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...

  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...