Come to Your Senses
Sleepwalking through your days? Shake up your practice and your life with the animating force of rasa.
The Yoga Sutras, widely regarded as the authoritative text on yoga, is a collection of aphorisms outlining the eight limbs of yoga: a prescription for moral and ethical conduct, self-discipline, health, and acknowledging our spiritual nature. In essence, these “threads” (as sutra translates from Sanskrit) of wisdom offer guidelines for crafting a meaningful and purposeful life.
Here, discover how to incorporate this age-old yoga philosophy into your practice and ways of being.
Sleepwalking through your days? Shake up your practice and your life with the animating force of rasa.
How many chakras are there? What do they look like? Where are they located? What do they do? Believe it or not, even the experts disagree.
How myths, meditation, and politics can reclaim feminism.
How asana can reveal—and help you overcome—emotional obstacles.
Women and men at Shasta Abbey work together to address sexism within the priesthood.
How ancient Indian teachings viewed the mind, body, and consciousness—and created what we now know as yoga.
A spiritual leader of the twentieth century, Jiddu Krishnamurti taught awareness above all.
It's so much more than what you practice on the mat.
How I went from a holiday cooking nightmare to self-acceptance.
Consider it a yoga book club of sorts.
And why they matter.
It can be so easy to slink into a space of needing approval or validation from others. Here's how to catch when you're losing your most authentic self.
Lilias Folan shared the practice on PBS long before there was Zoom.
Like turning metal into gold, you can transmute anger, hatred, and pain into powerful and transformative forces in your life. Here's how.
Yoga is more than bending, breathing, and meditating. These core principles can help you expand your understanding of yoga and yourself.
These asanas offer an opportunity to practice bringing satya—truthfulness—to your yoga and your life.
Practicing satya, the principle of honesty, can help you be true to yourself and bring power and authenticity to your life.
Understanding how our identities and experiences intersect, overlap, and diverge is key to creating equitable yoga spaces.
The true gifts of yoga are byproducts of the practice
I learned that practicing "non-harm" means much more than just being "nice."
Embracing cleanliness—in more than just its most obvious expressions—can transform your life.
I came to the U.S. in search of a better quality of life, greater opportunities, and healing. I found it—and share it—through yoga.
Understanding the concept of swadharma helps you follow your own path.
Here are three ways to practice Tapas in a balanced way—without burning out.
Yoga nidra helps prepare my body to claim the relaxation it so deserves.
Our physical, emotional, and behavioral tendencies—both good and bad—aren't ours alone. They're often passed down from generation to generation.
YJ Senior Editor Tamara Jeffries set out to answer some perennial questions about whether yoga is secular or spiritual. What she discovered: It’s both. And more.
Here's how to own up to your humanness when you make a mistake before the lesson is repeated.
Pratipakṣa-bhāvanam encourages us to look at the bright side. But "good vibes only" overlooks the lessons learned in adversity.
Go deeper into Savasana by learning more about its Sanskrit meaning.
In my practice, individual liberation is intimately connected to collective liberation. Learning from Indigenous people is a vital aspect of this liberation.
With the arrival of fall also comes vata season, which can bring physical and emotional disruptions no matter your constitution. Here's how to find relief.
Explore the final three limbs of yoga to reclaim the true essence of the practice—enlightenment.
When she embraced yoga's ethical limbs, Susanna Barkataki's life changed in surprising ways—and for the better.
For a long time, I thought my anxiety defined me. Patañjali’s Yoga Sūtra helped me finally recognize that I am not my anxiety.
The concept of oneness is a fundamental teaching of the Bhagavad Gita. But ignoring our differences is unethical—and harmful.
Tyagaraja is a little posh, a little blingy, and all about community.
Protecting myself against COVID-19 was my way of showing love for the people in my community.
Rajas, one of the three gunas, can show up as energy and motion—or anger and worry. Here's how to keep this natural quality balanced.
Check out Rina Jakubowicz's author page.
How the body, mind, and spirit can help you connect to your Self.
Connect to your higher Self with Bhakti Yoga
Who can benefit from your love and strength today?
How practicing Jnana Yoga helps you witness the world around you—rather than being caught up in it.
