More “willpower” and effort are not always the path to positive changes.

To create meaningful change in our lives, we need to make conscious effort in that direction. We will face resistance in making that change because of our past patterns. Our mind, body, and senses have their own patterns that are often in opposition to the change we wish to… ...

An effective holistic wellbeing and therapeutic approach should cover important domains of wellbeing, as far as reasonably possible. The scope of coverage should not be limited to just a few aspects of the person e.g., only movement or only nutrition or only cognition. Further, such comprehensive modeling should ideally… ...

Philosophy can be broadly defined as the study of the nature of life, as we live and experience it and beyond. Psychology is the study of our human mind and behavior. Practices are the actions we do to actualize desired changes in our life. All these three—philosophy, psychology, and practices—are… ...

The heart of classical hatha yoga (~physical yoga) is not asana: it is pranayama. In the traditional pathway of practice, the work that we do in asana is a platform to guide us towards more subtle engagement with our body with pranayama as the next step. When we rest our… ...

On the topic of yoga in life management, some may believe it is only for monks or those leading an unconventional life. This is not true, despite some traditional schools of thought emphasizing monastic life as the path to the highest realization of the self. To be useful to everyone,… ...

Yoga presents a two-fold approach to the path of self-transformation, termed abhyasa and vairagya. The first, abhyasa, is what we do to progress towards the goal of yoga. The second, vairagya, is that we move away from things that disrupt our yoga path. The details of abhyasa and vairagya… ...

The most important role of yoga in our lives is to provide us with clarity and balance, aiding us in making decisions and navigating various aspects of life journey. However, we all know that keeping a stable and clear mind is challenging—due to the constant influx of desires, aversions,… ...

We all have times when we feel better, broadly: calmer, more pleasant, with good energy, and more. These states are what we term svastha and sattva, traditionally. They indicate that we have greater balance in body and mind. Yoga gives us keys to strengthen these positive transformations in our lives, whenever they occur…. ...

What is therapy? Yoga and Ayurveda use the term “cikitsa.” This is a Sanskrit word that means “to oppose or act against disease.” Caraka, the author of the most respected treatise on Ayurveda, defines disease as “duhkha.” Duhkha is a feeling of not being at ease. As a state of… ...

One of the fundamental teachings of ayurveda is to recognize pairs of opposites. Our natural world can be viewed through the balance between such pairs. For example, heat and cold are a pair of opposites in the external environment. It is only when they are in balance that they… ...