The F-Word | An Excerpt from The Logic of Faith

Introduction This entire book hinges on the word faith. You may assume that you know what that means. You may think that it has a single, clear definition. But words are not definitive structures: one word can have limitless—even opposing—meanings. Language morphs over time, and words take on different meanings depending on their contexts. You’ll likely find as many definitions of faith as there are people to define it. Try asking around. Just to give you an idea of some of the possible usages for the word faith, look at a standard English dictionary, which will most likely include in the definition such terms as dogma, religion, fundamentalism, doctrine or indoctrination, confidence, trust, conviction, and spiritual insight, to name a few. People make strong statements about faith, such as, “Faith without doubt leads to moral arrogance” or “If you don’t have unwavering faith in God, you will go to hell.” Some people feel that those who claim to have faith are deceiving themselves. These people equate faith with the disempowerment that results from blindly handing over agency to an authority figure. For others, faith describes the highest expression of human consciousness that transports us beyond the petty concerns of mundane life. Upon reflection you may notice that you use the term faith in various ways. But notice too that these varied usages have one thing in common: they reflect the desire to find ease in a world you can’t secure. Upon reflection you may notice that you use the term faith in various ways. But notice too that these varied usages have one thing in common: they reflect the desire to find ease in a world you can’t secure. Do you think it would even be possible to live in the world without faith? Because we rely on life around us, it seems to me we have no choice but to have faith. The late Buddhist teacher Thinley Norbu Rinpoche linked faith to the nature of existence when he said, “Cows have faith in grass.” This statement may seem simplistic at first glance, but it has deep implications. You cannot remove faith from the equation of your earthbound relative condition. That you depend on the world in which you live keeps you living in faith, and there is no way around it. Given the multiplicity of definitions one finds around faith and given how crucial it is to our very existence, faith is worthy of deep consideration. The End of Faith? At some point, after an extended period of exploring faith through personal practice and study, I decided to bring my investigation out into the world to see what others thought. I quickly learned that when I described my teaching topic using the word faith, no one was interested. In fact, once, when I was doing an online program on faith, someone wrote in on the chat, “This is just the mentality my grandmother had!” It was as though, by simply uttering the f-word, I had insulted his intelligence. For him faith was something that could only be outdated and backward. I have, by the way, noticed that the f-word does not generally go over well at Buddhist conferences either. Subsequently, I started to call my inquiry “The F-Word”—and after that everyone wanted to talk. People are drawn to things that have a rebellious flare. And so I did what I had to do in order to draw attention to a topic that I feel is in desperate need of examination. Subsequently, I started to call my inquiry “The F-Word”—and after that everyone wanted to talk. People are drawn to things that have a rebellious flare. And so I did what I had to do in order to draw attention to a topic that I feel is in desperate need of examination. As spiritual practitioners, scholars, and human beings looking for a sense of ease, it behooves us to reflect on the things that incite discomfort in us or that we don’t understand, rather than simply buying into or rejecting them. Many contemporary thinkers want to do away with the word faith altogether and replace it with the term spirituality. In his book The End of Faith, Sam Harris links faith to terrorism, and reasonably so. People do unconscionable things in the name of faith. And yet I wonder, can we afford to do away with the word faith altogether? Personally I think that would be way too easy. I’m not saying the word spirituality doesn’t have its use in the English language. But if you are not careful, spirituality can quite easily allow you to bypass the human dilemma, because spirituality can be anything you want it to be, whereas faith will challenge you. It’s not so comfortable. It carries with it the undeniable tension between your search for security and the limits of your ability to know. Faith keeps your spiritual quest relevant and connected to the heart of the human predicament. My concern also is that by narrowing the definition of faith to blind acceptance or dogma, we risk losing genuine traditions of contemplative wisdom and practice that include faith. The initial function of spirituality emerged from questioning the human condition and also from deep experiences of wonder. The word religion itself, initially meaning to “reconnect,” seems to have come from direct experiences of something larger than just a set of fixed ideas. It marked a return to something essential that we just failed to recognize in the myopia of our everyday lives. How curious that we turn experiences of awe into dogmas and stagnant ideas. That we have come to associate faith with fundamentalism, blindness, and even terrorism gives us something important to look at. Pratityasamutpada So how does