Published in March 2025 Spring starts this month. So March is considered the month of new beginnings. New beginnings are auspicious. The General Assembly of the United Nations proclaimed the first day of Spring as the International Day of Happiness. Daffodils are March’s birth flower — they are among the earliest flowers to appear… Read More Spring and Auspicious Beginnings
Posted February 2025 My tradition for the month of Valentine’s day is to recount the following story from the book Inspiration for a Life Worth Living, by Alan Cohen: Who Amongst Us? A mysterious stranger showed up at the door of a rundown monastery operated by several old monks who had become “spiritually… Read More Who Amongst Us?
Posted January 2025 Happy New Year. To that, a few of you might be thinking, “Yeah, sure! What is there to be happy about?” It’s not a question of being happy about something this year. It’s about being happy, period, no matter what’s about. Remember Sojourner Truth’s quote in last month’s newsletter: “I will not allow… Read More Keep Your Heart In It
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 2024: 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… 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
