Jack

“The way I touch
earth and heaven at once,
stretching from soil to sky.
The way the mat holds my feet
and my feet hold me.
The way it seems so simple,
something to be brushed off as
‘too easy,’
and the way it is actually
foundational.
The way I know
that when I am in it,
I am it—
unshakeable no matter what
winds blow or rains pour down.
It is as if I remain,
eternal,
undaunted,

majestic.

—mountain pose”
― Ashley Asti, Yoga Heartsongs

“What we know by memory, we know only at secondhand.”
― Alan W. Watts, The Wisdom of Insecurity: A Message for an Age of Anxiety

“When you say you are in pursuit of happiness, what you essentially mean is that you are expecting your environment to always act in ways that would elicit an emotion of happiness in your heart. It is exactly as absurd as it sounds.”
― Majid Kazmi, The First Dancer: How to be the first among equals and attract unlimited opportunities

“Yogasanas have often been thought of as a form of exercise. They are not exercises, but techniques which place the physical body in positions that cultivate awareness, relaxation, concentration and meditation. Part of this process is the development of good physical health by stretching, massaging and stimulating the pranic channels and internal organs.

When yogasanas are performed, respiration and metabolic rates slow down, the consumption of oxygen and the body temperature drop. During exercise,
however, the breath and metabolism speed up, oxygen consumption rises, and the body gets hot. In addition, asanas are designed to have specific effects on the glands and internal organs, and to alter electrochemical activity in the nervous system.”
― Swami Satyananda Saraswati, Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha