In this episode of Chat & Chai: Yoga Talks from Miami Life Center, Alexandra Santos goes into the 7th limb of Ashtanga Yoga – Dhyana, or meditation. Her meditation practice of over 10 years has been a significant influence in her practice, She completed her meditation program under the guidance of Swami Brahmavidyananda Saraswati. Alex is our early morning mysore teacher. Her devotion to the practice of Ashtanga Yoga is an inspiration to her students on a daily basis.
Tune in as Alex breaks down this limb of Ashtanga Yoga in relation to the other limbs. Listen in as Miami Life Center students ask their questions and feel free to reach out and ask us any questions you might have!
Tim Feldmann is back again on Chat&Chai: Yoga Talks from Miami Life Center, to continue guiding us through this 8 limb journey we’ve been on together. This time to break down the limb of Dharana or concentration.
Learn how the tool of concentration can bring us deeper into the practice of yoga, why training the mind to concentrate in one point is a necessary step for every sincere yoga practitioner and how it can be useful in our daily life. In this episode, Tim even takes us through a quick seated practice of concentration to understand how this limb can be practically applied.
We’re almost through our series of 8 episodes on the 8 limbs of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras. We hope you’ve been following along with us or keeping these talks handy in case you ever want to come back for inspiration or a reminder of why we do this practice.
In this episode of Chat & Chai, we have a very special guest. Chase Bossart coming from San Francisco, was in Miami this summer to teach our Ashtanga Practitioner’s Intensive students the Bhagavad Gita and an introduction to Sanskrit and Vedic Chanting. Chase has been teaching in our past 4 month-long intensive courses and each time we learn something new, each time gaining a fresh perspective on these ancient teachings.
This time he also shared with us his understanding of the Yoga Sutras in his talk on Pratyahara or ‘withdrawal of the senses’ and the 5th limb along the 8 limb path of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras. Taking us into the ‘internal’ limbs, he breaks down the traditional interpretations and explains them to us in a way we can relate to our modern day world. As always, our MLC students chime in, sharing their ideas and finding ways to understand what pratyahara actually looks like in practice.
These last four limbs especially, are difficult concepts to grasp for their intangibility and experiential qualities, but with guidance from experienced and knowledgeable teachers like Chase, it becomes a bit more familiar. Listen in to keep going down this 8 limb journey with us, to become more intimate with the teachings of yoga and gain insight into why we get on the mat.
To learn more about Chase and Yoga Well Institute visit www.yogawell.com
In this episode of Chat & Chai, Mark Linksman leads a discussion and practice on Pranayama – the 4th limb along the 8 limb path of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras. With special guests Anthony Hazin, who goes into a scientific perspective of the practice, and Natalia Vasquez, MLC’s restorative teacher, who leads us through a guided meditation to prepare us for the guided pranayama practice led by Mark. Join us for this part of the episode and practice along by finding a quiet and comfortable place to sit.
Mark leads our pranayama program a MLC. A student of Iyengar, 20 years under Richard Freeman and Tim Miller, and many years of a daily practice of asana, pranayama and meditation, it is truly an honor to have him guiding us. He has a sincere love for the breath and the power it has to bring us back to ourselves. In his pranayama classes, a group of us sit in a circle and breath together. Like Mark always says, the energy we bring into the room is powerful. It keeps him going and inspires all who cross his path. The pranayama practice in this episode is a shorter version of what we do during his MLC classes. To watch video version of it, check out Miami Life Center’s IGTV here:
We wrap up the episode with questions from our students and all three of our speakers chiming in with responses based on their areas of expertise.
This is part of a larger initiative we’ve had going on a Miami Life Center. This summer we took 8 weeks, to look at the 8 limbs of Ashtanga Yoga. We wanted to bring more attention to the teachings of yoga, to better understand why we get on the mat and what the path of a yogi is supposed to look like in practice not just in theory. We want to put into action all aspects of this practice not just the asanas.