one look at faith—both as an experience and a cultural narrative—without closing down around dogmas and fixed ideas? I’m glad you asked. In this book I will introduce to you some methods of investigation that will address this very challenge. The basic approach we will take can be traced back to the very moment of the Buddha’s awakening. When the Buddha attained enlightenment beneath the Bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya, India, he gained insight into the secret of the universe. It was from this insight that he revealed the powerful principle of pratityasamutpada, which is commonly known by its English translation, “dependent arising.” Pratityasamutpada describes how everything we experience—both material and conscious—arises, plays out, and falls away in reliance upon an infinite web of contingent relationships. In other words, it is because things depend that life moves and we can experience it. For those who study and practice the Buddha’s path, his description of dependent arising has become a fresh and unimpeded way of perceiving mind and its world, and the primary understanding that makes liberation possible. It would be accurate to say that this very insight into the nature of dependent arising was the pivotal revelation of the Buddha, from which all of his subsequent teachings unfolded. It was also the wisdom that my teacher was pointing out to me through his simple gesture years ago. It is important for me to say, and for you to understand, that although pratityasamutpada comes to us through a formal continuum of Buddhist practice and realization, it is not a dogma or a set of ideas to adhere to. Instead the wisdom of pratityasamutpada functions like a portal into a completely new way of understanding your mind and its world, based on direct experience. It is a powerful insight that you can use as a tool to free yourself from the confusions you have about your place in the world in which you live. I know that sounds like a big promise, but such insight is quite simple and natural, I assure you. In fact, once you step outside your habitual way of seeing things, you will marvel at its obvious truth. Open Questioning In the second century, the teachings on pratityasamutpada were revived and energized by the extraordinary spiritual genius Nagarjuna. He designed a series of methodical investigations based upon the Buddha’s insight into the nature of dependent arising that provide a way for whoever employs them to bring together discerning intelligence with a mind of complete openness. The sole purpose of these investigations is to guide us away from the abstract realm of ideas into a direct relationship with life. There is something important to be said here about the quality of the mind while engaged in a process of inquiry. I have often used the example of “the mind of an open question” to describe it. An open question—as opposed to a question intent on an answer—is one that has not settled on a conclusion or shut down around beliefs or doubts. Rather, when you ask an open question, you remain receptive, humble, and connected to the living and dynamic nature of things. According to this tradition, such characteristics describe a mind poised for insight. In fact, where insight is concerned, it is only an open and attentive mind that is said to perceive its object without mistake. The purpose for saying all this here is to let you know in advance that I wrote this book as an inquiry, and so it will require some participation and curiosity on your part. In addition to sharing my experience, I will pose many questions for you and introduce several guided investigations that have been passed down by realized Buddhist masters skilled in the ancient art of meditative inquiry. I will invite you to voyage into your own experience of faith because—let’s face it—there is no substitute for the certitude that results from seeing things directly for yourself. To put it another way, what happens when we look at the world with fresh eyes and an open heart? Furthermore, what does it even mean to look here? How does one look? We will get into that in great depth. But for now, I just want to introduce the idea of dependent arising, pratityasamutpada, as your tool for exploring faith. And I want to make sure that you understand that although the methods used in this book come from the tradition of the Buddha, there is no assertion that insight itself is the possession of any one religion. We are all prone to moments of grace and clear seeing. And so, the term insight, as I use it here in this book, simply serves to describe an inherent potential in all of us. To put it another way, what happens when we look at the world with fresh eyes and an open heart? Furthermore, what does it even mean to look here? How does one look? Some of the methods presented in this book may challenge the assumptions you have about language, beliefs, doubts, spirituality, and the nature of knowing. They may bring to the fore some unexamined ideas you have about faith and even prompt you to rethink how you see yourself and the world in which you live. But then what’s an exploration without challenges? This has been excerpted from The Logic of Faith: A Buddhist Approach to Finding Certainty Beyond Belief and Doubt. Related Books Elizabeth Mattis Namgyel has studied and practiced Mahayana Buddhism, as well as the Vajrayana tradition of the Longchen Nyingthik, for over 30 years under the guidance of her teacher and husband, Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche. See more about her here.

