North Star Yoga:

  How do You Sleep?  Yoga Tools to Help You on the Way to the Land of Nod   If you suffer from sleep disturbance or insomnia you will know how fundamentally it can affect every area of your life, from general health, immune system, weight gain to emotional state and your ability to think clearly, exercise or function. I know, I’m a poor sleeper myself and regularly use these tools to help me switch off a busy mind, relax my body and find sleep. Here is a list of tools, tips and hints some of which you may not have thought of, but most of which have the backing of sound research and evidence. It is by no means exhaustive, there are enough ideas to fill a book but even just knowing that there is something you can try does help and the more resources the better. At the bottom you will find links to some of my yoga audio and videos and to reputable websites for further information.   Yoga Tools, Poses, Breath and Relaxation Any position where the body is fold...

 Pranayama - What is This Really? A common misconception is that pranayama means control or extension of the breath, and whilst this is true on one level, and indeed your breathing will improve through exercises, there is a layer which relates to the underlying energy or vibration of the Universe itself....the juicy stuff. What is Prana? You will probably have come across this word used in many yoga classes and often we refer to our own energy here, but prana is so much more. Prana is the energy of the universe. It is everywhere and all pervading, it is the expression of the I-ness of unchanging infinite consciousness in matter, space, air, thought, action and movement. You were born with prana, your very birth was prana, your skin is prana, the food you eat is prana as is the table you eat it from.  However the quantity and quality of the pranic energy you have changes and flows continuously as you go through your day, with every breath you make, and as you proceed through li...

  How to Create Your Sankalpa 'Be silent, hide away and let your thoughts and longings rise and set in the deep places of your heart. Let dreams move silently as stars, in wonder more than you can tell. Let them fulfil you – and be still.' Fyodor Tyutchev, the Russian poet and statesman may never have heard the term Sankalpa but in this extract from his poem he understands instinctively what it is to listen to the heart, to find the heart's desire. Losing heart I feel sometimes that we have lost our way. The modern age makes machines of us all, dictating our waking hours, our rest and sleep; educating us to fit into an industrial landscape. And in this rush to produce, to advance, to be busy, we have lost connection with the inner life of the heart, the very part of us that makes us so beautifully human. The power of the heart How many times in your life have you heard the message of your heart but ignored it only to find out later that it was right all along? I k...

  Satya(m)=Truthfulness Satya is the 2nd of the 5 Yamas or moral restraints outlined in Patanjali's Yoga Sutras. It is generally translated as Truthfulness but the source of the word in Sanskrit is a little more than that. Sat means true essence, that which is real. In 2.36 Patanjali says        " SATYA PRATISTHAYAM KRIYA PHALASRAYATVAN"     "To one established in truthfulness, actions and their results become subservient"  Satchidananda in his translation and commentary on the Sutras suggests that the more we can lead a life of honesty, the more we will see results, that we need not run after things, that if we are always truthful, a time will come when all we say will come true! That your words become so powerful and clean that honesty obeys you.  Are we honest the whole of the time? Well no we are not. We tell white lies all the time to save people's feelings, to keep the wheels of relationships running smoothly, and sometimes to manipulat...

  Ahimsa: Non-harming Himsa=To strike  A=Not/negation   Ahimsa is one of the 5 Yamas or moral precepts outlined in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras , a body of work which has become popular (in western yoga) since it was translated in the 19 th Century and is really a philosophical work that underpins modern yoga. You will find almost no reference to posture or movement of any kind except how to sit for meditation, but much on how we should conduct ourselves through life. This is what Patanjali says in Sutra 2:35:               “In the presence of one firmly established in non-violence, all hostilities cease”               “AHIMSA PRATISTHAYAM TAT SAMNIDHAU VAIRA TYAGAH” It is obvious that most moral precepts are universals, ways of maintaining healthy functioning societies and non-harming forms part of the teaching of Buddhism, Janism and Hinduism, a...