I hope you find these ideas useful to keep returning to presence without strain, struggle or self-judgment.

Peace and health,

rubén

A simple way to establish a connection between our body, our breath and our body.

I hope that you enjoy it.

Peace and health,

rubén

In SIMPLE YOGA, we understand range of motion as the potential range of healthy movement available, including the minimum as well as the maximum amount of movement. Moreover, because this particular perspective on yoga emphasizes the importance of acting with awareness, the notion of Range of Motion is expanded to mean the totality of potential range of healthy movement that we can consciously do.

Furthermore, to ensure that our yoga practice incorporates all aspects of our being, it seems most useful to replace Range of Motion with Range of Action. Range of Action encompasses the full range of natural possibilities available to you. We can define Range of Action as the complete set of possible variations along the many variables involved in healthy activity.

In this practice we will explore the basics of a technique called Brahmari - the humming sound of a bee - to explore options for the range of action in our breathing by listening to the sound of our humming and feeling its vibrations as we change its duration, volume, and pitch.

What happens when you try this?

Peace,

rubén

An invitation to cultivate the ability to relax. An important practice to become really good at. Relaxation, beyond stress reduction, is important for our health. It is also the basis for meditation.

In our busy lives, there never seems to be enough time to pause because there is always something demanding our attention. In addition, our technology seems to invite us to engage with an endless stream of notifications, messages, and updates. It seems that we are training, consciously or unconsciously, to keep our attention jumping from one idea to another, from one task to another. For example, there is more information available today than at any time in human history. But just as it would not be effective or healthy to eat food continuously throughout the day without giving our bodies a chance to digest and assimilate the nutrients we are consuming, it is not effective or healthy to keep feeding ourselves information without taking a moment to rest, digest and assimilate the information so that we can apply it intelligently. We emphasize this skill of pausing and noticing because it is the foundation of all the practices, and of Presence itself. The better we are at pausing and noticing, the easier it will be to notice our awareness and tendencies and their usefulness or lack thereof for being present and participating in our lives.

Y.O.G.A.

As we embark on this journey, it is useful to define what we are doing. There are innumerable definitions of yoga. And there are so many expressions of yoga that it can be confusing to know what a person means when they say they are practicing yoga. One way to interpret Patañjali's definition of yoga in The Yoga Sutra is that yoga is our ability to modulate our ways of being, which include all of our physical, mental, emotional activities, habits, and inclinations, so that we can feel at peace, integrated, and present. I simplify this definition with the acronym Y.O.G.A.: You Organically Growing Aware.

You. Because this is a personal process of exploration of our whole being and no one can do it for you because no one can have the experience of being you.

Organically. Because you are a living organism, and like all living organisms, you are a process that gradually moves from one stage to another. How do you do that? By taking the steps that are within your reach at each point. No need to force or strain.

Grow. Because you are a work in progress, you are constantly learning and expanding your perspective.

Aware. The most fundamental aspect of our being is that we are aware, we are conscious. Although our bodies, emotions, beliefs, thoughts, and memories are constantly changing, there is something within us that feels timeless, our awareness.

Our YOGA practice is a personal process of expanding awareness at the rhythm that feels right for us at the moment. For now, I invite you to reflect on this idea, especially to make sure it makes sense to you. Please share your impressions and opinions about this definition as a starting point for our practice.

Today's practice, what am I aware of?

Take a moment to notice the effects of this short practice. Next time we will explore a general guideline to guide us in the practice.

I’m curious to know: what was this experience like for you?Please share your experience, as well as your discoveries and challenges….

Thank you for practicing with me.

Weaving the Yoga Sutra: Health, Summary and application (part 6)

How to apply the integral definition of yoga

What stimulates your appetites?
How do you satisfy your appetites? How do you feel as a result?
Is there a balance between your appetites and your elimination?
What are some effective ways to quiet your mind?
Are your movements deliberate or are they mechanical?
How do you regulate the intensity of effort in your activities?
What happens if you follow Patanjali’s suggestions for calming your mind?
How do you interact with yourself?
How do my interactions influence my health?

https://simple-yoga.org

This content is inspired by the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali according to the book Unravel the Thread by Ruben Vasquez available at:
Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/1737648202/
Alibris https://www.alibris.com/Unravel-the-Thread-Applying-the-ancient-wisdom-of-yoga-to-live-a-happy-life-Rub-n-V%C3%9Fsquez/book/50532904
Barnes and Noble https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/unravel-the-thread-rub-n-v-squez/1139928755
Indiebound https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781737648208
Thriftbooks https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/unravel-the-thread-applying-the-ancient-wisdom-of-yoga-to-live-a-happy-life_rubn-vsquez/29003752/

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