The Inner Tradition of Yoga: A Guide to Yoga Philosophy for the Contemporary Practitioner

A path is a mode of being in the world that is practical and accessible, yet challenges our tendency to maintain our habitual grooves of comfort.

the enemies in the heart,

always flawed by the basic fact that a narrative is simply a narrative. A story is just a story, and though we may call our stories scientific theory, theology, psychology, or even self, they are still constructed attempts at linguistic description and expression. The construction is what is important. This is well illustrated in a famous story abo

The body is not perfectly still; it is always in dynamic motion.

So finding the balance between steadiness and ease in yoga postures also requires playing with the limits of our physical sensibilities, because all of our sense organs are conditioned in habitual ways.

Any type of stress, whether it’s physical, mental, or emotional, causes tension in our bodies that accumulates from static, repetitive, or sustained posture. Posture can include physiological holding patterns, but according to the theory of the kośas, any postural holding pattern is both physiological and psychological.

Yoga is about how we can take in teachings and put them into practice; how we can sit openly with mind and body, breath, and stillness, and then let them spread out in the wide-open world of nature and other human beings. Yoga opens us up to a state of being where the world passes transparently through us.

Nonviolence of speech means that our speech should be honest and loving even when direct and strong.

teaching of Indra’s Net.