The Mirror of Yoga: Awakening the Intelligence of Body and Mind

Understanding viscerally as well as intellectually that everything is impermanent is terrifying to the ego structure. A great deal of clinging, remorse, and avoidance naturally arises in the face of this reality. But with close meditative observation of such strong emotions, by watching states of dread and theories of doom and oblivion that surface

The word tantra actually means a thread or a weaving of threads, and in the context of yoga this refers to the idea of weaving a net of intelligence

Whatever tradition captures our mind, whatever ancient, medieval, or hybrid form of yoga we find that works for us so that we may dig deeply into the nature of the direct experience, that is the starting point. If it allows real work and authentic inquiry within our own unique circumstances, it is the tradition to follow enthusiastically.

the practice is both an observation of what is arising and then a letting go of the frame we were looking through.

whether your yoga practice consists exclusively of sitting meditation, chanting, āsana, or prāṇāyāma, you find that the body itself is the medium through which you can discover interconnected avenues of awareness that lead to a direct experience of insight.

The ego desperately wants to do this because its entire function is to reduce everything, including the whole yoga tradition, to a formula that it can grasp and know definitively

There is a famous verse found in the Tejo Bindu Upaniṣad that says that a true yoga posture occurs when meditation flows ceaselessly and spontaneously,

As yoga students and teachers, we tend to become attached to and prejudiced about our own school and methodology. It is natural under most circumstances to identify with the club we belong to because there is a certain kind of security and satisfaction in that; there is also an inherent tendency of mind to want to feel that our own system is better

Yoga reveals itself when we allow our senses, our intelligence, and our bodies to unfold free of a self-image or any sort of goal or motivation.