Journal Posts
posted: 6/11/12
The Yoga Sutra offers a practical path for achieving the state of yoga--union between mind, body, and spirit. Join Kate Hallahan and the students at Charlottesville Yoga School for a free 90 minute lecture on this seminal text of classical yoga. This talk includes historical background and an overview of concepts contained within the text, as well as practical suggestions for implementing its wisdom in our daily lives.
[audio:http://www.ihanuman.com/media/audio/kate_hallahan/kate_sutra_1.mp3]
Listen to the Introduction to the Yoga Sutras Part 1 with Kate Hallahan
[audio:http://www.ihanuman....
posted: 6/11/12
For many of us, summer is a time that brings back pleasant memories of the carefree days of our youth. These were the times before we had to take responsibility for attending to the details, such as paying the bills on time, that keep the utilities turned on and life flowing smoothly.
Stepping into adulthood has asked each of us to assume both the freedoms and the burdens of becoming accountable for our own actions. For many of us, there are times when obligations to family, friends, career, or spiritual practice can seem as though they are compromising our freedoms. We may feel...
posted: 6/11/12
The days are steadily growing longer and warmer, and the nights are gradually losing their chill. Coming out of a long, cold winter, many of us are finding our energy levels rising and our calendars growing busier. It seems that every week there is a different festival or other opportunity to get outside and enjoy the spring breezes and birdsong. There are so many exciting events and projects happening that it can be a challenge to find enough energy for it all.
In the yoga tradition, life energy is referred to as prana. In the broader context, there is an infinite amount of ...
posted: 6/11/12
In these last few days it has felt as though spring is just around the corner. The snow that has been lingering for several weeks is starting to melt, exposing fertile soils to the encouraging sun. Because it has been a gradual warming rather than a sudden rise in temperature, the streams and rivers are not strained beyond their capacity, and flooding has been kept to a minimum.
We can see this example from the natural world reflected in our yoga practice. As the weather warms, our bodies often start to feel more active. We are coming out of hibernation and feel inspired to pour ourselves...
posted: 6/11/12
We now find ourselves halfway between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox. Earth-based spirituality celebrates the period from February 1st-February 4th by observing a holiday called Candlemas. One of eight fire rituals in the traditional calendar, it marks an important time of purification and passage. It is interesting to note its counterpart in the Christian tradition, in which the holiday Candlemas marks the ritual purification ceremony performed at the Temple of Jerusalem for the infant Jesus and his mother Mary.
Although the new year is said to begin at Winter Solstice, it does not...
posted: 6/11/12
Many of us have made new year's resolutions regarding personal qualities that we would like to cultivate in the year ahead. We can relate this practice of intention-setting to the yogic concept of svadhyaya, often translated as self-study. Honest, intimate self-reflection is seen as integral to almost any spiritual path. But yoga asks: can we engage in this process without taking ourselves too seriously?
Egocentricity is defined as the tendency to perceive, understand and interpret the world in terms of the individual self. Whether we are thinking well or ill of ourselves does not...
posted: 6/11/12
This is a time of year when it is common to find ourselves feeling a sense of overwhelm. Daylight is dwindling and our energy is on the wane. At the same time, social and familial obligations for many of us are on the rise. Whether we enjoy holiday gatherings or not is beside the point. Either way, we are being asked to dig deeper into our energetic reserves at a time when our bodies--and our minds--might prefer to hibernate.
If you find yourself having a difficult time mustering the enthusiasm to attend yet another holiday function, or feeling particularly averse to going to a party that...
posted: 6/11/12
Now is a time for embracing the Darkness. In a literal sense, the nights have become longer and colder; in a figurative sense, Hallowmas and the days that follow are the time of year when the veil between our world and the underworld is most transient, and when we are best able to shed light not only on our ancestral spirits, but also on the darkest corners of our own soul.
There is an aspect of opening to this Darkness that is frightening, hence the little ghouls and goblins in costume that are begging for candy-or toilet-papering our houses-on All Hallow's Eve. But before we can...
posted: 6/11/12
Paying attention to alignment in your yoga postures can be confusing. Lift this, drop that; lengthen here, shorten there; soften one side and strengthen the other one. And, in the meantime: don't forget to breathe.
For many students, looking more closely at alignment can be intimidating. Alleviate that stress by breaking the postures up into sets with alignment points in common. For example, in standing postures, we can say that we are either focusing on squaring the hips or on opening them. Although this is somewhat of an oversimplification, it can help students that are newer to...
posted: 6/11/12
Join Kate Hallahan, E-RYT for a lecture on yoga for women's health. Issues such as depression, anxiety, PMS, menstrual discomfort, and menopause will be addressed. This lecture is directed towards yoga teachers, or for yoga students with their own home practice. [audio:http://www.ihanuman.com/media/audio/kate_hallahan/Kate_Womens_Yoga_Lecture.mp3]
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