Five years ago when my third grandchild was born, my daughter-in-law asked me what it was like to be a grandmother. I am still thinking about the answer. Many grandparents say that they enjoy not having the responsibility of raising children but I have never...
When I go to India, I do so to deepen my practice which has been evolving for over forty years. I enjoy “listening” and learning from the energy that is there and getting in touch with it. I have studied Yoga with a few brilliant...
A student of mine asked me this question: Is it right that one of the unique experiences Vanda offered was “to move from the inside to the outside”? In all the books I read about Yoga, it is always the other way around – feel...
The Zen master, Thich Nhat Hanh, so aptly rewrote this famous quotation which all of us are familiar with. This new question is striking and timely. We know that in the world of today we must do our best to stay involved. Each one of us...
"Failure is an opportunity. If you blame someone else, there is no end to the blame. Therefore the Master fulfills her own obligations and corrects her own mistakes. She does what she needs to do and demands nothing of others." from the Tao Te Ching A New English Version by Stephen Mitchell...
Another Yoga giant, B.K.S. Iyengar, has moved into a larger territory. I would like to remember him, since he is such an important figure in the Yoga world, in a slightly different way. He and Vanda were great friends. I wish you could have seen the...
The first photo was taken by Arturo Patten and given to me as a gift when we were taking photos for Vanda’s book in 1990. Before she started, Vanda, as always when teaching, readjusted my body so it would be able to respond more fully,...
To do Yoga outside is such an experience! We have this opportunity in summer and it is very refreshing and regenerating. In the first years when I practiced outside, I realized that it took quite a lot of concentration. It can be very distracting: the...
Often in the world of Yoga, we seek a quiet isolated place to practice Pranayama as suggested by Patanjali. What happens if you do not find yourself in these ideal conditions? Would you stop practicing? No, of course not. You would begin to practice by...
Has it ever crossed your mind that what you is doing (your practice, your efforts, all of the attempts you are making to have something meaningful come forward in your Yoga), are pretty much in vain? It’s the practice and your spirit that need “allegria” as we say...