Mysore Phoenix

Letter to New Practitioners: Challenge Yourself!

When I was first learning Ashtanga yoga, I often challenged myself to focus on different aspects of the practice. Sometimes it was a one-day challenge, sometimes a weekly challenge. I might focus on breath or bandhas or a certain transition.

  The first challenge for new practitioners, of course, is to get to the shala and put down your mat for practice. If that’s your current challenge, go ahead…

ASHTANGA: PARAMPARA – KAREN KELLEY

Karen, what was your life before finding yoga? ​ Life before yoga involved the arts — drawing, drawing, and more drawing, all through childhood and high school, visual art as an undergraduate (sculpture, specifically) and creative writing (poetry) in graduate school. I had no interest in physical pursuits — it was all art, all the time. That was my east coast life. Grew up in Boston, hanging out…

Mysore Phoenix Scholarship Program

I suppose I can’t rail about daily practice without recognizing that an obstacle to practice with an authorized instructor might be lack of funds. If a student sees value in instruction and practice, I want to make that available.

The Mysore Phoenix Scholarship program is available for people who want to learn and practice Ashtanga yoga. If you, or someone you know, would benefit from a regular…

First rule of Ashtanga Yoga

You know how there’s the first rule of Fight Club? There’s also a first rule of Ashtanga yoga. No, it’s not “Don’t talk about Ashtanga yoga.” It’s “Ashtanga is a daily practice.” Yeah, that sounds daunting. Who in the world would start off a yoga practice with a commitment to daily practice? You know what? I have no idea how it happens that some people dive right in and start practicing six days…

To Study the Self is to Forget the Self

Yoga in the form of action has three parts: training and purifying the senses (tapas), self-study in the context of teachings (svadhyaya), and 3) devotion and letting go into the creative source from which we emerged (ishvara pranidhana). – Yoga Sutras 2.1

Last time, I talked about tapas, the first part of kriya yoga (yoga in the form of action). The second part of kriya yoga is svadhyaya.…

Keeping the Fire Burning

Yoga in the form of action has three parts: training and purifying the senses (tapas), self-study in the context of teachings (svadhyaya), and 3) devotion and letting go into the creative source from which we emerged (ishvara pranidhana). – Yoga Sutras 2.1

I want to talk about kriya yoga (yoga in action), but first, let’s talk about tapas. Tapas is what gets you out of bed to practice, even…

atha yoga-anushasana