I hope you find these ideas useful to keep returning to presence without strain, struggle or self-judgment. Peace and health, rubén This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit simpleyoga.substack.com/subscribe
A simple way to establish a connection between our body, our breath and our body. I hope that you enjoy it. Peace and health, rubén This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit simpleyoga.substack.com/subscribe
In SIMPLE YOGA, we understand range of motion as the potential range of healthy movement available, including the minimum as well as the maximum amount of movement. Moreover, because this particular perspective on yoga emphasizes the importance of acting with awareness, the notion of Range of Motion is expanded to mean the totality of potential range of healthy movement that we can consciously do. Furthermore, to ensure that our yoga practice incorporates all aspects of our being, it seems most ...
An invitation to cultivate the ability to relax. An important practice to become really good at. Relaxation, beyond stress reduction, is important for our health. It is also the basis for meditation. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit simpleyoga.substack.com/subscribe
In our busy lives, there never seems to be enough time to pause because there is always something demanding our attention. In addition, our technology seems to invite us to engage with an endless stream of notifications, messages, and updates. It seems that we are training, consciously or unconsciously, to keep our attention jumping from one idea to another, from one task to another. For example, there is more information available today than at any time in human history. But just as it would no...
Y.O.G.A. As we embark on this journey, it is useful to define what we are doing. There are innumerable definitions of yoga. And there are so many expressions of yoga that it can be confusing to know what a person means when they say they are practicing yoga. One way to interpret Patañjali's definition of yoga in The Yoga Sutra is that yoga is our ability to modulate our ways of being, which include all of our physical, mental, emotional activities, habits, and inclinations, so that we can feel a...
I have been studying, practicing and teaching yoga for over 20 years because it works. For me, yoga is the most complete and effective system for cultivating presence and living a meaningful life. (I am aware that there are other systems out there, but yoga is the one that has worked best for me). Experiencing the benefits of yoga personally is what inspires, motivates and energizes me to dedicate my life to making yoga available for the benefit of others. I started the podcast as a way to share...
Weaving the Yoga Sutra: Health, Summary and application (part 6) How to apply the integral definition of yoga What stimulates your appetites? How do you satisfy your appetites? How do you feel as a result? Is there a balance between your appetites and your elimination? What are some effective ways to quiet your mind? Are your movements deliberate or are they mechanical? How do you regulate the intensity of effort in your activities? What happens if you follow Patanjali’s suggestions for calming ...
Weaving the Yoga Sutra: Health, compassionate interaction (part 5) Can the way I interact with others reflect or influence my health? How do I interact? …With myself? …With the people around me? …With family and friends? …With acquaintances and strangers? …With other sentient beings? …With my surroundings? …With the world at large? Is it possible that offering a disinterested helping hand to others can have beneficial effects on both the recipient and the giver? https://simple-yoga.org This cont...
Weaving the Yoga Sutra: Health, calm mind, cheerful attitude (part four) Does having a calm mind and a cheerful attitude contribute to your state of health? What is the state of your mind? Is it possible to modulate the state of your mind? What is your general attitude? Can you modulate your emotions? How does yoga affect your state of mind and attitude? Is there a relationship between a calm mind and a happy attitude? What is the relationship between calm mind, attitude and your health? https:/...
Weaving the Yoga Sutra:Health, optimal posture and graceful movement (part 3) How are your posture and movements? What are the reasons we have for practicing yoga postures and movements? Is our optimal posture likely to be influenced by our personal history, context, circumstances, needs and activities? According to the Yoga Sutras there are four components to the practice of yoga postures, including a combination of steadiness and comfort, effortlessness, and focus on infinity. What are the qua...
Weaving the Yoga Sutra: Health, appetites and elimination (part 2) Is it possible to integrate adequate appetites and efficient elimination? What are the appetites that you have at the physical, mental and emotional levels? Are our different types of appetites interrelated? What influences our appetites? Is there a difference between needs and wants? How does our elimination relate to our appetites? Do we eliminate what is no longer useful or do we hold on to it? Which ideas in the Yoga Sutras h...
Weaving the Yoga Sutra: What is health? A definition of health and its relation to Patanjali's eight limbs of Yoga How do you define health? How does your definition of health guide you through your daily activities? A comprehensive definition of health that broadens our awareness of health by including the physical, mental, emotional, and social dimensions of our being. Are all aspects of your being in equilibrium? https://simple-yoga.org/ This content is inspired by the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali...
Weaving the Yoga Sutra: Could this be your best moment? Would you trade places with an earlier you? Is your level of awareness greater than it was before? It may be useful to recognize that right now you are the oldest you have ever been, with more experience and wisdom than you ever had before. At the same time, right now you are the youngest you will ever be. Could this be your best moment? https://simple-yoga.org This content is inspired by the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali according to the book Un...
Weaving the Yoga Sutra: Choosing to be happy What is my perspective on the world? And how does it influence my ways of perceiving and being in the world? When I follow my natural tendency to move toward feeling better and away from feeling pain, does my awareness increase? Am I trying to manipulate the world to fit my expectations? Is this making me happy or unhappy? Wanting the world to please our changing desires, opinions and beliefs guarantees that we will never be happy. https://simple-yoga...
Weaving the Yoga Sutra: A mantra for presence Our words influence our thoughts and perspective. What words do you use frequently? Are those words useful to be present or are they potential distractors? What happens when we replace our tendencies to predict and worry with the mantra Let's see? https://simple-yoga.org This content is inspired by the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali according to the book Unravel the Thread by Ruben Vasquez available at: Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/1737648202/ #yoga #si...