Use svadharma—living according to one’s true nature—to discover what you need in this moment.
Why tapping into your intellect—instead just relying on emotions—can help you find balance and ease.
Understand pratipaksha bhavana—the ability to see things from a different point of view.
Your 7-day journey to a deeper, richer practice starts here.
By surrendering the coveted title of “yoga teacher,” I became the student I had always wanted to be.
Namaste puns = cultural appropriation.
For starters, that battle wasn’t a metaphor.
Patanjali's eight-fold path offers guidelines for a meaningful and purposeful life. Get to know this prescription for moral and ethical conduct, and self-discipline.
How to interpret the references in the ancient scripture—and what it means today.
Anusha Wijeyakumar on deepening your understanding of yoga philosophy—beyond asana.
Plus, the timeless spiritual text’s one theme that’s most often avoided in Western yoga classes.
Teacher and author Anusha Wijeyakumar on how the Bhagavad Gita helps us stand up for a better world.
You may have read of people doing 108 Sun Salutations (Surya Namaskar) at the time of the spring equinox, or own mala with 108 beads. Here's why the number is considered so auspicious.
Here’s what you need to know to honor the elements, and connect to the healing power of earth, water, fire, air, and ether in your yoga practice.
Live Be Yoga Ambassador Cameron Allen talks about experiencing joy, or Samadhi, during some of the most basic everyday tasks of life.
Yogis and scholars explain how to cultivate happiness at every age embrace what each decade brings your way.
Here, teacher Rina Deshpande reveals the multi-faceted meanings of asteya (non-stealing).
Your emotions don't have to control you. Instead of powering through intense feelings or repressing them, try to acknowledge and deal with them head-on. This chart offers some simple guidelines to negotiate a kinder relationship with your emotions, so you can feel strong, balanced, and peaceful.
Teachers, researchers, scholars, and activists weigh in on modern yoga and how we might practice with more integrity and respect.
A myriad of historical information exists, so let’s start with building a foundation.
Oprah Winfrey believes that living for yourself is honorable not selfish. In her new book, The Path Made Clear: Discovering Your Life’s Direction and Purpose, she shares what she’s learned about setting meaningful intentions, finding your flow, and embodying your most authentic self.
A first-generation Indian-American yoga and mindfulness researcher and teacher reflects on what feels misrepresented and appropriative to her in modern yoga.
The written word can be a powerful tool for cultivating better mindfulness habits. Here, Kate Green Tripp of 1440 Multiversity shares three books that helped her get quiet, get centered, and accept love in her life when she needed it most.
Yoga is a process of spiritual evolution and growth.
The guiding principle of Qi Gong is the coordination of the eyes with the body movements.
This legendary goddess can help empower your aspirations and call forth the leader within.
Jessamyn Stanley is so over white-centric, consumer-driven yoga. Armed with a powerful social platform, and a whole lot of attitude, this yoga teacher and New Age thought leader has declared to the world that anybody can practice yoga. And she’s not afraid to show us how it’s done.
Rather than feeling guilty for not rolling out her mat every day, one writer embraced her hiatus from yoga—and it transformed her practice forever.
The moral and ethical principles that are the foundation of yoga practice—the yama (social restraints) and niyama (self-disciplines)—are especially important to think about this time of year. Here’s what you need to know about the niyama, and how to put them into practice.
Ignite your imagination and use all of your senses as a path to the divine with one yogi-artist’s visual interpretations of three Yoga Sutras
Our current political climate may feel more polarizing and un-yogic than ever, but there is a way to hold love in your heart for those you disagree with the most. Here’s how.
It seems paradoxical to preach philosophy over fitness before prescribing a boot camp-style class, but Stewart Gilchrist reveals why yoga needs both in its approach.
When it comes to Sanskrit, there are at least two camps of yogis—those who use it and those who don’t. Here’s why we’re with the traditionalists on this one.
Sadness and turmoil are universal. Learn how practicing deep concentration during tough times can lift the emotional burden.
Neal Goyal was riding on a wave of success after starting his own hedge fund at 24—until his lies caused investors to lose $10 million. Now in prison, he explains how the Purusharthas, or the four aims of life, are helping him make sense of his crime.