The Art of Vinyasa: Awakening Body and Mind through the Practice of Ashtanga Yoga

The internal forms can be revealed through visualization, but it is also important to study them by establishing an embodied context for them.

the sequential joining together and separating of complementary opposites as a means of staying present, mindful, and alert to the feelings, thoughts, sensations, and insights that may—or may not—arise.

if we can imagine the feeling of extension up through the core of the body from the chest (or better yet from the pelvic floor through the chest) and out through the crown of the head, we can begin to avoid dropping the head back unconsciously and overextending the cervical spine.

The eyes are fully alert while resting on a specific point. At the same time, unlike many other situations in life when we look attentively at a particular thing, the quality of dṛṣṭi is steady, calm, and spacious—there is no physical or mental tension; no sense of drawing a conclusion with the mind; no grasping, avoiding, or naming the object upon

Prāṇa is perceived in all fields of perception and, like intelligence, reveals and creates context for patterns that arise. A basic axiom of yoga is that Prāṇa and citta (the mind) move together like two fish swimming in tandem. Move one, and the other automatically follows.

exhale. It sounds almost as if you were whispering the word ah with your lips closed. As we know, whispering can be intimate. When you’re close to someone, you don’t shout, and the ujjāyī breath has that same intimate quality, as if you were whispering to your beloved.

The buoyancy of the heart is so bright and distinct that the chin comes adoringly down as if to crown the heart. 4.

We practice Brahmacarya as a demonstration of our desire to live in harmonious relationship with others.

Compassion leads us to see clearly that since we are not separate from the fabric of the world, we are not truly liberated and happy until all beings are free.

Through the integration of Prāṇa and citta, intelligent movement effortlessly manifests within this maze of conditions that arise, and we are slowly freed from preconditioned patterns that keep us both mentally and physically entangled.