YogaCity NYC

Step into the darkness of your practice by Yogi Aaron

A few years ago, before the winter solstice, as the days grew darker and shorter, I began to notice how my attention shifted to the “dark” areas of my life. I came to realize was that the practice of yoga can ultimately have the potential to set us yogis apart from others by virtue of the fact that we willingly address the untamed, secret and unmentionable parts of our own humanity through the…

Power in Bhakti by Yogi Aaron

For years, I never really understood Bhakti yoga and thought we practiced by spending the night with Wah! or Krishna Das singing songs to Rama, Sita and the gang in this congregational gathering known as kirtan. It wasn’t until I had spent sometime in the Himalayas that I had direct experiences with the practice and understood what it truly meant to be a Bhakti. During my second visit to India, I…

Yoga Gotta Have Faith

So many times in my life I have needed my faith to pull me out of some mess I’ve somehow gotten into.  As my business partner Adam and I have faced the enormity of Blue Osa, a Costa Rica Yoga Retreat on the beach in the jungle on the Osa Peninsula, our faith in holding the vision for the project was called to task over and over again. In the beginning, our lawyer stole $7000 from us.  On the…

The Guest Blog: Breathe Easy By Lauren Krauze

When I first started practicing meditation, my teacher taught me that the breath—ever-present and unconditional—is the link between body and mind. When we place our full attention on the breath, we pull ourselves out of the past, away from the future, and directly into the present moment. Or at least that’s how the common instruction goes. But using the breath to enter the proverbial here-and-now…

A few weeks ago I wiped out on the sidewalk. There was no ice. It wasn’t even snowing or raining. I hit an uneven spot of pavement, got stuck, went flying and skidded when I landed. Even before this I’d been having a particularly rough weekend. I was feeling a little down and having a pity party for myself.

At the moment I started to trip, I realized I was going to fall and that I had two…

The Guest Blog: Let It Go By Jess Marshall

I recently came across a quote by Daniell Koepke about only doing and being around what makes you happy. I really felt a connection and understanding to the quote with different situations in my life, some past and some present.

It is these testing times I find I really take the time to stop and think about where I am and how I really feel about life, I think about where I am at, where I want to…

I WENT TO A SHALA By Kathleen Kraft

I went to a shala to stretch and explore, bend and let go—uttanasana— let my will become a river— We rose for the sun then stood on one leg trying to meet concern with aplomb —balance—the ongoing desire, a glimpse of freedom’s soft field— Are we made in the image of the Divine? What is this Divine wobbling— my spirit supinating? What is before and beyond inherited traits? In the shala we straighten…

The Guest Blog: Choose Contentment- Don’t Chase It By Sage B. Hobbs

Sometimes it feels like we are all running a really long, fast, and hard race. Zipping around, trying to get “a million things done.” Never completing our endless to-do lists. And then feeling guilty about it. Trying to be perfect. To change the world. Oh, and to be graceful yogis who are present in every moment. It can be crazy making. Santosha can help us all to breathe, be grateful, and find…

Everyone Needs A Little Bit Of Cancer By Cynthia Kling

I heard someone say once – “everyone should have a little bit of cancer.” What? The idea threw me because I try as best as I can to stay away from the dreaded C disease by having my mammogram, watching my diet, red wine, blah, blah, blah.

Then my husband got some troubling prostate numbers –potential cancer down the line – and that counter-intuitive idea fell into place all of the sudden. I was…

The Guest Blog: The Divinity of Overwhelm By Nisha Moodley

For the past few months, I have been working on a massive project with a team that has grown to 18 people.  There have been a lot of “whoa” moments – times when I feel I’m being stretched in big ways.  More people, more tasks, more expenses, more complexity and more at stake than ever before.  At times, it’s felt overwhelming.

So when a client called on me a week ago to share that she was feeling…