The Centered Place Blog
Namaste! Please look around and enjoy the articles here. And, let us know if you have any questions!
Namaste! Please look around and enjoy the articles here. And, let us know if you have any questions!
I want to share a couple quotes from Swami Nirmalananda that are particularly relevant today. We shared these for contemplation in classes the past two weeks. “Your inner process unfolds in predictable stages, like the blossoming of a rose. You are growing into Self. Your early experiences of bliss lead to a quiet inner… Read More Staying on the Joy Wheel in Challenging Times
Easter and Passover celebrate unique historical events, but they have similar spiritual significance. Each is a celebration of new beginnings and revival, and of deliverance and liberation. While Easter celebrates deliverance from sin and a new beginning through Jesus Christ and his resurrection, Passover celebrates deliverance of the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt and… Read More Easter, Passover, Yoga: Renewal and Liberation
Published December 2024: The days are growing shorter and the nights growing longer. You know the drill! We’ll get through this, and that’s one reason the Winter Solstice has been celebrated around the globe for thousands of years. The night grows long, but just as the sun also rises, the days will grow longer… Read More It’s the Season (Every Day)
Published in November: Quote/graphic by Nanea Hoffman, author of Sweatpants & Coffee: Affirmations for Anxiety Blobs (Like You and Me) I like the sentiment of Nanea Hoffman’s words. Let it also be our wish – for the next few years as well as this week. “May we face whatever comes with… Read More Face Whatever Comes with Compassion and Grace
Published October 2024: Yesterday we took a ride on a country road nearby, and everything we saw around us was stunningly beautiful. Nature was her glorious Self. And given the quote by the neuroscientist and author Abhijit Naskar, all the beauty we saw was a reflection of what is already, and always has been,… Read More Don’t Miss the Beauty!
The following was published last August (2024): I like the depiction of August as “the Sunday of Summer.” Sunday is the end of the week, and August is the end of summer (almost). Sunday is a time for slowing down, for rest and recreation, for getting away, and for being with family, friends and nature.… Read More August is the Sunday of Summer
A man in a Hallmark store was poking through greeting cards for a long time, lingering from one card to another, when a clerk came over and asked, “Sir, is there a problem?” “Yeah,” he sighed. “I can’t find one card my wife will believe.” This bitter sweet anecdote struck me. Do you believe the… Read More Do you believe or do you know?
Every July Fourth we celebrate the day in 1776 when the thirteen colonies adopted the Declaration of Independence, declaring that we as a nation would no longer accept the rule of the British monarchy. It was a rejection of tyranny and, at the same time, an affirmation of human equality. Ideally, no longer would it… Read More Freedom and Independence: Outside and Inside
Welcome to the month that brings the first day of summer! It also brings Father’s Day and the 80th anniversary of D-Day, June 6th 1944. That’s him in the photo on the right. (Thanks for my sister, Marilyn, for getting it to me.) Six days after the fiercest fighting of the D-Day invasion, my… Read More Dads
If you know Svaroopa® yoga, you know that much emphasis is given to your tailbone. In every class, we teach poses that release your spinal tension, beginning with the tailbone. Why the tailbone? Consider the problem of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Construction on the tower began in 1173 A.D. A shallow foundation and the… Read More More About Svaroopa® Yoga: What’s All the Fuss About the Tailbone? (Part 1)
Phil (Krishna) Milgrom In Part 1, the focus was on the structural significance of the tailbone. Why does Svaroopa® yoga begin with releasing the tailbone first and then follow with the rest of the spine, from bottom up? The tailbone is not just an inconsequential (“vestigial”) appendage, as it has often been considered. As noted,… Read More More About Svaroopa Yoga: What’s All the Fuss About the Tailbone? (Part 2)
By Philip L. Milgrom, CSYT In conversations with folks unfamiliar with yoga, we often hear their hesitation expressed as: “I can’t do yoga; I am not flexible enough.” They might be thinking of a magazine photo they saw, in which a petite model was contorting like a pretzel. That is not the yoga you will… Read More Svaroopa® Yoga: Yoga for Every Body
The photo below and the following quote are from Swami Nirmalananda’s recent Facebook post: “Hasta Padasana – arms up in the air – brings up joy. It’s reliable. You don’t have to wait for spring. You can do it anytime. I planted these forsythia and now they’re bigger than me. That’s what I want all… Read More You Don’t Have to Wait for the Sun to Shine for You to Shine
Why is April called April? According to www.dictionary.com, one theory is that the name is rooted in the Latin Aprilis, which is derived from the Latin aperire meaning “to open”— which could refer to the opening or blossoming of flowers and trees. Another theory is that it derives from the Greek Apphodite, the Greek goddess of love. … Read More You Are Blossoming
I can feel it. I can see it. The earth, once frozen and dormant, is beginning to breathe again. Trees, left barren and ghostlike under the icy grip of winter, are starting to pulse with life again. Their sap is already flowing, and an aura of energy graces their crowns like glimmering garlands. Seedlings… Read More Springing Up