Raga is one of the five kleshas described in yoga philosophy. The kleshas are the afflictions that create imbalance and confusion in human experience. Raga refers to attachment, especially attachment to what we like, love, or desire. While attachment can bring moments of pleasure, it can also become a source of suffering when it begins to shape our sense of stability or worth.
Read MoreAvidya is often translated as ignorance, although that translation can feel incomplete. In yoga philosophy, Avidya refers to a loss of clarity that develops when perception becomes shaped by habit, fear, and long held beliefs. It influences how people understand themselves, how they interpret their experiences, and how they respond to change. Many forms of inner struggle can be traced back to this subtle misunderstanding.
Read MoreI was driving to work one morning when I saw a family stopped at the crosswalk near a popular breakfast restaurant right down the street from my house. I slowed down and stopped, expecting nothing more than a short pause before moving on with my day.
A family began to cross the street.
Read MoreThe breath is one of the first things people notice when something feels off. A stressful moment arrives and breathing becomes shallow. A calm moment arrives and the breath deepens without effort. This shift happens before most thoughts fully form. Breath responds faster than language. It reflects what is happening beneath the surface.
Read MoreThe yamas and niyamas are often introduced as ethical guidelines or moral rules within yoga philosophy. Many people first encounter them in a training or hear the names mentioned in class without much explanation. On the surface, they can feel formal or distant. In daily life, these teachings show up constantly. They describe how people relate to others and how they relate to themselves.
Read MoreThe koshas can feel abstract until they are connected to everyday life. When people see them reflected in familiar experiences, the teaching becomes practical and grounded. The koshas describe how we live inside our bodies, minds, and inner worlds each day. Most people already understand these layers through experience, even if they have never learned the names.
Read MoreAsmita is one of the most misunderstood parts of yoga philosophy. Many people first hear the word in an early teacher training or in a passing reference during class. It translates to ego or the sense of “I am.” The definition looks simple on the page, although the real meaning reaches into almost every part of life. When someone continues down the yoga path, especially through deeper study, the layers of Asmita begin to reveal themselves in ways that feel honest and sometimes uncomfortable.
Read MoreThe New Year brings a strange mix of hope and pressure. People feel excited about a fresh start, yet they also feel weighed down by everything they believe they should change. They write long lists. They set strict rules. They picture a flawless version of themselves and expect that version to appear overnight. When the excitement fades, the pressure grows, and many people feel like they have already fallen behind before the month even ends.
Read MoreThere comes a time in life when you stop trusting your own signals. You move through your days with a sense that you should be stronger, so you push through pain instead of pausing. You start ignoring the quiet messages your body sends because you are used to putting yourself last. You make decisions based on what others expect rather than what you feel. Over time, you lose the ability to hear yourself clearly, and you forget what it feels like to respond to your own needs with care.
Read MoreThere is a moment in yoga that reminds me of learning how to drive in the rain. The first time you feel the car slide a little. The first time the windshield blurs. The first time your hands tighten on the wheel even though tightening does nothing. You want control, but the road asks for steadiness instead. It asks for trust. It asks you to breathe. It asks you to feel your way through something you cannot predict.
Read MoreGrief has a way of slipping into every part of life. It shows up in the mornings when the house feels too quiet. It shows up at night when the mind will not rest. It shows up in the places where someone used to stand or in the routines that no longer make sense. Sometimes it feels sharp. Sometimes it feels dull. Sometimes it feels like nothing at all, which can be the hardest part.
Read MoreThere are seasons in life when you feel disconnected from your own body. You move through your day almost like you are watching yourself from a distance. You forget what it feels like to take a deep breath. You forget what it feels like to feel grounded. You start to wonder when everything got so loud and why you stopped hearing yourself.
Read MoreThe holidays can be beautiful and exhausting all at once. There is so much movement, noise, and expectation that it can start to feel like we are living life on fast forward. The days fill up quickly with plans, errands, and lists that never seem to end. Many people carry both joy and stress at the same time, trying to hold it all together.
Read MoreSome days the world feels heavy. People are tired, worried, and stretched thin. It shows in conversations, in the way we move through our days, and in how quiet the studio feels before class begins. Everyone is carrying something right now. Some are grieving, some are anxious, and some are just trying to hold everything together.
Read MoreMost people think meditation means stopping their thoughts. They sit down, close their eyes, take a breath, and almost immediately the mind starts talking. It lists what to do later, replays an old conversation, wonders if they are doing this right, worries about dinner, or starts singing a random song from childhood. After a few minutes, frustration sets in. I can’t do this, they think. My mind will not stop.
Read MoreThere are people who walk past a yoga studio window and tell themselves the same story. That looks beautiful, but it is not for me. They picture bending and twisting, lowering down to the ground, standing back up with ease. They think about their knees, their balance, their breath. They shake their heads. Maybe once, years ago. But not now.
Read MoreThere is a belief that to practice yoga you must already be flexible, calm, or in perfect health. You see it in glossy magazines and online feeds where the same images repeat again and again. Perfectly aligned handstands, deep backbends, bodies that look more like sculptures than human beings. These images plant a quiet seed of doubt. People look at them and think, yoga is for someone else. Yoga is for people who can already do those things. Yoga is for the strong, the thin, the peaceful. It is not for me.
Read MoreThe first time someone walks into Emerald Yoga Studio, they often pause at the door. Sometimes it is because they are unsure if they belong in a yoga studio. Sometimes it is because they are carrying years of stress in their body and they are not sure what will happen when they finally stop and breathe. Other times it is because they have tried yoga before and felt out of place. There is always a little bit of hesitation in that moment, a quiet searching in the eyes, as if asking, do I really belong here.
Read MoreShe told me before class even began that she almost didn’t come. She stood at the front desk, clutching her wallet, eyes darting between the door and the floor. Her first words were, “I don’t think I can do this.” She said her doctor recommended yoga. She said her back hurt every day, that her knees felt like they belonged to someone twenty years older.
Read MoreI remember the day so clearly. It was the middle of winter, the kind where the air stings your cheeks as soon as you step outside, and the sky looks like it has been painted in one shade of gray that never changes. I had been circling the idea of yoga for a while, telling myself I should try it, but also talking myself out of it every single time. I wasn’t flexible. I didn’t own a mat. I didn’t even know the difference between downward dog and child’s pose. Still, something in me kept pulling toward it, like a whisper I couldn’t quite shake.
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