Mysore week with Luke Jordan This week I am attending a 6 day Ashtanga Mysore workshop under guidance of Luke Jordan. I wake up at 4.30 am in Utrecht, the Netherlands, where I am currently living. After a bike drive in half sleepy state, I reunite at 5.15 am with colleague yoga teachers. We drive … Read more
THE BHAGAVAD GITA: KARMA YOGA #3 Written by Estella Vall The Bhagavad Gita’s yoga is something nearly every human participates in, to one degree or another, in one form or another. But people just don’t know it. These are the characterizations Krishna gives to yoga in the Bhagavad Gita: Clear, discerning, totally voluntary, dynamic … Read more
THE BHAGAVAD GITA: KARMA YOGA #2 Written by Estella Vall Simply put, one doesn’t get emotionally involved in the action being performed, becoming overly excited, upset or angry when the result of an action is not as expected. Gita also talks about “Meta-Karma Yoga”, which means not getting irritated, annoyed or unhappy when one gets … Read more
THE BHAGAVAD GITA: KARMA YOGA #1 Written by Estella Vall The Bhagavad Gita is one of the world-scriptures today. It guides the lives of people all around the world. Mahatma Gandhi regarded it as the “Mother”, to whom the humanity turned when in distress. The Bhagavad Gita, often referred to as simply the Gita, is a 700-verse sacred Sanskrit scripture of Hinduism part … Read more
Meditation for health benefits #2 Written by Estella Vall Below, we talk about meditation health benefits mentioning different studies that have come out in the last few years to show that meditation produces measurable changes in our brain: A study from UCLA found that long-term meditators had better-preserved brains than those who don’t meditate as they … Read more
Written by Estella Vall Meditation for health benefits #1 There’s a lot of evidence that meditation may do some good for those people who practice it on a regular basis, it can improve our energy, creative thinking, stress levels and even our success. The meditation-and-the-brain research has been active for a number of years now, … Read more
Written by Estella Vall Only approach your past and future on the level of the present moment It’s easy to get stuck dwelling on the past. Or you might sit around waiting for the future to come along and save you. You hope that someone will find you, a great job will come knocking on … Read more
Written by Estella Vall “There is no better time than the present” predicts Eckhart Tolle, writer of the best-selling book The Power of Now: A guide to spiritual enlightment. The Power of Now has been recognized as one of the most influential spiritual books of our time. The book has helped a large number people … Read more
Ishvara Pranidhana – written by Sophie Nusselder – Success in the trance comes by complete surrender to God* – Iswara Paranidhana means ‘surrender’. Practicing yoga helpes us realize we are not the masters of this universe. There is a wisdom and strength where everything comes from. In all major yoga philosophies surrender (bhakti) is regarded as the essence … Read more
Svadhyaya – written by Sophie Nusselder- By self-observation, union with the desired deity is brought about*. Svadhyaya literally means’ self-study of scriptures. But it also has a broader meaning as ‘self-reflection’. In the former post I wrote Tapas is the key element of a yoga practice: it is the transforming heat that burns away impurities. The purification … Read more