I hope you are having a wonderful summer season. I have been walking the streets of New York City which is one my favorite things to do. I love this because it gives me an opportunity to enjoy and admire the city but also it gives me time to reflect and contemplate about myself and life. To know oneself is the highest goal one can have for a yoga practice. This is one of the things that drew me to start to practice yoga. I remember being in my early twenties and realized how little I knew about myself. Not only that but I did not know how to go about such an endeavor.

I can't believe it has been week over a month since my last email. Time does fly. It feels great to be writing these emails again though. 

I decided to investigate this theme of balance lately since it has been a challenge to experience it more often in the last few months. I discovered that it is a very rich and nuanced topic in yoga philosophy. In Sanskrit, Santulana is the act or state of balancing. As an act, Santulana requieres action to experience it but in our daily lives who has time for that, right? 

In the non-dualistic Tantra Philosophy, it is said that there are two aspects to the power of knowledge. These are Jñāna which refers to the knowing of theoretical knowledge and vijñāna which is the actual experience of that theoretical knowledge. To truly imbibe full knowledge of anything these two aspects must be acknowledged and experienced.

The highest Truth in this philosophy is that:

"There is only one Consciousness"

As many of you know, I recently went back to school to deepen my understanding of teaching. It’s been eye-opening to see how many layers there are to this path—it’s both a little overwhelming and incredibly inspiring. As I move through this process, I keep coming back to a beautiful concept from yoga philosophy: the three aspects of the Creative Cosmic Force: icchā śakti (the power of will), jńāna śakti (the power of knowledge), and kriyā śakti (the power of action). These three work together to bring anything into being, whether we’re talking about the vastness of the universe or the tiniest personal transformation.

As I was browsing for photographs to use for this email I came across the one above. It caught my attention because it reminded me of something I heard my teacher say a long time ago. She said that sometimes life does not get any easier "but it does get interesting"

Prāṇa is  a Sanskrit word that translates to "vital energy" or "life force" in English. It is connected to the breath which is how we usually experience it. Prāṇa as the breath is the place where the mind and the body meet and interact. This interaction happens all the time whether we realize it or not.