January 1, 2014
The most repeated question for me, applied to every yoga-claim about the origin of the world or consciousness or the nature of the internal self-sense, is “How is this idea useful?”
August 8, 2013
By being clear about our subjectivities, we can begin to dialogue openly with the subjectivities of others, fostering “intersubjectivityâ€. If we don’t allow ourselves to be transparent, both writers and readers of yoga philosophy can get sucked into the quagmire of projecting and assessing objective authority, rather than sharing experience. And yoga philosophy is nothing if not the language we use to share the ineffable experiences of practice, regardless of who we are, who we’ve studied with, or what our goals may be.
July 28, 2013
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
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.