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Your Rhythm, Your Resonance, Your Heart: More than a Mere Organ

Did you know that your heart, your personal inner drum, beats an average of 37 million times a year?!  This rhythm, in a healthy heart, is highly adaptable and always shifting. Much like the anatomical heart, a healthy energetic heart center (Anahata) must also be adaptive; must ebb and flow with the rhythms of life in order to be healthy, hearty and whole.  

Shiva Rea (Tending the Heart Fire) explores the body’s system of entrainment.  The medical dictionary defines entrainment as “the synchronization and control of cardiac rhythm by an external stimulus.” Or in other words, as Rea says “a state of yoga, or joining together, a coherence between multiple rhythmic patterns.” (p. 56).  Understanding entrainment is an opportunity to explore how every single experience leaves an impact on our sacred heart. What is this “external stimulus”? you...

You, Yes YOU Are A Yogi  

The explosion of yoga on Instagram has visually defined what it means to be a yogi: $120 yoga pants and top, a skinny body with magically non-sweaty hair and professionally done makeup, most likely white.

No matter who you are, whether you fit most of those descriptors or none, it can be extremely intimidating to claim what seems to be such an elusive and EXclusive title as your own.

When asked if you do yoga, it’s hard not to qualify your ‘yes’; “Yeah I guess, but I’m not one of those crazy handstand people.” A full, confident, yes is a long-fought discussion with the Self until you can finally claim that YOU. Are. A. Yogi.

Here are some golden tidbits to help you end that war once and for all:

• What we know as ‘yoga’ today in the West is really called ‘Asana,’ or the physical component of Yoga. And get this- it’s only one out of the EIGHT limbs of yoga!
• Asana literally means...

I can’t believe it has almost been three weeks since I arrived at this incredible place named AmaSer, in the middle of the beautiful jungle.

I remember exactly all the different emotions and thoughts I had before arriving here:

Curiosity – hello adventure! …

Happiness – I really did it! …

Nervousness – 9’350 kilometers away from home and alone …

A tiny bit of queasiness – how will the people be? And what about the place? What if…?

Well, that’s human nature: we get comfortable with routines. Everything new and unpredictable can be frightening sometimes, but sometimes you just have to do it without questioning so much, because sometimes reality is so much better than you ever imagined.

The AmaSer Family is so amazing! They made me feel welcome from the very first second here in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica. This place is so full of love, acceptance, happiness and peace.  Now, after only a few weeks, I can...

Original Piece by Avani | 2016

There are conflicting ideas on Yin Yoga and it’s placed in the world of Yoga. As we dive more into the anatomy of Yin you will be left to decide for yourself, based on practice and experience, what is truly best for your unique body. Whatever you decide, there is no doubt that all yogis agree the pace of lifestyle today is creating an ever-growing need to slow down.  One of the many benefits of Yin Yoga is its meditative quality.  Where Yang Yoga provides barely enough time to set up, breath, check alignment and then find mental focus…in Yin Yoga there is nothing but time.  The challenge and blessing become very mental.  Patience is a challenge…and will grow through Yin practice!    

The practice of Yin asks practitioners to hold poses from 45 seconds to 2 minutes for beginners or 2 minutes to 10 minutes for more experienced yogis.  Within that time we can feel...

What is shadow work and how do I do it?

Shadow work is creating awareness around the parts of your life you’ve abandoned and kept hidden. It’s the work of intentionally acknowledging them bringing them into the light and releasing them.

Many of the emotions we hold inside are interpretations of long-ago events. Memories, scenes or just vague feelings that have negative energetic charges attached to them. Kept hidden, they can fester and create feelings of overwhelming fear and disempowerment. They feel secretive, dark, primitive, irrational, and dangerous. Often our psyches think giving them any attention at all is unwise and unsafe. So we do our best to leave them alone.

Yet, left alone they fester and raise their head in ways such as:

Feelings out of control

Feeling flashes of panic or dread

Not being able to talk about your feelings

A reasonable argument turns into warfare

Crying for no reason

Try this useful automatic writing exercise as an effective tool to express...

The traditional paths of yoga were developed in answer to the original goal of yoga.  They are the Four Margas (paths) to enlightenment which include: Jnana- the path of wisdom or knowledge, Bhakti- the practice of extreme devotion, Karma- All movement is done with the mind centered on God, and Raja- uses the 8 limbs to produce a well-rounded individual, “King” Yoga.

Other traditional yoga paths were; Kriya Yoga- yoga as action, Mantra Yoga- repetition of mantra, Tantra- showing the unseen consciousness through words, diagrams, and movements, and finally, Hatha Yoga- the physical movements and postures with breathing techniques, base for the modern understanding of yoga.  It can be difficult wading through the sea of options when all the names seem unfamiliar or new.  Check out this easy bulleted list for a brief description of some of the more common Hatha Yoga styles on offer today. 

All of the following are considered Hatha Yoga as they...

You want to create ripples of happiness wherever you are? Want to be considered a ray of sunshine to all who gaze upon you? Are you getting trapped from your saintly goals by your stubborn human-ness?

Lucky for you, you can zipzap your way to Samadhi by using the ancient wisdom of the first five Living Principles of Yoga; the Yamas.

So maybe, just maybe, you handle the next long line at the bank or lunch with your loud-chewing friend with just a little more grace.

The Yamas

Principles of ethical behavior, the things to not do with the people around us. Aka keep it together, people.

1. Ahimsa- Non-violence. No more stabbing people, okay? But seriously, this one is a sneaky one. The most pervasive violence we foster can be in our thoughts and it can apply to other people, the environment, and, most frequently, ourselves. Every negative thought separates the individual from their connection to others and pushes away Samadhi, which is really just the feeling of...

Have you ever wondered why other people seem to be more or less comfortable in the same environment as you, or with the same foods? Have you experienced subtle underlying discomfort- emotionally or physically- and had no idea where it was coming from?

Ayurveda (Ayur= Life + Veda = Knowledge/ Science), the sister science to yoga, uses thousands of years of study on happiness and longevity to help you create your optimal lifestyle; physical movement, family relations, morning routines, natural environment, job, and diet down to which types of root vegetables and when.

An Ayurvedic appointment evaluates you by your past and current experiences and your Dosha combination. The three Doshas are mind-body types, subtle energies that cannot be perceived but that express particular patterns in a unique blend of physical, emotional, and mental characteristics. Basically they help explain why you do what you do.

Next, the Ayurvedic “prescription” has the power to change your life...

“First of all, it was so so so much more than I could have ever expected. I went in with a vision that I wanted to deepen my knowledge since I felt ”kind of stuck.” I did my practice and went to yoga lessons since 2012 so I felt it was time to get deeper.

Also in my daily life I started to ask myself questions about the meaning of life. I felt like humanity (myself included) is becoming so separate from nature and things that are natural for us. The only thing in my life that got me more connected was Yoga.

So after this YTT I felt so connected to my dharma. Many of my questions I’ve been thinking of was exactly what YTT was giving me. It was so liberating.

And now only Thanks to Caribe Yoga Academy I feel like I got such an ultra mega good training, so good that I felt the courage to start working with yoga right away in Sweden. Sharing the things of yoga that I feel very passionate about. And it’s working!! Talking about earthing, Ganesha and...