Weaving the Yoga Sutra: Sensitivity and feedback Are you noticing changes in your sensitivity? Do you play internal games to override the common sense feedback you receive? Which do you trust more, the feedback sensitivity loop or your inner tendencies? What happens when you follow your sensitivity? What happens when you follow your tendencies? Do you recognize any of these tendencies in yourself? What are the tendencies you recognize in the society in which you live? https://simple-yoga.org Thi...
Weaving the Yoga Sutra: Distractions The most important skill to cultivate Distractions will happen, sooner or later, either a few times or countless times. Even when we get distracted , noticing that we got distracted indicates that we are present and that we are aware that our attention moved away from our intended focal point. What is important is to keep returning to our focus, to this moment. And, returning without struggle, effort, or self-judgment and with a gentle smile. https://simple-y...
Weaving the Yoga Sutra: Range of Awareness - Open awareness Open Awareness is the experience of being open to whatever each moment brings Would it be useful to grow in our ability to modulate our awareness so that we can choose to focus on an idea or object or just be in open awareness? What happens if you try this exercise several times? What do you notice? https://simple-yoga.org This content is inspired by the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali according to the book Unravel the Thread by Ruben Vasquez a...
Weaving the Yoga Sutra: Range of awareness - Concentration What does it feel like when our mind focuses on just one thing? Exploring the range of awareness by focusing our mind on a single object of concentration. When we try to concentrate on a single thing, most of us find that our minds are easily distracted. This exercise strengthens our ability to concentrate. This ability only becomes stronger if we keep returning to our chosen focus. What would happen if you tried this practice for a few ...
Weaving the Yoga Sutra: Rango foawareness and experiences What happens when you explore your Range of Awareness? Most of us find that developing our sensitivity to natural processes enriches our experiences. in yoga, we try to expand our awareness so that we can participate in our lives consciously and intentionally. We experience the world through our senses, and our mind makes sense of the sensory information it receives by using its archive of knowledge, misconceptions, imagination, memories,...
Weaving the Yoga Sutra: Complaining Do you ever complain? What do you complain about? Is it possible to modulate your complaining? Are our complaints a way to release a build-up of tension and irritation? Or is our complaining an expression of frustration because our expectations do not match the situation we find ourselves in? The first path is a very practical way of turning complaints into action. The second way to act is to see if our complaints are enabling us to improve the quality of our ...
Weaving the Yoga Sutra: Changing direction - Uplift Practicing pratipaksha bhavana in our lives A simple and effective way to turn unhelpful tendencies around. Notice the tendencies and replace them with life affirming and uplifting tendencies. Would it be possible that cultivating an uplifting attitude makes us feel happy and radiant? Are you curious to experience what happens when you immerse yourself in the practice of Pratipaksha Bhavana? https://simple-yoga.org This content is inspired by t...
Weaving the Yoga Sutra: Exploring resistance What do you resist? Resistance tends to arise at the boundaries between pain and tolerable discomfort. How does resistance manifest itself in you? What can we do when we feel resistance? Is our resistance a way of defending our sense of self? Is it possible that our resistance is a sign that we are trying to hold on too tightly to a belief or self-concept? https://simple-yoga.org This content is inspired by the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali according to the...
Weaving the Yoga Sutra: Range of Awareness in Ashtanga Yoga Can Range of Awareness be the integrating element of all the limbs of yoga? What happens when we explore the possible options available to us in the Yamas, Niyamas, Asana, Pratipaksha Bhavana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi? Can the idea of Range of Awareness help us enhance our sensitivity? And, what happens as we refine our sensitivity in all aspects of our yoga practice? What do we discover? https://simple-yoga.or...
Weaving the Yoga Sutra: Range of Motion, Action, Awareness All yoga practices offer opportunities to explore and expand our awareness. The notion of Range of Motion is expanded to mean the totality of potential range of healthy movement that we can consciously do. Range of Action is the complete set of possible variations along the many variables involved in healthy activity. Range of Action encompasses all the different aspects of you that are involved in the activity. Using your awareness to e...
Weaving the Yoga Sutra: Two natural tendencies Recognizing two natural tendencies that support us To overcome tendencies toward negativity it is useful to remember that we have two very useful natural tendencies that require no effort: Moving toward feeling better and moving away from pain. Become familiar with how they feel, what happens when you move toward feeling better? What do you feel when you notice pain? How are you using these two tendencies in your own practice of all aspects of yoga?...
Weaving the Yoga Sutra: Gradual progress Can you recognize that you are making progress toward your goal? Examine your past actions, are you moving toward your goal? Some of our actions may have taken us away from our goal. This happens to most of us. Noticing that we stray from the goal is an indication of progress. Would you trade places with an earlier version of yourself?' https://simple-yoga.org This content is inspired by the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali according to the book Unravel the Thread...
Weaving the Yoga Sutra: It's up to you Embarking on the journey of self-discovery is your choice YOGA, You Organically Growing Aware. Four aspects of yoga. Yoga cannot change your beliefs, dispositions, intentions, and actions, only you can! And because this is a lifelong, personal process, it is imperative that you make the conscious decision to do it for yourself. https://simple-yoga.org This content is inspired by the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali according to the book Unravel the Thread by Ruben V...
Weaving the Yoga Sutra: Natural breath, long breath Bringing our awareness to the process of breathing In this practice we explore two ways of breathing, natural breath, and long breath. We alternate between these two options, paying attention to where the breath creates movement. As you pay attention to your breath, is it easy to stay focused? Do you feel more relaxed and at ease? https://simple-yoga.org This content is inspired by the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali according to the book Unravel the T...
