my closets, on shelves, in cabinets, and hanging on the walls.

How was this effecting my current self?

What I learned as I read was that having my space full of debris from outdated versions of myself (even the stacks hiding behind closed closet doors) can block the entry of new energy in the aspect of your life that corresponds to that part of the Feng Shui map.

This made me start to feel allergic to extra stuff.  All of a sudden I felt the acute need to shed it on a large scale.

However, our stuff is laden with stories, feelings, and karma – and when I started to go through it, I quickly felt bogged down, overwhelmed, exhausted.  This is normal and you can expect it.

You can also expect to have a huge sense of relief and renewed energy when you get through it.  I did.

There were a few things that helped me to follow through:

This shows you how the Bagua apply depending on where the entrance to your home/room is.

• The mantra: “It’s part of me now.”  – to remind me that I don’t need the physical objects from my life to know who I am, especially for the sentimental and identity-hooked stuff.
• A rule that if I hadn’t worn it in two years I couldn’t keep it.  Period.
• Returning to the Feng Shui bagua map and reflecting on what clutter may still be gunking up the different areas.
• Making lists of all the parts of the apartment that needed weeding – with very small tasks, like one shelf at a time – so I could just pick one small task to do and not look at the whole.
• Asking for help/company.  Thanks to my mom and some faithful friends who spent time hanging out on my couch or on the phone with me while I dug through my closet, prodding me along and being ruthless when I got sentimental or deflated.
• Having new organizational systems for the stuff that remained behind – nifty bins and whatnot – to make me look forward to the end results, and a general plan ahead of time for how to give away the useful items I no longer needed.

So, as the fresh energy of April arrives, think about the way you want your life to feel.  Imagine streamlining your space to really cultivate that feeling, and make a plan to unload the trappings of your old selves.

This is the best time of year to make it happen.

- Contributed by Karali Pitzele, Radiantly Alive explorer extraordinaire – bio here

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Lisa teaches Radiantly Alive Vinyasa, Restorative Yoga, and Partner Yoga at Radiantly Alive Yoga Studio in Ubud.

“In daily life it’s so easy to get into negative patterns, and the Yoga Sutra reminds me to find my happiness – Santosha – even if I am going through a difficult  or challenging time.  It is very easy to get distracted into negativity by the surrounding world, with all the media always telling us only the bad news, totally leaving out the good news – it would be good to hear about people trying to create a greener and more bright future for the planet and its beings, and about people that are fighting for a more peaceful world to live in.  Rather than focusing on things that are negative we can try to shift our focus to what is positive and act towards that.

The yogic concept of Ahimsa – non-violence, or doing as little harm as possible – helps me remember not to harm other humans, neither with actions nor words, but also includes not being violent to nature and animals.

By being a vegan or vegetarian you can cause less harm to animals and the planet. If you eat meat/fish, at least consider where they come from. Too many animals are being raised in farm-factories where they get mistreated their whole life, never being able to see daylight, not having have enough space to move, and getting separated from their mothers at birth. You can also cause less harm to the planet and it’s precious nature by buying local and organic products/groceries, by saying no to GMO food and anything that has gone through some kind of process that uses chemicals.

So I work to find ways to see the positive, and also to reduce my own negative impacts on the world.  Here in Bali I see all the trash being thrown out in nature, and it’s easy to get stuck thinking how awful that is and then not be noticing the AMAZING nature around it.  My eyes have a tendency to go to the problem, rather than the beauty, and the Yoga Sutra reminds me that I have a choice about this.

I can think “I am actually in Bali and the nature here is amazing” instead of noticing the littering, and reflect on what I can do to inspire local people here to use less plastic and to use natural products.

Coming up with solutions and doing small things – taking personal actions to make my own changes, like using a cloth laundry bag instead of the plastic wrapping that the laundry comes in here, saying no to plastic bags in the super market or using a reusable water bottle, this is part of Ahimsa too.

