Saṁtoṣa, or contentment, is a pure and excellent form of happiness that spontaneously arises when we free ourselves from the mind’s constant nagging about unfulfilled desires. This niyama allows us to appreciate things as they are rather than being disappointed, frustrated, or angry about our current circumstances.

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.

When standing or sitting straight, this central channel corresponds to the plumb line; when lying down, we refer to it merely as the middle path or central axis.

Yoga āsana, when practiced in a contemplative manner with the poses strung together like jewels on the thread of the breath, is nothing less than prāṇāyāma in motion.

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.

But where subtle anatomy is most useful is in shedding light on levels of alignment and form that govern obscure aspects of the practice, such as Mūlabandha, and whole-body patterns that connect us from top to bottom. By practicing āsana with some of these patterns in the nervous system, the poses are enhanced, and perhaps more important, the

Good dṛṣṭi is awake, innocent, and attentive. Think of how a young infant looks intensely at something: he does not identify himself as being separate from the rest of the world, and he has few if any “names” for objects, so he is just looking.

the necessity, when searching for truth, not only of seeing God in all beings, situations, and manifestations, but of seeing all beings in God. The example demands we see through concepts of mind, not making one thing more “holy” than another (our concept of God, for example) or making something of lesser value (the excrement). This is the same as

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