Welcome to my blog. These are quotes, stories, thoughts, events, mostly yoga and whatever else comes up. Pictures for sure and trust it will all get better with time. Peace and Blessings to all. ~itay

Sat, 8 May 2010 15:30:45 -0700

It is your rules that make unlawful beings. You would get along better if you would just trust each other to treat each other appropriately, but you don't. So you keep making laws -- until you make criminals of everyone.
--- Abraham

Clear as glass

Sun, 24 May 2009 08:26:14 -0700

How do we know what the right thing to do is in any given situation? From picking a new car to choosing the right sneakers to deciding whether or not to get married — how do we know?  A deeply spiritual person understands that we must to have the merit to see. What does "merit" mean? The word for merit in Aramaic has the same letters as the name for "glass". This is a code that tells us having merit means having the ability to see things clearly, without the illusion.  The next question is, 'how do we earn merits?'  The answer is simple — stretch yourself.  Every time you go the extra mile, pushing yourself an inch more out of your comfort zone, you are revealing Light which earns you merits.

Guruji 1915 - 2009

Mon, 18 May 2009 11:08:34 -0700

After a long illness, Sri K. Pattabi Jois passed away on Monday, May 18th. Guruji devoted more than 70 years of his life to teaching Ashtanga yoga and transformed the lives of thousands in the process.

To express our support for his family and the deep love and gratitude for all we have received from him, there will be a memorial service for Guruji at the Ashtanga Yoga Center, 1905 Calle Barcelona, Suite #218, Carlsbad, CA 92009, on Wednesday, May 20th at 7:30 pm.

Impatience and intolerance

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 15:31:19 -0800

"Impatience and intolerance are our greatest enemies. Removing fragmentation from human experience requires abolishing hatred toward all those whose opinions are different from our own. Hatred cannot come from the Light."
The responsibility for stopping the killing and travesties of this world is in our hands. By taking small actions of caring, by stepping back from the brink of separation, our efforts will ripple out into the world, causing shifts far beyond our imagination.
Today, make peace with your enemies. Or as Abraham Lincoln said, "I destroy my enemies when I make them my friends."

Led vs Mysore by tim miller

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 21:58:41 -0700

For a beginner to Ashtanga, I recommend guided classes. In the Mysore format, students can practice Ashtanga at their own pace with more individual attention from the teacher, which provides an opportunity to move into new postures when it's appropriate. A complete novice will be lost in a Mysore format and demand the full attention of the teacher, who needs to be able to divide his/her attention between all the students in the class. Guided classes give beginners a sense of the structure of the practice.
Guided classes are great for learning how to practice and also for the energy and esprit de corps that comes from everyone breathing and moving together. In this format the teacher is expected to provide some motivation, so if one's enthusiasm for practice is lacking, a guided class can help.
Generally, my most serious students gravitate toward Mysore classes, where they are expected to know the proper pacing and sequencing of the practice, and supply their own motivation. Once Suryanamaskar A and B (Sun Salutations) and the traditional sequence of standing poses have been committed to memory, then one could try a Mysore class.
Variety, as they say, is the spice of life, so mixing Mysore classes with led classes can be good to keep the practice fresh. Some people prefer being told what to do and when to do it. For these people, obviously, a guided class is good. Others prefer to work independently and figure things out on their own. For them, a Mysore class is good. But perhaps another perspective is that some independent spirits may benefit from the discipline of a guided class and some more dependent spirits could benefit from the independence that the Mysore format provides. The most important thing, of course, is to practice.