Santosha can also be about surrounding yourself with people that uplift you and support you, rather than hanging out with people that take you down and have a negative attitude or thinking.

Another Sutra that inspires me talks about finding balance, “Sthiram, sukham, asanam” (steady/firm – soft/gentle – seat).  When I get really busy or stressed out about something, coming back to this sutra reminds me how important it is to balance things out with taking care of myself, to relax, and read a book or get a massage. It makes a big difference to me.  Stirham Sukham also applies to the physical practice – I can’t just focus on vinyasa vinyasa vinyasa (dynamic yoga practice) – it is so important to balance it out with yin and restorative yoga as well.  I tend to forget this all the time and then realize –  it’s what I need to do – to come back into balance.”

A few documentaries Lisa recommends for those who want to learn more about these topics.

• HOME (can be seen on youtube)
• Earthlings
•  ”A peaceful kingdom”
• Food Inc.
• Hungry for a change
• Food Matters
• Thrive

More from my interview with Lisa in the coming weeks.

- Contributed by Karali Pitzele, Radiantly Alive explorer extraordinaire – bio here

Lisa’s Bio:

Born and raised in Sweden, Lisa has been travelling and working around the world for almost ten years. She discovered yoga at an early stage, and as the journey progressed, yoga became a lifestyle rather than just a hobby. 

Lisa is a certified 300 hours Radiantly Alive Yoga Teacher. She’s had the benefit of studying and working closely with Daniel Aaron, both at the Yoga Studio and at the Yoga Teacher Training.   Lisa teaches Radiantly Alive Vinyassa, Partner Yoga, and Restorative Yoga at Radiantly Alive.  Her classes provide the opportunity to challenge your personal limitations and go beyond what you thought was possible.

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I often find the sutras interesting, especially if Daniel is using some Byron Katie, stories about his daughter, or something from Bourne Identity to illustrate them.  However, I didn’t have the big picture of how it all fits together.

So, I did a little reading up and put together a bird’s-eye guide for the Radiantly Alive blog so we can all have a clear sense of its structure and orientation.

The Yoga Sutras were compiled by Patañjali in the 2nd century BCE.  Though he was not the first to write about Yoga, and he used others’ writings as the basis of his work, his text became the authority on the subject.

In the Yoga Sutras, Patañjali prescribes adherence to eight “limbs” or steps (the sum of which constitute “Ashtanga Yoga”) to quiet one’s mind and achieve kaivalya. The Sutras not only provide yoga with a thorough and consistent philosophical basis, they also clarify many important esoteric concepts that are common to all traditions of Indian thought, such as karma.

Structure of the text

Patañjali divided his Yoga Sutras into 4 chapters or books (Sanskrit pada), containing in 196 aphorisms, divided as follows:

Samadhi Pada (51 sutras)

Samadhi refers to a blissful state where the yogi is absorbed into the One. Samadhi is the main technique by which the yogi learns to dive into the depths of the mind to achieve Kaivalya. The author describes yoga and then the nature of samādhi and the means to attaining it. This chapter contains the famous definitional verse: “Yogaś citta-vritti-nirodhaḥ” (“Yoga is the restraint of mental modifications”).

Sadhana Pada (55 sutras)

Sadhana is the Sanskrit word for “practice” or “discipline”. Here the author outlines two forms of Yoga: Kriya Yoga (Action Yoga) and Ashtanga Yoga (Eightfold or Eightlimbed Yoga).

Kriya yoga, sometimes called Karma Yoga, is also expounded in Chapter 3 of the Bhagavad Gita, where Arjuna is encouraged by Krishna to act without attachment to the results or fruit of action and activity. It is the yoga of selfless action and service.

Ashtanga Yoga describes the eight limbs that together constitute Rāja Yoga.

Vibhuti Pada (56 sutras)

Vibhuti is the Sanskrit word for “power” or “manifestation”. ‘Supra-normal powers’ (Sanskrit: siddhi) are acquired by the practice of yoga. The temptation of these powers should be avoided and the attention should be fixed only on liberation.

