In the past, I wrote about compassion and loving kindness practices to support coming home. In case you didn’t know, these practices are part of a larger collection of buddhist virtues, called Brahmavihara. In pali, brahma means god or divine; vihara means abode. The brahmavihara are known as the “four immeasurables” in Sanskrit or “infinite minds” in Chinese. These virtues can be found in early buddhist texts and non-buddhist literature, like the Yoga Sutras of Patañjali. Brahmavihara includes the following four virtues…
Read Moreprana
Prānāyamā - Expanding Your Vital Life Force for Stress Management
Last week, lots of folks were talking about using the breath to alleviate anxiety associated with the elections. As a yoga teacher, these recommendations made me feel a little antsy, because breath work can sometimes retrigger people's unprocessed trauma stored in the body. My desire to decrease harm in breathing practices, inspired me to write a little bit about precautions and safe practices in breath work techniques from a yogi perspective.
Read More