YOGA FOR THOUGHTS

text by  @mariaelisadelgaudiogeronazzo The alarm rings at 4:50 am and I know is time to meet him. My true friend: the yoga mat. We've been in this relationship for almost 20 years now. And even tho many times I still complain that is just too early to do anything else than sleeping I know It's also too late to leave this date I have with my beloved mat. So, I just wake up and go. For the last year and so I've been blessed with this beautiful group of 'yoga lovers' that also share the same passion of practicing yoga. So two days of the week we meet at 6 am and I lead a class where we flow together. The inspiration came from my first master teacher Jonny Kest that used to let us follow his personal practice - every day. And until this day I remember some very important moments I lived there with my mat and together with a bunch of yogis and yoginis. The amount of things I learned just following him is hard to explain in words. And now a days, just like it was b...

"No one can go to heaven unless it has a firm foundation" - B.K.S Iyengar Body alignment is one of the main benefits of yoga. But we need to slow down and listen carefully to be able to receive and understand all the information it's been giving to us during practice. But, nowadays it seems that we all have a lot to share but not much patience to receive. To listen with care and attention. Real listening has become almost an art. Off and ON the mat, as well. During a yoga class, for example, one of the most simple posture is the mountain pose or Tadasana. Basically is just standing still in a perfect alignment. We stand with the aim of aligning each part of the body separately so that it forms a more harmonious whole. I realize how challenging it is for most people to stay present in Tadasana. But why is that soon we stop the physical body, the mind seems to accelerate more? It's like taking the next step seems easier than standing still? But wait. Stop and think...

A Hindu Holy man or "Sadhu" smeared with ashes celebrating in 2017. Image by Reuters. What is Maha Shivaratri?   Every year, Maha Shivaratri is celebrated by those who follow Hinduism. In every luni-solar month of the Hindu calendar, there is a Shivratri on the 13th night and 14th day, but the biggest celebration of the Hindu god Shiva comes once a year, in late winter – either in February or March – and before spring arrives. Maha Shivaratri means ‘the great night of Shiva’, and will be celebrated this year on 24 February – but what is the festival all about and how do people mark the occasion? What is the story behind it? According to the most popular legend, during the great mythical churning of the ocean – known as Samudra Manthan, and conducted by gods and demons so that nectar could be obtained to make them immortal – a pot of poison emerged. This poison was so potent that nobody was prepared to even touch it – it had the po...

Sanskrit Translation Let us be protected. And let us be nourished by the knowledge and blessings we are sharing. May we work together with great  energy and strength for the benefit of all. May our study  be  luminous, filled with joy, endowed with force of purpose. Let us never be poisoned with the seeds of hatred for anyone. Let there be peace. Peace. Peace.