Kaivalya Pada (34 sutras)

Kaivalya literally means “isolation”, but as used in the Sutras stands for emancipation, liberation and used interchangeably with moksha (liberation), which is the goal of Yoga. The Kaivalya Pada describes the process of liberation and the reality of the transcendental ego.

The Eight Limbs of Yoga

Ashtanga yoga consists of the following limbs:

The first five are called external aids to Yoga (bahiranga sadhana)

1. Yama refers to the five abstentions: how we relate to the external world. (These are the same as the five vows of Jainism).

• Ahimsa: non-violence, inflicting no injury or harm to others or even to one’s own self, it goes as far as nonviolence in thought, word and deed.
• Satya: non-illusion; truth in word and thought.
• Asteya: non-covetousness, to the extent that one should not even desire something that is one’s own; non-stealing.
• Brahmacharya: abstinence, particularly in the case of sexual activity. It necessarily implies celibacy. Also, responsible behavior with respect to our goal of moving toward the truth. It suggests that we should form relationships that foster our understanding of the highest truths. “Practicing brahmacharya means that we use our sexual energy to regenerate our connection to our spiritual self. It also means that we don’t use this energy in any way that might harm others.”
• Aparigraha: non-possessiveness; non-hoarding

2. Niyama refers to the five observances: how we related to ourselves, the inner world.

• Shaucha: cleanliness of body and mind.
• Santosha: satisfaction; satisfied with what one has.
• Tapas: austerity and associated observances for body discipline and thereby mental control.
• Svadhyaya: study of the Vedic scriptures to know about God and the soul, which leads to introspection on a greater awakening to the soul and God within.
• Ishvarapranidhana: surrender to (or worship of) God.

3. Asana: discipline of the body: rules and postures to keep it disease-free and for preserving vital energy. Correct postures are a physical aid to meditation, for they control the limbs and nervous system and prevent them from producing disturbances.

4. Pranayama: control of breath. Beneficial to health, steadies the body and is highly conducive to the concentration of the mind.

5. Pratyahara: withdrawal of senses from their external objects.

The last three levels are called internal aids to Yoga (antaranga sadhana)

6. Dharana: concentration of the Chitta upon a physical object, such as a flame of a lamp, the midpoint of the eyebrows, or the image of a deity.

7. Dhyana: steadfast meditation. Undisturbed flow of thought around the object of meditation (pratyayaikatanata). The act of meditation and the object of meditation remain distinct and separate.

8. Samadhi: oneness with the object of meditation. There is no distinction between act of meditation and the object of meditation. Samadhi is of two kinds:

Samprajnata Samadhi conscious samadhi. The mind remains concentrated (ekagra) on the object of meditation, therefore the consciousness of the object of meditation persists. Mental modifications arise only in respect of this object of meditation.
This state is of four kinds:

Savitarka: the Chitta is concentrated upon a gross object of meditation such as a flame of a lamp, the tip of the nose, or the image of a deity.

Savichara: the Chitta is concentrated upon a subtle object of meditation, such as the tanmatras

Sananda: the Chitta is concentrated upon a still subtler object of meditation, like the senses.

Sasmita: the Chitta is concentrated upon the ego-substance with which the self is generally identified.

Asamprajnata Samadhi superconscious. The Chitta and the object of meditation are fused together. The consciousness of the object of meditation is transcended. All mental modifications are checked (niruddha), although latent impressions may continue.

A note on Samadhi and Kaivalya:

According to I. K. Taimni, the cumulative and collective mastery of the eight limbs aids one in performing Samadhi efficiently.  Samadhi then becomes the main tool used by the yogi to descend through the various layers of consciousness towards the very center of consciousness.  It is through this that the Atman is realized and Kaivalya is achieved.  Kaivalya is related to “isolation” not because a relative being becomes isolated from all other relative beings, but because consciousness becomes its essential nature: the wholeness and fullness of the Absolute, of which there is only one. There is no other next to the Absolute; hence it is isolated. This state is the fullness, completeness, and total freedom of being (svatantra). Thus, the eight “limbs” are the means to samadhi, and samadhi is the means to the end which is Kaivalya.

