40 days of Vinyasa Krama

Daily readings for the 40 days of vinyasa krama study group

Yoga for Life. When we think of yoga in stages what comes to mind? We may think of kriya yoga as a preparation for taking up deeper inquiry. We may think of the 8 fold path of yoga as stages of preparation towards meditation. We may think of the stages […]

Yoga for Life

October 22, 2021 in 40 days of Vinyasa Krama / READ by jennifer

Helpful or not? “ Thought divides, the ‘me’ and the ‘not me’, ‘we’ and ‘they’, my country and your country, my ideas and your ideas, my religion and your religion, and so on. The very movement of thought is divisive because thought is the response of memory and experience, which […]

Helpful or not

October 21, 2021 in 40 days of Vinyasa Krama / READ by jennifer

Where’s your head at? Where I live we have a saying: “where’s your head at?” meaning where are your thoughts/what and how are you thinking? In yoga we call this the citta akasha, the mental space. And in that mental space just like in universal space there is a LOT […]

Where’s your head at?

October 21, 2021 in 40 days of Vinyasa Krama / READ by jennifer

Contemplating the Eternal Yesterday’s reading was on the invocations we chant at the beginning of practice. First to Ganesh, then Patanjali and the lineage of teachers and finally peace between and amongst us as we journey into our studies. The first utterance of all though is OM. OM is called […]

Contemplating the Eternal

October 19, 2021 in 40 days of Vinyasa Krama / READ by jennifer

Invocations and showing up with devotion Every morning we begin our practice with a prayer. That prayer consists of three parts First is the dedication to Ganesh Second is the Yoga prayer or Patanjali Prayer Third is the peace chant from the Taittiriya Upanishad often called the student/teacher invocation Beginning […]

Invocations and showing up with devotion

October 18, 2021 in 40 days of Vinyasa Krama / READ by jennifer

Not This, Not This “What is it that:Air does not erode?Fire does not burn?Water does not wet?Earth does not cover?” ~Paul Harvey translation Bhagavad Gita 2.23 To come back to the basics again and again is a worthy endeavor. Samyama (dharana+dhyana+samadhi) is sometimes called beginner’s mind after all. A proverbial […]

Not this, Not this

October 16, 2021 in 40 days of Vinyasa Krama / READ by jennifer

The partner to practice This week we discussed the definition of abhyasa as being defined by a marriage of time, consistency and enthusiastic devotion. This abhyasa is related specifically to the mental practices of the antaranga sadhana (but of course we can apply it to the entire 8 limbs). But […]

The partner to practice

October 15, 2021 in 40 days of Vinyasa Krama / READ by jennifer

Quiet discipline “He studied a lot, he practised a lot, he taught a lot, our compassionate Guru Sri T Krishnamacharya” ~Srivatsa Ramaswami Sri Krishnamacharya during his lifetime lived relatively modestly. A householder he maintained a very simple home where he slept, cooked his own meals and taught his students day […]

Quiet discipline

October 14, 2021 in 40 days of Vinyasa Krama / READ by jennifer

Satyam Shivam Sundaram This past weekend as I was walking up the mountain behind my parents home the words “Satyam Shivam Sundaram” kept coming to me like japa with each step. It filled me with joy. It felt like a message, and so I made a note to write a […]

Satyam Shivam Sundaram

October 13, 2021 in 40 days of Vinyasa Krama / READ by jennifer

The products of ignorance “You do not have to struggle to reach God, but you do have to struggle to tear away the self-created veil that hides him from you.” – Paramhansa Yogananda Yesterday we looked at kriya yoga (also the last 3 niyama) and it’s relation to avidya (first […]

The products of ignorance

October 12, 2021 in 40 days of Vinyasa Krama / READ by jennifer

All the other “All the times” Having covered Sauca and Santosha, three niyamas (or personal observances- the nitaram “all the time”s) remain. These three niyamas are actually their own particular system presented at the beginning of the padah with the subject of Kriya Yoga. So before we look at these […]

All the other “All the times”

October 11, 2021 in 40 days of Vinyasa Krama / READ by jennifer

“It is well, It is well” Again, Patanjali categorizes the niyamas (personal observances) as cleanliness, contentment, austerity and control of senses, self study through scriptures, and surrender to universal awareness/humility. Of these 5 niyamas many might observe that contentment is the most most illusive to sustain. The deep wells of […]

“It is well, It is well”

October 9, 2021 in 40 days of Vinyasa Krama / READ by jennifer