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An Everyday Approach to the Ayurvedic Diet

Practical Aspects for Success by Kate O'Donnell, author of Everyday Ayurveda Cooking for a Calm, Clear Mind & The Everyday Ayurveda Cookbook Natural, Seasonal, and Dosha-Specific Diet Helping clients understand the medicinal aspects of food is one thing, while inspiring them to purchase, prepare, and enjoy beneficial foods can be another challenge altogether. Based on personal experience and observation of clients, I am a firm believer in the importance of a natural, seasonal, and dosha-specific diet. Twenty years ago, my first Ayurvedic doctor cautioned me against “outside food,” and it remains true for me that home-cooked food is balancing food. Becoming an Ayurvedic Cookbook Author Most often, I found convenience foods to be a contributing factor to imbalances, and in some cases, a causal factor. My emergence as an author of Ayurvedic cookbooks has been a direct result of my experience encouraging clients to eat homemade food and teaching them how to prepare recommended food items. Many already owned an Ayurvedic cookbook, but confusion about “my dosha” kept them from using these books as they felt unsure which recipes to prepare. Some even used dosha-specific food lists to restrict their diet without understanding the gunas of the foods and why one or another substance may be beneficial or non-beneficial. I found the linear nature of the Western mind, especially where diets are concerned, problematic in its readiness to create black-and-white scenarios about food, which in some cases caused more stress than benefit. The language and approach I used to share the Ayurvedic principles about food became the most important aspect of my teaching. I found the linear nature of the western mind, especially where diets are concerned, problematic in its readiness to create black-and-white scenarios about food, which in some cases caused more stress than benefit. Simple Ayurvedic Meals In writing The Everyday Ayurveda Cookbook: A Seasonal Guide to Eating and Living Well I wanted to do two things: make it simple enough for the householder to prepare Ayurvedic meals and give equal importance to diet as well as lifestyle practices. I separated the recipes into 5 sections: Every Day, Fall, Winter, Spring, and Summer. The everyday recipes provide a spectrum of vegetarian breakfast/lunch/dinner recipes with neutral qualities, using grains, mung beans, cooked vegetables, and cumin, coriander, and fennel. The seasonal sections begin by explaining the qualities of the season and the foods to favor and reduce to balance those qualities. I also include recipes that use those foods. I find that readers have been cooking the recipes season by season. When I recommend the book for dosha-specific purposes, I point to the season and its qualities that mirror that of the dosha. I find clients are less likely to identify themselves as a dosha and remain free to focus on enjoying beneficial foods, while noticing the effects of non-beneficial foods when they eat them. For the Ayurvedic lifestyle, I explain dinacharya practices in an appendix and point to certain practices for “every day” and others seasonally. The Mind at the Heart of Food Choices While I can definitely report results from the first book in terms of people actually cooking and feeling better, so often I continue to find the mind at the heart of food choices. I have noticed how mental turbulence and day-to-day stress are affecting digestion. For this reason, I created the second cookbook, Everyday Ayurvedic Cooking for a Calm, Clear Mind: 100 Simple Sattvic Recipes. My intention with this new book is to bring the attention to the mind and the role it is playing in our health. In this book I keep it deliberately simple, breaking out three recipe sections: recipes to cultivate sattva, to relax and calm rajas, and to motivate tamas. I recommend the reader eat from the sattvic section anytime, the rajas section when feeling stressed out, and the tamas section when feeling dull or slow. Experience and observation have proved that even the best foods cannot heal when taken in haste, when mentally disturbed, or when the client believes this food can harm them. Mealtimes are a ripe time to shift the attention internally, to slow down, to relax. I want the Ayurvedic diet to be not only seasonal and dosha specific, but also deeply nourishing and contemplative. It is through Ayurveda’s synergy of physical and spiritual means that practitioners, and our clients, can create a relationship with the self that brings about a sustained state of balance. Related Books Kate O'Donnell is a Kripalu-certified Ayurvedic Practitioner, Ashtanga yoga teacher, and author based in Boston, Massachusetts. She travels to India annually for study and teaches internationally. See more about her here.

