Author: James

Materials, Supplies and Fun Stuff

I want to be super clear from the outset: you don’t need anything (except 30 minutes a week and a good attitude), but if you’re new to any of these […]

Basics / Getting Started

If you’ve never done yoga or meditated, they can be daunting, so here are a couple of reviews to help you feel more confident. You’ll see the three tabs below. […]

Setting Intention

As we embark on our twelve weeks together, take some time to consider how you want to show up. Do you hope this to be the beginning of a longer, […]

Rooting to Rise

This week, we connect with — and find gratitude for — our roots. That might mean the family that raised you. It might mean ancestors whose stories resonate. Or might be […]

Ignite Your Passion

Welcome to week three! How’s it going? Last week, we spent time connecting with the important energies of our past. This week, you’ll come even more fully into the present […]

Who Am I?

Who are you? Now that you’re a few weeks in, let’s try to arrive fully in the present moment to connect with and honor our intuition and intention.

Listen to Your Heart

As you wrap up your first month, let’s come into a lighter space of love and gratitude. I don’t mean romantic love (necessarily) but the spirit of generosity and kindness […]

Find Your Voice

How do you express yourself? Many of us who were “raised right” think that it’s polite to keep quiet or that being liked is more important than being heard. I […]

Trust Your Gut

Whom do you trust most in the world? If you answered anything except “myself,” this week is made for you! This week, we’ll spend some time trying to trust our […]

Bliss Out

Time to bliss out! The past six weeks have lead us to this moment: building from the ground up to the part of us that is most-connected to the Divine. […]

Integration

Part Two For the last seven weeks, whether you know it or not, we have been working through the seven primary chakras of yoga/Hindu practice. The Chakras are energy centers […]

Go Deeper

This week, we’ll build on last week’s practice to explore where we’re holding — tension, emotion, fear — and begin the (lifelong) practice of release. WARNING: This week’s journal practice, […]

Look Out

We’ve spent the last TEN WEEKS going within; now it’s time to start to look to the world around us. This can be very challenging, so we’ll take it slowly […]

Enlightenment

So we’ve spent twelve weeks together. We must have attained full Nirvana or Enlightenment by now, right? Of course, the journey has just begun! We end in much the way […]

Into the Unknown

As we take the first steps on our journey together, let’s take a few moments to reflect on what is bringing us to this practice. Where are you going?Don’t leave […]

Trials & Temptation

You have departed — left home — and crossed into the first of your trials. Life is suffering. The BuddhaFirst “Noble Truth” We also boast in our sufferings, knowing that […]

The Inmost Cave

This week, we dig a little deeper. In our Hero’s Journey template, the hero is exploring literal caves on his quest. What will you unearth this week? Caves can hold […]

Encountering the Divine

Traditionally, western-style yoga classes end with the Sanskrit word “Namaste.” It literally just means “greetings,” but we use it as a statement of gratitude and recognition. I close my classes […]

The Road Back

As we turn the corner back toward home — toward the conclusion that we trust is eminent — we are forced to revisit the sites of our past trials and triumphs. […]

Freedom to Live!

You can’t go home again because home has ceased to exist, except in the mothballs of memory. John Steinbeck And I know things now, many valuable things,That I hadn’t known […]

Week Zero : Intentions Can Shift

Week One : The Power of Intention-Setting

Whatever has brought you to Daily Flow : WELCOME! Let’s create a deeper, more meaningful practice.

Week Two : The Power of the Mundane

“Mindfulness” doesn’t mean sitting for hours on end in perfect stillness. The real power in living a more mindful life is in the little things.

Week Three : The Power of Lowering the Bar

There is tremendous power in embracing that something can be “good enough,” or — as a friend put it — “done is better than perfect.”

Week Four : The Power of Raising the Bar

I mean looking at where you are and thinking about how you can move forward to deepen your practice.

Week Five : The Power of Anger

If you listen to it, allow it to come up, then it will dissipate and … eventually … you won’t need it any more. At least not in that reactive way around that specific issue.

Week Six : The Power of Manifesting

What does it mean to live into the life you want … now?

Week Seven : The Power of Love

It’s Valentine’s week, so Love is definitely on the mind. Love sometimes gets a bad rap. This week, we’ll explore how the Power of Love can quite literally change the world.

Week Eight : The Power of Joy!

Don’t look at the bright side. Don’t pretend things are good when they aren’t. You’ll never win (and you’ll wind up miserable). Instead, look for joy in different places. Find […]

Week Nine : The Power of Change

As an always-aspiring yogi and spiritual being, “change” means doing my best to find — and live in — the “flow.” Shutting off the voices that tell me something is wrong … leaving the “should” at the door… and embracing the fact that my own deepest knowing comes from a higher intelligence.

Week Ten : The Power of “No”

This week, we give ourselves the space to say “no” to all that does not serve us. By clearing away the debris in our lives, we have the opportunity to make space for what really matters. Try saying “no” to something and see how it feels!

Week Eleven : The Power of YES!

What experiences do we allow to pass us by because we’re nervous about trying something new? We’re getting better about saying “no.” Let’s say “YES!”

Week Twelve : The Power of Boundaries

Having, knowing, defining and defending clear personal boundaries is crucial if we’re ever going to grow, but there’s a difference between setting a boundary and just not feeling like doing something.

Week Thirteen : The Power of Story

Our human minds organize things into stories. Starting in infancy, we begin to take in the world and — as a matter of necessity — create stories. Where do the stories we tell stop being useful and start being harmful?

The Yamas : Ahimsa

The Yamas : Satya

If I am dishonest, my mind knows I am being dishonest. However subtle or “harmless,” the mind knows it’s lying, and that knowing creates an obstacle.

The Yamas : Asteya

“Nonstealing.” Easy, right? Super easy to not shoplift. No big deal to avoid picking someone’s pocket or snatching their purse.

The Yamas : Brahmacharya

Brahmacharya means “continence” or “moderation.” It’s clear that Patañjali is referring to sexual abstinence, at least in large part, but it’s also about moderation in all things. Specifically, it’s about […]

The Yamas : Aparigraha

The Niyamas : Saucha

So Saucha, Purity, is about how you regard and purify (and keep pure) your body. But it’s about more than that. We all think of the same “pure” imagery, I’m sure: virginity, doves, driven snow.

The Niyamas : Santosha

Santosha means “contentment.” “Contentment,” it seems to me, is not the same thing as “happiness.” “Happiness” sometimes implies a kind of delusion. To be “happy” all the time means to […]

The Niyamas : Tapas

Tapas has a few different translations — I’ve usually heard “heat.” But I’ve also heard “pain,” “suffering” and “austerities.” Why do I want to be hot? Heat purifies. Boiling water makes […]

The Niyamas : Swadyaya

The more you study a deity, the more attuned with it you will become. The more you will feel its sway on your life. Some people choose to study secular “deities” like political figures or causes. They spend their time and intellect on earthly things and are, therefore, bringing these Earthly influences closer.

The Niyamas: Iswara-Pranidhana

Asana

It is surprising to a lot of Westerners to learn that the third of Patañjali’s Eight Limbs is Asana. Of course, he had no sense of the modern meaning of that word. He just meant “steady seat.” We bring the mind under fuller control if we can sit still.

Pranayama

Breath is connection. It brings the outside world, quite literally, in. We consume it in much more intimate way that we do food. Think about it: food is chewed, swallowed and goes through a lengthy digestive process.

Pratyahara

When we practice Pratyahara, we withdraw the senses. It’s not that there is nothing to taste; it’s that we are choosing not to taste it. Sounds will inevitably happen around us. We choose not to hear them. Taste doesn’t just happen. Neither does smell. How we process, label and experience them is wholly done in the mind.

Dharana

Dhyana

We have spent the last couple of months systematically working our way through the eight limbs. Slowly and effortfully trying to concentrate. Getting our minds under control, only to arrive […]

Samadhi

I have been resistant to writing this post because who am I to write about Samadhi!? It seems to me that there is something to teach in the other seven […]

7 Yoga Poses to Instantly Relieve Stress

Today we embark on a new adventure: a series of blog posts and videos specifically created to directly address the challenges we all face in the real world. I love […]