Mitch Blum

As a child, I never realized how perfect the Smurf community was. But re-watching their adventures I can finally appreciate what an amazing society those little blue scamps built. They were truly living the dharma.
Think about it. Every single Smurf understands and embraces his righteous duty. Their life’s work is dedicated to staying on the [...]

[Read more →]

One of the beautiful things about yoga practice is that each and every day represents a fresh start. It truly doesn’t matter what you did yesterday or what you’d like to do tomorrow. The only thing that matters is what you do right now.
This idea is captured in yoga cliché # 37: that only the [...]

[Read more →]

DisclaimerAny film review will necessarily reflect the coloring of the author’s mind, based upon their conditioned existence, habitual thought patterns and inability to find a cab in the rain on the way to the premiere.
If you don’t like reading reviews that give away plot points, please don’t read beyond the capsule review. I really don’t [...]

[Read more →]

Notes:
I agree with Georg Feuerstein’s opinion that pada 2 includes a long cut-and-paste section that starts with sutra 2.28. Everything before 2.28 deals with Kriya Yoga. Everything after 2.28 explains Ashtanga Yoga practices. Yes, Kriya and Ashtanga share some concepts, but they’re clearly different – just compare the definition of Kriya Yoga in 2.1 [...]

[Read more →]

When I was a kid the whole idea of reincarnation bothered me. I always thought that reincarnation was irrelevant – as in, if you couldn’t remember your previous incarnation during your current incarnation, then the previous incarnation might as well not have happened. Sure, you could get flashes of a previous existence in a dream [...]

[Read more →]

My path to becoming a world-famous Yoga teacher was a curious one. As a small child in Kailash, my parents, Atri and Anusuya, would often get frustrated when I would wander off by myself to go play with my pet snake Addy. They would accuse me of being a daydreamer, although I tried to tell [...]

[Read more →]

The suggestion that Yoga is dangerous might be born out by the historical secrecy surrounding the practice – Yoga was, after all, a verbal tradition, passed down one by one from guru to initiate, somewhere in the forests or mountains, outside of the traditional hierarchy of authority. I guess that’s the romantic viewpoint. The opposing [...]

[Read more →]

Plain ol’ Patanjali Book 1:1.1 It’s time to talk about Yoga!1.2 Yoga is the state of non-thinking1.3 When you’re in the state of non-thinking your true Self is revealed1.4 Otherwise, you’ll believe that you really are your thoughts
1.5 There are 5 main types of thoughts and they can either be a help or a hindrance [...]

[Read more →]

Once again, it’s time for some philosophical meanderings.
First, let me establish that I don’t have a strong pre-established position. I’m not wedded to any particular darsana and I’ve found interesting ideas in all four darsanas that I’ve spent some time investigating: Samkhya, Yoga, Vedanta, and Buddha-Dharma.
I really like Samkhya because I find it to be [...]

[Read more →]

I have finally figured this whole Yoga thing out. Sure, actually doing it is another matter entirely, but after many years of practice, I’ve solved it.
Yoga is the process of stripping everything down.
First, we break our habits that are derived from those pesky overactive senses. We break our addictions and stop our autonomous reactions.
Next, we [...]

[Read more →]