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Yoga, Fascia, and the Feeling of Being Me

by Tias Little, author of Yoga of the Subtle Body What is Fascia? In the same way that a fish swims in water and a bird flies through the air, fascia is the way we move. Every time you practice triangle pose or the camel, you stretch an entire network of cellophane-like tissue (“cling-wrap” if you are in the UK) from your feet to the crown of your head. Fascia, or connective tissue, is everywhere in the body. It wraps around bone, encases all the organs, and enshrouds every muscle, nerve, and blood vessel. In some areas, the connective tissue is loose and delicate like the silky threads of a spider’s web. In other places, it is fibrous and dense having the resilience of a steel cable.   Fascia and Movement All of the internal arts, including tai chi, qi gong, and yoga generate flow in the fascia. Like a baker kneading bread, we make the fascia elastic by alternately pulling, twisting, squeezing, and molding our connective tissue. When we apply heat and pressure, the “dough” of our connective tissue rises and expands. This provides a feeling of levity, joy, and well-being. Fascia is highly adaptable. Just in the course of a day, connective tissues are in flux—at times clenching and hardening and at other times softening and spreading. Connective tissue can change shape and consistency in the midst of seemingly simple daily events. For instance, if you are on an elevator and someone threatening stands next to you, the fascia around your hamstring and buttock may tighten and the visceral membranes around your kidney, stomach, and intestine may constrict. If you are lying in the grass at the park with close friends, then the connective tissues in your back and belly soften. At the end of the day, if you practice Viparita Karani (legs up the wall pose), then the fascia around your diaphragm, jaw, and spine relax and melt backward toward the floor. Fascia, together with the musculature, is called myofascia and it is our primary mover. Along with enabling us to dance, swim, and shoot baskets, fascia also has a significant sensory component. The matrix of the fascia is supplied with sensory nerve receptors that help determine balance, spatial awareness, pressure, and pain. The bones cannot stand without the supportive webbing of the fascia and for this reason the fascia, quite literally, holds us together.   The Feeling of Being “Me” As a result, fascia plays a central role in determining the feeling of being “me.” Body image is based on the shape, mobility, and responsiveness of fascia. This has important ramifications for yoga, because as we stretch and expand our fascia in practice, working our tissues in multiple directions, we “shape shift” and change the fascial mold we live in. The teachings of yoga suggest that the self is not a fixed thing, and the practice of yoga postures helps create a self identity that is fluid and changeable. This process of working the connective tissue is critical as we age; over time, fascia becomes pasty—muscles glue together, tendons stick to bone, and organs adhere. When fascia adheres it is like pasta that isn't cooked enough—the “linguine” of our connective tissue becomes rigid and clumps together. You may like your pasta al dente, but when fascia gets plastered together, the supply of blood and nerves is inhibited and it hurts. When fascia is healthy, tissues slide over one another like fresh fish in a basket. This is because the very nature of fascia is to permit flow and glide. When we move in a vinyasa practice from one pose to the other, the muscle bundles in the body should glide. Internal glide of the connective tissues brings about feelings of ease, effortlessness, and internal flow. Another key function of the fascia in the body is in establishing boundaries. For example, as fascia encapsulates the liver, it separates the liver from other adjoining organs, such as the stomach and small intestine. There is also a vertical sheath of fascia (called the falx cerebri) in the cranium that divides the right and left hemispheres of the brain. The fascial stocking around the latissimus dorsi muscle separates it from the underlying trapezius muscle. Because fascia establishes boundary on the the physical level, it in turn helps establish boundaries on the psychological level. By repeatedly delineating the fascia in yoga practice, mindfully defining its scope and limits, the “boundaries” of the psyche are clarified. This is particularly true when a yoga practice is guided by its founding principles of nonharming, nonstealing, and the nonappropriation of sexual energy. Just as fascia contains all the structures in the body, it helps provide a container for psychological states of being. Related Books Tias Little synthesizes years of study in classical yoga, Sanskrit, Buddhism, anatomy, massage, and trauma healing in his dynamic, original style of teaching. Find out more about him here.

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Everyday Ayurveda Cooking Sampler | Free Download

