What is meditation? What is mindfulness meditation
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What is Meditation?

When someone says ”I am meditating”, this can mean a lot of different things to different people. Some people, for example, believe they are meditating when they go running, others believe the same when they are dancing to trance at a…
healing negative body image
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Healing negative body image

A round belly is a happy belly At the end of each yoga class, I guide students through a self-massage. These last five minutes are always quite special for me. Massage not only distributes the chi, or life energy evenly throughout the body,…
Vegan Spring Recipe

Vegan Spring Recipe

Creamy Asparagus Cashew Soup This vegan spring recipe is slightly warming for those days where we are still patiently waiting for the sunnier days. This is a way to include cashews into your diet in an easily digestible way. They are good for…
self-inquiry versus self-improvement
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Why yoga is about self-inquiry, not self-improvement

Embrace who you are right now As long as our orientation is toward perfection or success, we will never learn about unconditional friendship with ourselves, nor will we find compassion. – Pema Chödrön Ugly duck syndrome The famous fairy…
mindful listening
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Mindful Listening

“The best place to practice Zen is at a busy intersection” – Zen proverb Cultivating mindfulness requires nothing exotic. You don’t need any expensive gadgetry or accoutrements. All you need is to be in the here and now. Daily life…
the value of silence
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The value of silence

There is a power and beauty in silence. In the classical yoga tradition, the Sanskrit word Mauna means silence, and it’s said silence helps a yogi purify her mind; it clears the detritus floating on its surface. This is why many yogis take…
breath in dynamic mindfulness yoga
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Breath Practice in Dynamic Mindfulness Yoga

Breath is our most intimate connection with life. It enters us when we’re born and it leaves us when we die. It’s a constant exchange between the inner and outer spaces. It is a simple yet powerful demonstration of how deeply interdependent…
Yoga Practice for Hypermobility
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Is More Necessary the Better?

A Holistic Yoga Practice for Hypermobility Looking back, I sometimes think that if my mum would have put me into a circus when I was a kid, by I could now be one of those performers we call “snake-human” in German (aka Schlangenmensch):…
Zarko Andricevic
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Silent Illumination Meditation Retreats

with Zarko Andricevic, Chan Master “Silent Illumination”  is a simple method of practice to cultivate relaxation and awareness of the state of body, mind, and environment. Silence arises when wandering thoughts and conceptualization…
Wild Geese by Mary Oliver - air

Wild Geese by Mary Oliver

Wild Geese by Mary Oliver You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves. Tell me about your…
Mindful Movement
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From Mindless Stretching to Mindful Movement

Can a goal ever justify the means? Can striving to achieve a yoga pose, regardless of how you get there, lead to a nourishing and sustainable yoga practice? After almost two decades of practice, I can assure you that it cannot. Quite…
Let This Darkness Be a Bell Tower by Rainer Maria Rilke
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Let This Darkness Be a Bell Tower

by Rainer Maria Rilke Buddhist scholar, environmental activist and author Joanna Macy is reading Rainer Maria Rilke's poem "Let This Darkness Be a Bell Tower". Embedded from Krista Tipett's On Being Podcast. Let This Darkness Be a Bell Tower Quiet…