Compassion is easy in theory, but the moment someone cuts us off in traffic or says something sharp, the feeling can vanish like mist. Why is it so difficult to remain open-hearted when the world pinches or provokes us? The Buddhist Review, Tricycle, dives into the knotty roots of compassion’s challenges—and what it means to keep returning to this practice, again and again. Yoga, like Buddhism, recognizes that non-harming—ahimsa—isn’t always simple or automatic. It’s a discipline, a choice we meet anew each day, sometimes each breath. Compassion calls us to witness not only others’ suffering, but our own reactivity, judgment, and deeply grooved habits. 🪷 When Compassion Meets Our Edges Why do we recoil from compassion, especially toward people we find difficult? Often it’s old…

What does it mean to be a true polymath, to live so fully that every skill becomes a form of yoga? In a recent presentation by Nrithya Jagannathan, Director of the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram, we meet Tirumalai Krishnamacharya—the father of modern yoga—as a Sarva-Tantra-Svatantra, a master of all systems who made his life a living laboratory of discipline, adaptability, and empowerment. From tracing his lineage to the 9th-century yogi Nathamuni, to teaching legendary students and championing inclusivity, Krishnamacharya’s story is not just one of tradition, but of radical innovation within the heart of yoga itself. 🌱 Tradition and Innovation Intertwined Krishnamacharya held tradition close—not as a relic, but as a dynamic, living current. He was initiated into Vedic studies at age five, mastered the six…

Prana, often described as the vital life force, moves through the body along channels known as nadis, primarily residing in the Pranamaya Kosha—the sheath of energy that links body and mind (Yoga Breeze Bali; Online Yoga School). Our experience of breath, sensation, and aliveness is shaped by this underlying current (Yoga International). The ancient yogic tradition recognizes five primary expressions of prana in the body—called the prana vayus. Each vayu represents a distinct current or function: intake (prana), elimination (apana), assimilation (samana), expression (udana), and circulation (vyana) (Yoga International; Online Yoga School). This map gives us language for subtle experiences and helps attune our self-awareness on and off the mat (Clara Roberts-Oss). 🗺️ Snapshot: The Five Vayus Prana Vayu: Centered in the chest and heart,…

When Jeff Kamen set out to chronicle the Civil Rights Movement, he found himself tracing the invisible threads that connect the marches of Montgomery to the teachings of ancient yogis. In his moving account for Integral Yoga Magazine, Kamen details how Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s vision for justice was deeply rooted in the yogic principle of ahimsa—nonviolence as both a tactic and a way of life. The tradition of ahimsa stretches far beyond any single leader or struggle. Like a sutra woven through time, it threads Gandhi’s nonviolent resistance in India to Dr. King’s call for justice in America, and to the spiritual activism of figures like Swami Satchidananda. Each drew from this wellspring of inner discipline and outer compassion, showing that the heart…

Philosophy, at its core, encourages us to seek truth and challenge our assumptions, much like the ancient yogic inquiry into the nature of the self. The recent decision at Texas A&M University to restrict a professor from teaching Plato—arguably the father of Western philosophy—raises deep questions about truth, knowledge, and the values that shape our education and society. When academic freedom is curtailed under the pressure of ideological directives, we find ourselves at a crossroads reminiscent of the dilemmas explored in both the Bhagavad Gita and yogic philosophy. In yoga, the concept of Satya—truthfulness—serves as a guiding principle. It encourages us not only to speak the truth, but also to create environments where truth can be sought without fear. The news from Texas A&M, where…

The Ashtanga yoga community stands at a crossroads. After decades of looking the other way—of senior teachers feigning ignorance about misconduct they knew full well was happening—we face a choice: continue the patterns that enabled harm, or build something genuinely different. This isn’t comfortable territory. But if the yamas teach us anything, it’s that satya—truthfulness—isn’t optional when the truth is inconvenient. It’s precisely when truth is hardest to speak that speaking it matters most. ⚖️ Tradition Without Ethics Is Empty The eight limbs of yoga didn’t start with asana. They started with ethical foundation—ahimsa, satya, asteya, brahmacharya, aparigraha. The physical practice we love exists within this container. When we strip the container away, we’re left with something that might look like yoga but has lost…