living your yoga

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But You Are so Healthy...
But You Are so Healthy...

As part of Pink October, we want to highlight the importance of self-care and awareness. This month is about supporting women on their journey to better health, both physically and emotionally. In the spirit of this, we’re sharing a personal story about navigating breast cancer—a powerful reminder that no matter how healthy we may feel, self-care and support are key.

Pranayama - Find Calm with Box Breathing
Pranayama - Find Calm with Box Breathing

Starting a daily breathwork routine doesn’t have to be complicated. Breath is one of the simplest tools to balance our body and mind—and it’s completely free! When we think about improving our health, we often focus on food and water. But we take about 22,000 breaths a day! What about the quality of our breath?

In this blog series, we’ll guide you through five short breathing exercises designed to reduce stress and optimize your health. The best part? You only need 3-5 minutes a day, and you can do these exercises almost anywhere.

Pranayama - A Simple Practice for Good Health
Pranayama - A Simple Practice for Good Health

Starting a daily breathwork routine doesn’t have to be complicated. Breath is one of the simplest tools to balance our body and mind—and it’s completely free! When we think about improving our health, we often focus on food and water. But we take about 22,000 breaths a day! What about the quality of our breath?

In this blog series, we’ll guide you through five short breathing exercises designed to reduce stress and optimize your health. The best part? You only need 3-5 minutes a day, and you can do these exercises almost anywhere.

chakra immersion

Metta Blog: Yoga Philosophy for Modern Living
Surrender to Source Energy: Find and Open Your Crown Chakra
Surrender to Source Energy: Find and Open Your Crown Chakra

Do you surrender to a higher power, or do you stand in your own way? Keep reading below to learn how to invite the divine energy of Source into your everyday rituals. Transcend the daily limitations of duality by learning more about the crown chakra.

Tap Into Innate Wisdom: Find and Activate Your Third Eye Chakra
Tap Into Innate Wisdom: Find and Activate Your Third Eye Chakra

Have you ever wanted to tap into the innate wisdom inside of you? Are you ready to learn the difference between the outer noise that stimulates ego and the inner stillness within your depths that soothes the soul? Honor your intuitive knowing by learning more about the third eye chakra below!

Unlock the Power of Your Voice: Open and Strengthen Your Throat Chakra by Marisa LaValette
Unlock the Power of Your Voice: Open and Strengthen Your Throat Chakra by Marisa LaValette

Cat got your tongue? Do you have a crippling fear of public speaking, or do you fear that people will misinterpret your words? Keep reading below to see how unblocking and cleansing your throat chakra helps you deliver your very special message to the world AND gives others permission to use their voices for good, too. Get ready to march yourself on stage to speak your truth. Which words from your soul does the world need to hear today?

Fill Your Own Cup First: Protect and Heal Your Heart Chakra by Marisa LaValette
Fill Your Own Cup First: Protect and Heal Your Heart Chakra by Marisa LaValette

Have you ever tried to heal a broken heart? Do you know that you must love yourself before loving others? Keep reading below to see how embracing your self-care practices for filling your own cup (or smoothie bowl!) first creates a positive ripple effect for the rest of your day. Get ready to put on your own oxygen mask before helping others. Love yourself first by learning more about the heart chakra.

Manage Your Energy: Cleanse and Strengthen your Solar Plexus Chakra by Marisa LaValette
Manage Your Energy: Cleanse and Strengthen your Solar Plexus Chakra by Marisa LaValette

Have you ever wanted to tap into the source of your personal power? Do you know that you are the only person who can empower you to exercise your will, but you worry that you’re leaking energy? Protect your vital energy by learning more about the solar plexus chakra!

Clarify Creative Vision: Balance and Unblock your Sacral Chakra
Clarify Creative Vision: Balance and Unblock your Sacral Chakra

Have you ever wanted to get crystal clear on the things you wanted to manifest in your life? Do you know deep down that you are a creative soul, but you aren’t really sure about the vision you’re looking to bring to life? Gain clarity around your creativity by learning more about the sacral chakra!

Foundations of Spiritual Living: Balance and Unblock Your Root Chakra
Foundations of Spiritual Living: Balance and Unblock Your Root Chakra

Have you ever wanted to begin a yoga, meditation, and mindfulness practice as part of your healthy holistic lifestyle? Lay down your spiritual foundations, and begin your journey at the root chakra!

Sanskrit 101 + higher limbs

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Sanskrit 101
Sanskrit 101

Do you find yourself looking around the yoga room when your teacher tells the students to come to utthita hasta padangusthasana? Curious about the difference between chaturanga and ashtanga? Then look no further than the list below, which has ten Sanskrit words to help you learn many poses that are often found in yoga classes.

Turning Inward: Samyama
Turning Inward: Samyama

The last three segments (limbs) of aṣṭāṇga yoga - dhāraṇā, dhyāna, and samādhi - are considered the subtler, inner limbs of yoga… three stages in a process called saṃyama or ‘integration’. The five outer limbs serve as preparation for this internal practice: concentrating awareness on something (dhāraṇā), maintaining complete and objective awareness of it (dhyāna), and staying with it until one merges with it (samādhi).

Pratyahara ("Withdrawal of the Senses")
Pratyahara ("Withdrawal of the Senses")

Patanjali’s 5th limb, is often explained as a ‘withdrawing the senses.’ Think of the idea of plugging your ears, closing your eyes, and singing ‘la la la’ when you want to avoid knowing something. But pratyhara is actually much more complex than just shutting everything out. The literal translation means to ‘draw toward the opposite.’ It is an act of redirection, as opposed to removal. A discipline, rather than a deprivation.

