I don’t have visions or hear voices when I meditate. I can’t really say I’ve felt a “sense of oneness.” I’m not striving for enlightenment or trying to achieve a state of perpetual euphoria. And I’ve yet to empty my mind (my favorite misconception about meditation). My reason for meditating is much more practical: I […]
In Real Happiness, Sharon Salzburg says that meditation is like “trying to split a huge piece of wood with a small ax. You hit that piece of wood ninety-nine times and nothing happens. Then you hit it the one hundredth time and it splits open.” She adds that it wasn’t the hundredth hit that […]
Stress has a bad rap. The right amount of stress at the right time, however, is key for our survival, our growth, and our happiness. A stressful event triggers our body’s stress response. The response ranges from jolting us into action in a life-threatening emergency to driving us to reach our goals and tackling our […]
This year, one of my professional resolutions has been weekly blog posts. As you can see, I’m on a roll! The Mastermind Group I joined has helped keep me accountable. I have a self-imposed deadline to post by the morning of our meeting. Then I can report my success to the group every week. But […]
Ishvara Pranidhana, surrender, is the last of the Niyamas. It means having faith that everything will always turn out exactly the way it’s supposed to. Faith is not an excuse to sit idly by and let life happen to you, nor is it a fatalist “nothing I do matters anyway” philosophy. It’s about balance: striving […]
Svadhyaya, self-study is the forth Niyama. This is the process of knowing ourselves, our true selves. We practice Svadhaya by reading, learning, meditating, and reflecting. As we study various subjects, from spirituality and philosophy, to science, art, and history, we understand ourselves better. A meditation practice helps us uncover the ego that is blocking us […]
Tapas, self-discipline, is the third Niyama. Tapas literally means heat. Transformation requires heat. Dough is baked in the oven to form bread, clay is fired in the kiln to create pottery, iron and glass are passed through the flames so that they may be molded and shaped. So too must we hold ourselves to the […]
Santosha, contentment, is the second Niyama. Being content means being happy with the present moment just as it is. It’s knowing that happiness comes from within and that no one or nothing external can make us happy. Santosha is about accepting without judgement and moving past the mindset that says I’ll be happy when… But […]
The Niyamas, or observances, tell us what qualities to cultivate. Saucha, cleanliness or purification, is the first Niyama. We cleanse the external by picking up after ourselves at the yoga studio; putting our weights away when we’re finished at the gym; and keeping our home clean and uncluttered. We purify the internal with meditation; being […]
Aparigraha, non-attachment, is the fifth Yama. We can become attached to anything, people, possessions, expectations about how life should be, our physical appearance, our routine, and even our journey toward enlightenment. When we cling to these, we can go to great lengths to avoid losing them. Aparigraha teaches us that rather than fearing an inevitable […]