I hope this is helpful to give you a sense of how it all fits together and where it is leading us – clearly there are lifetimes of cultivations ahead in order to master this if you make it your path!

By the way, I relied on Wikipedia extensively for this, and you will find further discussion of all of the Sanskrit terms in a relatively accessible format there.

- Contributed by Karali Pitzele, Radiantly Alive explorer extraordinaire – bio here

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I am a highly idealistic person, and I always am hoping that through my efforts I can change the whole world for the better in some way.   However, it is sometimes useful to be reminded that the real change is in myself.

He goes on to say, “We can be serene even in the midst of calamities and, by our serenity, make others more tranquil. Serenity is contagious. If we smile at someone, he or she will smile back. And a smile costs nothing.”

Indeed, when I cultivate this approach, which requires a consistent inner tuning given the onslaught of negativity in the media and our fear-based culture, I find that many doors begin to open in my life.  Money comes more easily, serendipitous experiences offer work and play which bring me joy, and I am able to find ways to contribute to the world that otherwise might not have revealed themselves.

And what if the best way to contribute in the world anyways is to offer our joy? As Satchidananda suggests, “We should plague everyone with joy. If we are to die in a minute, why not die happily, laughing?”

- Contributed by Karali Pitzele, Radiantly Alive explorer extraordinaire – bio here

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What would Patanjali have to say about using yoga to prepare for mixed martial arts?

Recently a friend wrote to me about a fascinating opportunity he had to share yoga with a mixed martial artist.  It made me think about the many varying pathways we can find into yoga – most of ours may be less dramatic than this fighter, but nevertheless yoga has found itself into a great many surprising contexts, and as yogis and teachers we can often contribute in unexpected ways.

Here’s the exchange between my friend and I on the subject:

Dear Daniel,

I have a question about a student I have, he is a capoeira teacher and mixed martial arts fighter, he is now training for his next fight and asked me to give him some yoga lessons to help him focus and to calm his mind as he gets nervous before his fight…now I am a bit indecisive about the whole thing…does that contradict with “Ahimsa”? Can yoga help in this situation? What do you think?? Please share your teachings with me…

Also, I am looking to deepen my spiritual knowledge in yoga, do you recommend any particular books for that?

I responded:

“I understand your conflict around teaching a fighter. My personal feeling is that we do our best to serve, to teach yoga, and then what anyone does with that is up to them. It could be that he’s coming to yoga for help with fighting, though in time, he might leave fighting to come to yoga. It happened like that for our friend Raghunath, who was just with us (amazing teacher).  And you have to do what feels right to you.

As for books of course the Yoga Sutra is great (Edwin Bryant is a nice translation).  The Gita is always up there.  I like The Fire of Yoga, by Aadil Palkhivala.  So many… I hope that helps.”

A month later he wrote to say:

Hi Daniel,

I need your advice again regarding the fighter that I’ve been teaching. There’s a regional TV station (MBC), which is filming his training for the fight, and they want to interview me as his yoga teacher and how it would help him with his fight…  Now the exposure would be great!  But I don’t know if this is acceptable in the yoga world… I mean yoga is helping him focus and calm down as he get really nervous before the fight, but does that conflict with our philosophy!?! Please advise me, the interview is scheduled this Saturday and I don’t know what to do.

I responded:

“Are you kidding? That’s awesome. It’s a great chance for you to show what yoga means to you, how it can work for anyone, how you are a servant to your students without being attached to what they do.  Of course make sure to point out what yoga is about, and your hopes for the world, though the most important thing is for you show that you are not judging him.  It’s all god : ).”

I’d be interested to hear other folks’ multi-layered experiences with this concept of Ahimsa too…

-Daniel

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