Pranayama + Asana

Metta Blog: Yoga Philosophy for Modern Living
Yang, Yin, and Restorative Yoga
Yang, Yin, and Restorative Yoga

What is the difference between regular (Yang) yoga, Yin yoga, and Restorative? The poses are mostly the same; the difference is the intent behind the practice. What follows is a comparison of six yoga poses: Paschimottanasana, Prasarita Padottanasana, Baddha Konasana, Virasana, and Upavistha Konasana expressed as Yang, Yin, and Restorative versions.

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Ujjayi Pranayama
Ujjayi Pranayama

Ujjayi Pranayama is called the victorious breath because of the expansion in the belly and chest. Practicing this type of breath perks up one’s confidence in a way that is reminiscent of a victorious warrior. It can also mean to gain mastery. On a deeper or more spiritual level, Ujjayi Pranayama is about achieving freedom from bondage.

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Sitali Pranayama
Sitali Pranayama

Sitali Pranayama, often called “the cooling breath,” is a breath practice that cools the body and has a calming effect on the nervous system. This breath is going to be particularly helpful for those of us in California and the West effected by the deteriorating air quality from the current wildfires.

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Kapalabhati
Kapalabhati

Kapalabhati is a rigorous practice of the breath and body; it is intended to build heat in the deep core and radiant heat out the skull. Game to give it a try? Have a sense of humor with this one and keep at it.

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Lion's Breath
Lion's Breath

The lion represents courage, and the root word of courage is heart. Practicing this pranayama can help you stay open when you want to close, when you want to shut down, when your default reaction is to shrink and hide. Lion’s breath is for anyone who could benefit from clearing out some space, stepping into it, and owning it.

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Nadi Shodhana (Alternate Nostril Breathing)
Nadi Shodhana (Alternate Nostril Breathing)

Metta’s blog is moving into explorations of pranayama (breathing practices). There’s really no better time to practice various breathing exercises than right now. Particularly in this time of global pandemic, as the world around us at times feels crazy, scary and unpredictable, using the breath to center and ground ourselves is especially powerful.

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Asana: Chandra Namaskar (Moon Salute)
Asana: Chandra Namaskar (Moon Salute)

This month we move from the heat of the sun and our sun salutes (Surya Namaskar), to the cooler, softer, more nurturing side of our cycle, the moon. I’ve shared with you my favorite variation of Chandra Namaskar. I find it helpful in calming my nervous system and returning to my center, particularly useful right now.

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Asana: Surya Namaskar B
Asana: Surya Namaskar B

Surya Namaskar B (or Sun B) is a Vinyasa sequence that builds on Sun A, featured in our February blog. In the Ashtanga Primary Series, Sun B is repeated five times, right after opening with five cycles of Sun A. The Surya (sun) Namaskar (greeting someone with deep respect) B continues to warm up the body and soften the mind by keeping the movements in sync with the breath.

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Asana: Surya Namaskar A
Asana: Surya Namaskar A

The Sun Salutation to invoke warmth, integrity, and breath. Surya Namaskar A is the backbone of many yogic practices. Traditionally practiced to greet the sun (Surya in Sanskrit), this dynamic, breath-driven practice invites us to bow to the light within while finding connection to the natural world around us.

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Yamas + Niyamas

Metta Blog: Yoga Philosophy for Modern Living
Isvara Pranidhana
Isvara Pranidhana

And so we reach the last of the Yamas and Niyamas, Isvara Pranidhana.  I’ll be honest, I find this one tricky to articulate.  It is one of the Yamas and Niyamas that I grapple with and yet it is one that speaks to me most often.  Something tells me it holds the key to resting in a quiet peacefulness that I associate with the state of yoga.

Svadhyaya
Svadhyaya

Svadhyaya, the fourth Niyama of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, means ‘self-study.’  This process of getting to know your emotional and soul interior is central to the yogi’s path for many reasons.

Tapas
Tapas

Tapas literally means to burn.  Within the yoga practice, it often refers to pranayama with an emphasis on heat.  Both on and off the mat, Tapas is that fire within us that makes us come alive.  For many of us, the practice of yoga has cultivated a fire that can’t be tamed.

Santosha
Santosha

Don't block the bliss!  Practice Santosha, the nectar of Yoga that draws many practitioners back to the mat over and over again.  Santosha can exist as a physical sensation that is produced within the body and the psyche post practice.  Among other benefits, Santosha resets the nervous system and produces a feeling of calm and contentment with what is.

Saucha
Saucha

Saucha means purity or cleanliness. The first of the Niyamas - the internal code of conduct and second limb of Patanjali's Sutras. Are the most important corners of the space that you reside in every day being cleaned and tidied? 

Aparigraha
Aparigraha

We hold on because we are afraid of change, we prefer our comfort zone. We like to have control, or think we have control, of how things will be.  Our ego feeds on grasping.  Read on for examples of how to practice non-grasping.

Brahmacharya
Brahmacharya

Brahmacharya is the art and practice of “seeing the sacred in the ordinary and the ordinary in the sacred.”  - Deborah Adele

Asteya
Asteya

This month’s Yama is all about not stealing from ourselves and others. Asteya is about how we treat ourselves and the people closest to us. It is one of the foundational ethics for how to live a happier life, now!

Satya
Satya

Truth is often in the eye of the beholder, a gray area that is interpreted by each individual. Discerning what is "true" or "right" is often based upon our history, the story we tell ourselves in our mind and our influencers. Truth exists in a myriad of shades and colors, but only we choose what truth really means. 

Ahimsa
Ahimsa

We have created this blog for those of you looking to take your yoga beyond the asana practice.  Learn with us as we explore yoga philosophy, starting with the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. The first limb of the Sutras is called the "Yamas," and the second is called the "Niyamas." We start with the first Yama -- Ahimsa. Join us on this journey!