Fresh:

New thinking about what we’re eating.

Food, Inc.:

Support healthy food choices in schools: sign petition.

Sri Vatsa Ramaswami:

An excerpt from Alex Medin’s Blog – read full post here.

The practice of Hatha Yoga, [Sri Vatsa Ramaswami] claims Krishnamacharya (KM) told him, should eventually lead to Bhakti Yoga. When no other thing is important, than to see, worship and experience the love of the Divine in everything that exists and everything we do.

The final peak of yogic awareness Ramaswami claims can only be reached in high stages of meditation, but for that to actually happen, there is plenty of work to do in order to remove many of the obstructing layers that prevents us from seeing it.

The most important aspect of the practice of Yoga he consider to be Dhyana, the uninterrupted flow of one-pointedness that gives the mind the focus it needs to experience its inert nature. But for this to happen we need proper practice, then it will all gradually be revealed to us.

When we talk further about the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali he is quick to admit that he shares the view of his great mentor that "Ishvara Pranidhaanaad vaa" (Yoga may also arise from a total surrender to God) is the easiest way to experience the true meaning of Yoga and refer to how KM made a paraphrase of the sutra and simply called it "Ishwara Eva" (Only God [is Yoga]).

R. Sharath Closing Prayer:

via www.ayny.org

Guruji Talks via Ashtanga Yoga Sangha:

… After, deathing (you are dying) one day, what can you do? Your wife is deathing (also dying) … Is your wife coming with you? Is your name (fame) coming with you? Why? What is the use. That is why you put it, your mind, with your Guru’s feet. Every day pray. You take practice. Is given (by) God good nature and good habits. That is real. Do you understand? …

photos via www.aysnyc.org

Nama Rupa issue #7:

In this issue:
• Richard Freeman on the Bhagavad Gita
• Saraswathi Interview by Nick Evans
• Jyotisha by Dr. Robert Svoboda, and much more…

Available at Ashtanga Yoga Bend.

Sri K. Pattabhi Jois on Ashtanga Yoga:

“Abhyasa: You can take practice, don’t talk.”

Plastic Oceans:

“Our oceans are turning into plastic…are we?”

“It began with a line of plastic bags ghosting the surface, followed by an ugly tangle of junk: nets and ropes and bottles, motor-oil jugs and cracked bath toys, a mangled tarp. Tires. A traffic cone. Moore could not believe his eyes. Out here in this desolate place, the water was a stew of plastic crap. It was as though someone had taken the pristine seascape of his youth and swapped it for a landfill.”

via Best Life Magazine

Tibetan Buddhist Chanting:

Geshe Kunkhen reciting the Buddhist Heart Sutra.

Authentic Tibetan chanting!

Vedic Chanting:

Challakere Brothers reciting Vedic Hymns from Medha Sukta … at Karanji Anjaneya Swami temple in Bangalore.

Authentic Vedic chanting…

sample more here: kannadaaudio.com & ayb

Guruji’s 92nd Birthday Photos:

via Govinda Kai’s flickr photos…

Picture of the Year:

Guruji’s Web-site:

Shri K. Pattabhi Jois Ashtanga Yoga Institute

[ photo via www.kpjayi.org ]

Saraswathi’s Ashtanga Web-site:

Quotes from www.saraswatiashtanga.com:

“A stiff body has a good potential for learning Yoga. A flexible body is usually more caught up in Bhoga.”

On being a mother: “It took me ten years to learn the asanas well, then two children to forget about it, but the Yogic experience I got from that was more than any asana could ever give me.”

“She is the steady link in the Jois family that looks after her father as well as her son, keeps them in line and makes sure they behave properly.”

Ashtanga Yogin R. Sharath:

Sri Pattabhi Jois & Mr. Iyengar Gather Socially:

According to The Hindu: It was a nostalgic reunion for two well-known Yoga exponents... Iyengar visited Mysore on Tuesday [26 July] to meet his childhood friend K. Pattabhi Jois, who celebrated his 90th birthday recently... [They] savoured memories of the days when they learnt the art from Krishnamacharya... They also drew comparison between ... the amount of time they spent learning Yoga before they started teaching it. They regretted that today, teachers with only two years of training handle yoga classes.

Garlic Not a Yogic Food:

You may have heard that garlic is contraindicated for yoga practice & meditation and thought, “but garlic is so good for you.” Read Reuters report on the newest vigorous scientific testing of this herb. Conclusion: Trust ancient yogic knowledge.