Tag Archives: Iyengar

Dance in the Street…

What is yoga philosophy anyway?

“Yoga means union. The union of the individual soul with the Universal Spirit is yoga. But this is too abstract a notion to be easily understood, so for our level of understanding I say that yoga is the union of body with the mind and the mind with the soul. 90% of us are suffering in some way, physically, mentally or spiritually. The science of yoga helps us to keep the body as a temple so that it becomes as clean as the soul. The body is lazy, the mind is vibrant and the soul is luminous. Yogic practices develop the body to the level of the vibrant mind so that the body and the mind, having both become vibrant, are drawn towards the light of the soul…
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Though Yoga is often considered in the West to be only physical, it is also a physio-psychological and psycho-spiritual subject. It is a science which liberates one’s mind from the bondage of the body and leads it towards the soul. When the mind reaches and merges with the soul, the soul is freed and remains thereafter in peace and beatitude. If a bird is kept in a cage, it has no possibility of movement. The moment the cage is opened, the bird flies out and seizes its freedom. Man attains that same freedom when the mind is released from the bondage of the body and comes to rest on the lap of the soul.”
~ “The Tree of Yoga” by B.K.S. Iyengar
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Today I had an average day. I went to work, I left work, I went to the gym, I taught 2 classes, I went home and cooked dinner, I took my dog for a walk… but something happened on our walk. I had the urge to skip. Yes… skip down the middle of the street. And I did. I started skipping and swinging my arms around and really didn’t care if anyone thought I was crazy. It was the most amazing, liberating, fun thing that I’ve done by myself in a long time. So yoga has taught me this… with all the crap going on in your life, you deserve to make a fool of yourself and dance in the street.
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