Enter your email to receive your beautiful, printable PDF. Start reading Everyday Ayurveda Cooking for a Calm, Clear Mind by Kate O’Donnell! This sampler includes an introduction to Ayurveda (its history, the power of digestion, how the five elements combine into the three doshas), plus recipes for a calming drink, nourishing lunches, and a wholesome dessert! Email Address *     *You are agreeing to receive announcements from Shambhala Publications. You may unsubscribe at any time. One to whet the appetite: Calming Kichari SERVES 4–6 This is a classic dish that grounds you, calms you, and sustains you all at the same time. I’ve added the healthy bitterness of greens to cooling herbs and spices to mellow the mental heat of a busy day. When you feel like your mind is orbiting a bunch of tasks or appointments, have a leisurely sit-down with a bowl of this, and I guarantee you will feel calmer. 6 cups water 1 cup basmati rice ½ cup yellow split mung beans, soaked overnight or at least a few hours 1 Tbsp Calming Spice Mix 2 cups kale, Swiss chard, or collards, coarsely chopped into strips ½–1 tsp salt ½ cup fresh cilantro leaves, for garnish Tempering 1–2 Tbsp ghee ½ tsp cumin seeds ½ tsp coriander seeds ½ tsp fennel seeds (optional) In a large saucepan, boil 5 cups of the water on high heat. Set the other cup aside to add during cooking as needed. Rinse the rice and dal twice or until water runs clear. Add them to the boiling water, along with the spice mix, and keep on high heat until the liquid boils again. Immediately turn the heat down and simmer, partially covered, for 20 minutes without stirring. Check after 20 minutes to see if the dal is submerged. If not, pour the additional cup of water on top but do not stir. Place the greens on top to steam. Simmer, partially covered, 10 minutes more. To make the tempering, warm the ghee in a small skillet on medium heat. Add the cumin, coriander, and fennel seeds (if using), and cook until the seeds pop, about 2–3 minutes. Remove from the heat, and pour into the kichari. Add the salt, stir well, and let stand, covered, for a few minutes. Kichari should have a soupy, soft consistency. Serve it in bowls, as you would a stew. Garnish with lots of fresh cilantro.

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The Most Popular Posts from the Yoga for Healthy Aging Blog

by Nina Zolotow, author of Yoga for Healthy Aging Because the sixth anniversary of the Yoga for Healthy Aging blog is coming up next week, I thought I’d check to see what our nine most popular—or at least most viewed—posts were over all time. (Nine seems like a random number but for some reason that’s the number the Blogger uses.) Here are the results! I don’t know about you but I’m always surprised when I look at this list. Some of it surely has to do with how people search for “yoga and xxxx” when they are surfing the web, but I think it also has to do with shares on Facebook. In case you’re interested in checking any of these posts out (some are quite old and you may have missed some), I'll tell you a bit about each one and provide a link to the post. In New Tricks for Old Dogs: Working with Bunions, Baxter shared both Donald Moyer’s and JJ Gormley’s techniques for working with bunions as well as giving some own advice. Fun photos taken by Nina include one of Baxter's feet with a can of beans and a rubber band. In How Yoga Helps with Pain, I provided an overview of the three different ways you can use yoga to help reduce pain and/or eliminate it entirely: asanas, breath work, and relaxation. If this is a topic that interests you, I also wrote Yoga for Pain Management: The Big Picture, which provides an overview of all the posts we have on pain on the blog. In Yoga for Multiple Sclerosis: Proof of the Benefits!, Ram provided background information about MS and then discussed several research studies that "discuss the benefits and potential role of yoga as an alternative treatment of symptom management for individuals with MS and describe how yoga can improve the patients’ quality of life." In Plank Pose vs. Sit-Ups for Core Strength, I wrote about how the US military are replacing sit-ups with Plank pose (the forearm version), even going so far as to say that sit-ups are “an antiquity of exercise best left in the dustbin of fitness history.” In Featured Pose: Legs Up the Wall Pose, Baxter provided detailed instructions for practicing four different versions of Legs Up the Wall pose (Viparita Karani). I'm pleased this is our most popular pose description because it’s absolutely invaluable for stress management as well as for improving your circulation. In Yoga Helps Both Rheumatoid Arthritis and Osteoarthritis, I reported on a study that showed that eight weeks of yoga classes and home practice was associated with “clinically significant improvements in physical and mental health, fitness, psychological function, and HRQOL, with no adverse outcomes.” Although the study is not available to the public, I was able to get my hands on it, providing information about the type of yoga used for the study. In Two New Studies on Yoga and Parkinson’s Disease, I reported on two studies that concluded that yoga provided “an alternative method” both for treating reversible symptoms that affect physical functioning and for improving psychological well-being in people with PD. In Practice As Many As You Can: T. Krishnamacharya’s Yoga, I discussed the history of modern yoga and how in the 20th century T. Krishnamacharya developed many of the yoga poses we practice today. I wrote this in the hopes of encouraging people to practice at home without worrying too much about doing it “right” and recommended getting started by following Krishnamacharya’s advice to “Practice as many as you can.”  In Arthritis of the Hip Joint, Baxter and I described in detail exactly what arthritis of the hip joint is and provided recommendations for how to get started adding yoga to your healing regimen. Related Books Nina Zolotow is editor-in-chief of the Yoga for Healthy Aging blog. She is a yoga writer, certified yoga teacher, and longtime yoga practitioner. Her special area of expertise is yoga for emotional well-being (including yoga for stress, insomnia, depression, and anxiety). She completed the three-year teacher training program at The Yoga Room in Berkeley, CA, has studied yoga therapy with Shari Ser and Bonnie Maeda, and is especially influenced by the teachings of Donald Moyer. She has studied extensively with Rodney Yee and is inspired by the teachings of Patricia Walden on yoga for emotional healing. She teaches workshops and series classes on yoga for emotional well-being, yoga for stress, yoga for better sleep, home practice, and cultivating equanimity. Nina is the coauthor, with Rodney Yee, of two books on yoga: Yoga: The Poetry of the Body and Moving toward Balance.

