Untangling from the stickiness of emotions
As I write this, my neighbour’s house is on fire, on a sunny afternoon, just outside my window, one street away. I saw the dark billows of smoke almost at the same time as I heard …
Category: Blog
Be true to your Self
For many years (decades!?) I struggled with the sharp contrast between how I wanted to live and how I actually lived, trying hard to do the things that people around me seemed to enjoy or find …
How can we cultivate trust in life?
“We must let go of the life we had planned to live the life we are given.” ~ Joseph Campbell Earlier this week, a student wrote to me with this profound insight: “Sometimes I have the …
A plea for mindfulness in mindless times
If we are truly mindful, we can see that nothing is at it appears to be. Looking deeply, as all sages have taught, shows us that the root cause of our suffering can be traced back …
Shedding light on our darkness
Om asatoma sat gamaya | Tamasoma jyotir gamaya | Mrtyor mamritam gamaya || Lead us from untruth to truth (from the unreal to the real), from the darkness of ignorance to the light of awareness, from …
Learning from Pain
“Only this actual moment is life.” Thich Nhat Hanh I have been in relatively intense pain for most of the past two months. It started out as the dull, nagging pain that briefly rears its head …
Learning how to surrender.
“Happiness is not a matter of intensity, but of balance, order, rhythm and harmony.” ~ Thomas Merton Dear students and friends in yoga, Our society is built on the flawed premise that the more you do, …
Time to clean up the house, time for a fall detox
by Katariina Bastos Consider your body as a house. The house your self is living in. As any house, this one needs regular cleaning and fixing to stay well and functional. Couple of times a year …
Peace is an inside job.
Happy International Day of Peace! Given our current global situation, it’s hard not to raise an eyebrow at this ill-fated UN Day of Peace, celebrated each year on the 21st of September since 1981. Let’s leave …
Healing and growing through service
“The underlying sense of uneasiness that we have now is actually a good thing: it is the expression of our sensitivity. Those who go through life without feeling ill at ease are unconscious. The uneasy feeling …