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Having just experienced July 4th, a day commemorating us changing the circumstances to suit us, I was reminded by the conversations among my holiday compatriots that sometimes we can’t.

ISHTA Yogiraj and founder Alan Finger likens the reality to more of a bargain: you get x% and the universe gets y%. In non-math terms, life is going to hand you circumstances — some overarching, some small — and your job is to use affirmation or whatever plan you have (hopefully yoga), to meet the circumstance with wisdom and grace.

So it’s not that you can’t have what you want or you can have what you want, but rather, as you’re giving it your best, you can see with clarity and act with an eye toward transcending the circumstances to find contentment. That’s independence.

You can’t always get what you want
You can’t always get what you want
You can’t always get what you want
But if you try sometimes, you just might find
You get what you need

~ Mick Jagger & Keith Richards

I got to have an impromptu discussion with my teacher, Yogiraj Alan Finger, at his home in Williamsburg as part of the ISHTA “Ask a Yogiraj” video stream. We cover a lot of ground, including the role of asana, and finding a practice with the help of a teacher.

In my recent workshop for yoga teachers, How to Teach Philosophy and Meditation in Asana Class, I posted a list on the wall of Sanskrit words that I find make good vocabulary for sharing ideas in class. I’m going to define them over the next weeks, so keep posted. Here’s the Intro Post for this series.

Today’s word is mantra.

Mantra is a technique for altering one’s consciousness. The word itself means ‘mind liberation/transformation,’ and works on the mind with the mind itself. Explicitly, mantra is the repeating of sound or words, usually in Sanskrit, a language with carefully tuned vibrational sound (see the second bullet). Mantra works on several levels: Continue reading “Philosophy word for the day: Mantra”

In my recent workshop for yoga teachers, How to Teach Philosophy and Meditation in Asana Class, I posted a list on the wall of Sanskrit words that I find make good vocabulary for sharing ideas in class. I’m going to define them over the next couple of weeks, so keep posted. Here’s the Intro Post for this series.

Today’s word is avidya.

Avidya is a negation of the word, vidya, which means knowledge. Avidya, therefore means ‘not knowledge.’ As with most things in yoga, however, the kind of knowledge is pretty all-encompassing, that is, it’s not about knowledge of the A-B-C’s or knowledge of how to bake a pie. Avidya is the opposite of knowing the nature of who we are. It is often translated as “ignorance,” but as I stated in the  Intro Post for this series, one-word translations of Sanskrit almost always leave out significant information. Continue reading “Philosophy word for the day: Avidya”