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Yoga for Balance | An Excerpt from Yoga for Healthy Aging

We have excerpted the chapter “Yoga for Balance” from Yoga for Healthy Aging: A Guide to Lifelong Well-Being by Baxter Bell and Nina Zolotow. This chapter describes balance, how yoga can improve balance, and yoga practices to increase your balance. Click here to read “Yoga for Balance” from Yoga for Healthy Aging. Our friends at Brentwood Yoga in Brentwood, California. Related Books

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Meditation on the Third Eye

by Tias Little, author of Yoga of the Subtle Body Meditation on the third-eye center is one of the most classic of all techniques in subtle body training. I have been revisiting the potency of this practice and wanted to share a few thoughts. The bridge of the nose is called the Nasya Mula, or Root of the Nose. There is a marma point in Ayurveda associated with this location in the region between your eyebrows. Look at an anatomy book to get a better sense of this juncture. It is where the frontal bone and the nasal bones come together. The uppermost cheekbone (Zygoma) inserts into this same junction. Always keep cheekbones wide and spacious! There is movement at this cranial suture. See if you can sense this juncture in your sitting practice. The upper nostril and the third eye are closely linked. The Olfactory Nerve (Cranial Nerve Numero Uno) connects to the uppermost “ceiling” of the nostril area. So when doing pranayama, the upper nasal passage should be light and the breath should move back along the upper nasal passage. The Olfactory sense is the primary sensory organ. Think of the extended nasal bones of a deer or dog. The sense of smell is related to the element of earth and the muladhara chakra. Thus, there is a connection between the Root of the Nose and the Root of the Spine. Meditation on the third-eye center takes you straight into the central channel, Sushumna Nadi. In sitting practice, sense the way this area dilates. You might even sense a super subtle vibration—a pulse at the top of the bridge of your nose. Sense connection from this place on your forehead back to the center of your brain. Be sure to let your eyes soften and move them gently downward. Related Books Tias Little synthesizes years of study in classical yoga, Sanskrit, Buddhism, anatomy, massage, and trauma healing in his dynamic, original style of teaching. Find out more about him here.

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Breathing Practice

by Tias Little, author of Yoga of the Subtle Body More than anything it is important to come to know the quality of our own breath. In the beginning, I used to strive to expand my breath in the same way I actively stretched in a yoga posture. But I have learned that it is important, imperative really, not to “push the river of your breath.” Rather, it is best to follow the current of your breath—that is to sense its rhythm, texture, and nuance. Avoid trying to manipulate your breath like you would your hip joint in half moon pose! Sometimes we try to “colonize” our breath and become the master of it. I think it is better to watch, wait, and listen. I like to say, “let the breath breathe you.” I think the more we can observe the changes in our breath while inviting our breath to open, the more we can open without causing harm. Have the intention to come to know your breath intimately—that is, take great care. Deep internal breath work is like holding a small child. Visualize “cradling” your breath so that it will spontaneously soften and spread. Yogic breathing is a super delicate dance that involves actively moving your breath while passively receiving its flow. Related Books Tias Little synthesizes years of study in classical yoga, Sanskrit, Buddhism, anatomy, massage, and trauma healing in his dynamic, original style of teaching. Find out more about him here.

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