Reviving Stillness: How Ancient Meditation Practices Enrich Modern Spiritual Communities

From the vaulted sanctuary of All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena to the music-filled halls of Princeton University, ancient meditation practices are finding vibrant new life within a tapestry of modern religious communities. While traditions like Christianity, Judaism, and Islam have long histories of contemplative practice, the resurgence of meditation—sometimes rooted in Buddhism, Hinduism, or Sufi mysticism—reflects a renewed search for stillness and connection in a fast-paced world. Leaders like Betty Cole, a Zen practitioner and Episcopalian, have witnessed these practices blossom into communities of “quiet fellowship,” offering sanctuary to those less drawn to ritual and more to silence. This revival is not just about spiritual seeking—it’s recognized for offering tangible mental and social benefits, even as it occasionally sparks debate over its origins, adaptation,…

Dharana Philosophy

From the archives: Dharana Philosophy – The sixth limb is dharana, defined as “keeping the attention on a single place.” (Nicolai Bachman) Dharana is often defined as concentration. – Dharana may be considered the beginning of meditation or as a practice that leads to the state of meditation. – (See also: Meditation & Mindfulness Introduction.) This process can be described as letting go of everything that is not the object of meditation. Read the full study guide →

Currents

This week kept circling back to the same question: where is your energy actually going? It showed up everywhere. In the prana vayus—those five currents that move breath and life force through the body—the practice isn’t about forcing energy somewhere new. It’s about noticing where it already flows and learning to work with it. Integrating the vayus means letting apana ground you while udana lifts, letting samana gather while vyana spreads. The whole system breathing together. The same principle showed up in unexpected places. When your favorite tech company goes bankrupt, the community that forms around the abandoned hardware is practicing a kind of aparigraha—non-grasping—while simultaneously building something new from what remains. When you reclaim your feed from algorithmic noise, you’re doing the digital equivalent…

Three Teachers, One Text: Reading the Samadhi Sutras

The Yoga Sutras are terse—196 brief verses that have generated libraries of commentary. How a teacher reads them reveals what they value. Today we look at three influential interpreters of the samadhi sutras. 📚 Vyāsa: The Classical Baseline Vyāsa’s Yogabhāṣya (approximately 4th-5th century CE) is the oldest surviving commentary on the sutras. Every later interpreter responds to him, whether they know it or not. His approach is technical and taxonomic. For Sutras 1.17–1.22, Vyāsa classifies the stages of samprajñāta samadhi, distinguishes the two types carefully, and explains causation through vāsanās and samskaras—the impressions from prior practice that create readiness. He expands the terse sutras, drawing out implied subdivisions. The threefold mild/moderate/intense (Sutra 1.22) becomes nine gradations in his reading. Vyāsa treats the text as philosophy…

Break Out of the News Bubble: Exploring PressReader with Your DC Library Card

Why Bother? The Case for Diversifying Your News DietHere’s the uncomfortable truth: just six corporations control nearly 90% of the U.S. media industry. This consolidation shapes not just what stories get covered, but how they’re framed, whose voices are amplified, and whose are marginalized. When a small number of companies control the production and distribution of content, they tend to prioritize certain perspectives that align with their corporate interests, and alternative viewpoints that do not align with these interests are often excluded or marginalized. PressReader is one antidote to this problem. With unlimited access to more than 7,000 publications from over 120 countries, in 60 different languages, you can step outside the algorithmic echo chamber and discover how journalists in Berlin, Buenos Aires, Beijing, or…

How Your Shoulders & Pecs Power Arm Balances

Wondering what really powers lift-off in crow, plank, or handstand? It’s a dance between your shoulders and pecs—an integration of strength, support, and skillful awareness. In yoga, the shoulder girdle and chest muscles (pectorals) team up for both stability and subtlety. When you press into the mat, you’re not just pushing: you’re coordinating, refining, and responding to feedback from the whole upper body. This is tapas (discipline) and svadhyaya (self-study) in action, and it’s what allows arm balances to feel steady rather than strained. 💪 Shoulders & Chest: Dynamic Architecture In poses like plank and chaturanga, the pecs and shoulders generate the push, but true support comes from integrating the whole shoulder complex. Shoulders stay broad, elbows hug in, and the chest is alive—not collapsed….

Prana in Motion: Practices for the Five Vayus

Working with the five prana vayus is like tuning into the hidden movements beneath your breath and body—more a matter of listening than willpower. These subtle currents shape our yoga practice from within, offering a pathway for energy to flow more freely and consciously (Yoga International, Clara Roberts-Oss). For a deeper context, see the Ashtanga Tech Prana Vayus study guide. Approaching vayu work is less about forcing energy or achieving results, and more about gentle awareness. Practices center on sensation, imagery, and breath, with safety and progressive pacing as priorities—especially when experimenting with bandhas and breath retentions (Stillness in Yoga). 💗 Prana Vayu: Receiving & Inspiration Try heart-focused inhalations: three-part breath that expands into the chest, or soft ujjayi with the feeling of receiving (Online…

Is AI Conscious—Or Are We Animating the Machine?

When Simon Duan asks in Scientific American whether artificial intelligence is truly conscious, he flips the script: maybe it’s not about machines gaining minds, but about us extending our own awareness into the digital world. His point lands with anyone who has ever inhabited a video game avatar or, I’d argue, a yoga pose. We breathe life into the form—it’s our presence that animates what would otherwise be empty shapes. For me, this echoes what I see on the mat every day. Practice is not about rote movement—it’s about inhabiting the form with attention and intention. The posture, like an avatar, becomes a vessel that reflects who we are in that moment. Without that quality of consciousness, it really is just a sequence of shapes….