Skip to main content

Yoga in Action

Organizations--and the people behind them--that are making a difference:
  
Yoga Gives Back  Founder: Kayoko Mitsumatsu

Karuna Yoga          Founder: Kelly Wood

Niroga Institute      Founder: B.K. Bose 

OC Warriors Yoga  Founder: Mark Akoubian

OC Yogis CARE Project

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Yoga and Religion--Time to Weigh In

Robert Mapplethorpe once wrote in a letter to Patti Smith a confession--Smith's word--about what it felt like to create his art. "I stand naked when I draw. God holds my hand and we sing together." You see, to me Mapplethorpe's "confession" sounds like an act of prayer. Drawing was his religion. When the Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh says that our life is a work of art, I think he is saying what Mapplethorpe saw clearly, that our life--what we do with it--is a never-ending prayer. This is why we try to write poems or paint pictures or take photographs or bake cookies or sew clothing or raise children who then want to create crayon-colored pictures of their own. Every act is an act of prayer because our actions, all of them, if practiced mindfully are that beautiful, that powerful, that divine. "Your daily life is your temple and your religion," said The Prophet to the people of Orphalese in Kahlil Gibran's book by the same title. So says many...
3 comments
Read more

ANNOUNCEMENT: Out on a Limb, live web show about yoga hosted by yours truly. Begins Sunday, March 2 at 2 p.m.

In Swami Satchidananda’s translation of the Yoga Sutras by Patanjali, the capital “s” sage of the text that explains yoga to the seeker, Satchidananda speaks of the secret of coming together to practice this ancient art. He says, “There is joy in being together, that’s all.” That’s the secret. No attachment, no expectation, and joy. This is yoga. Of course, even joy requires practice. As a dedicated student of ashtanga yoga, I am naturally committed to the physical practice, also known as the asana . While the physical practice has many traditions—Iyengar, Anusara, Yin, Flow, Kundalini, to name a few—it is important to understand that the asana is only one small part—one limb—of the entire eight-limb path that is yoga. The larger journey takes shape as we leave our mats, step out of the studio and into the world. I invite you to join me in a weekly 60-minute exploration of the multiple realms of yoga where we might venture beyond our comfort zones and go Out on a Limb to ...
1 comment
Read more

Right beneath our feet

It may be when we no longer know what to do, we have come to our real work, and that when we no longer know which way to go, we have begun our real journey.         --Wendell Berry Sometimes, life runs smoothly. I sleep well. I get my work done. I feel good about myself, my family, our life, the dog. Like Goldilocks sitting in baby bear's chair, life is just right. So good, in fact, that I attach myself to those good feelings and that smooth running life. Sometimes, life simply runs, as in it gets away from me. Events don't go as planned. Feelings of helplessness set in, occasionally a sense of hopelessness follows. Finally, I feel foolish for thinking that I ever had any of it under control. Once again I'm like Goldilocks, this time complaining that things are too hot or too cold and not at all exactly right. It's odd, but I get attached to those feelings as well. The truth is, I lose heart as often as I accept a challenge. I feel compassion f...
Post a Comment
Read more