Blog

July 28, 2013

śruti and smṛti: intertextu-orality, phenomenology, and the so-ham behind the swan

Sensation is given, something we discover ourselves within, something we have been thrown-into: it is śruti. Thought follows, in language that extends through time backwards into memory, and forward into expectations built upon memory. Thought is smṛti.
July 21, 2013

Between the academic rock and the traditionalist hard place: finding the open source for yoga philosophy today

The feeling that yoga philosophy is an inaccessible practice is not only fostered by the current structural limitations of Modern Postural Yoga trainings (max. 20 hrs. within 200!), but by two deeper forces: the abstract academic study of yoga that seems to turn it into a lifeless artifact, and traditionalist teaching structures that demand faithful allegiance as the price of transmission.
June 15, 2013

Yoga at the Threshold: abstracts for feedback

I'm putting together a collection of essays entitled Yoga at the Threshold: Critical Meditations, for release in early 2014. It The 2012 publication of Threads of Yoga benefited immensely from crowdsourced feedback, so I thought I'd present the following abstracts publicly at this time to begin this process again. I'd be most appreciative of any comments -- confrontative or tangential -- that you might have to offer on any of the subjects below. Those abstracts that are in quotations are from essays that have already evolved through several drafts.
June 11, 2013

Writing about Gurus: Insiders vs. Outsiders, and Other Problems

I am aware of hundreds of people who say that their gurus helped them to grow, and to grow up, illuminated hidden resources within them, and encouraged them with the feeling of being loved “unconditionally”. I’m still friends with some of these folks. Moreover – and this is where it gets complex – I remember their story and its feelings from my own life, and I remember defending those feelings from other questioners and critics.