We are currently underway with the first round of MENTORSHIP and one month into this container. Since MENTORSHIP has been designed as a nine month journey, we're still just barely getting started. Yet, already, so much has developed. Our second group meeting will happen tomorrow, this Sunday, so I felt like it would be a good opportunity to reflect and contemplate together on what has so far transpired and where we're going from here. In MENTORSHIP we follow the Elemental Mod

We're almost two weeks into this year's MENTORSHIP container with an intimate group of 7 yogis and the one thing I always like to work on in the beginning of any new sādhana is the focused development of the root & legs. These parts of us -- the feet, the ankles, the knees, the thighs and the base -- form the foundation for everything that is to come in our practice. Without a firm and stable foundation, the rest of the structure will collapse on top of a shaky base. One must

We kicked off the 1st round of MENTORSHIP yesterday -- an intimate group of 7 intrepid yogis -- and we were contemplating this question: "what is [yoga] āsana?" Inspired by this question I want to write today about this. I think a good place to start in our investigation is asking simply: "what is the body?" Our body is a collection of materials that seemingly evolved out of the cosmic soup of the manifest universe. Elements such as iron and silicon; or the more obvious frien

by Grant Ifflander After 11 years of teaching yoga, 6 years of facilitating international retreats, and 3 years of running education programs for teaching certification, I've had a good amount of opportunity to learn about the developmental process on the path of Yoga. Each year I accrue more experience in terms of my own journey, and, for me, has been a profound & quite humbling study throughout this time. There have been many instances where I've wondered "what's next?" and

Greetings friend, This letter is my attempt to describe the process in which you’re being invited into. My hope is that by spending this time in reflection with you, it may clarify whether or not MENTORSHIP is of best interest for you. No hard feelings either way. My primary intention is to bring the “right” group of people together, in study and practice, for an adequate length of time for learning, development & integration on the path of Yoga to take place. The results fro

Carrying on with our discussion from the other day on Bandha & Pranayama (please see here if you missed it), I'd like to expand further. Remember that bandha is often inaccurately translated as "lock". I assert that this is an inaccurate translation, as when we think of "lock" it implies that something is closed, blocked, or cut off. While this translation may be partially true, it is not the whole picture; it is incomplete and can lead one to see only part of what is happen

Today's discussion will be an elaboration on the topic of bandha and its activity in pranayama. A saying from the Hatha Yoga tradition goes: "There can be no pranayama without kumbhaka, and there can be no kumbhaka without bandha." This statement is enough to have the serious yogi wondering -- what is the importance of kumbhaka and bandha? We'll start here and see where this goes. As usual, I appreciate writing for the fact that it allows me to "think out loud" on these topic

Today I wanted to share a bit about the unveiling and discovery of the "path". Many are turning to spiritual practice, enticed by a variety of promises and benefits that are often associated with spirituality. However these benefits are the "side-show" -- valid & legitimate yes, by not the true intent or purpose of spiritual practice. For someone starting out, this may be an interesting discovery to make, but sure enough, with enough time and practice, this may be realized al

Hi all, Grant here. Today I'm writing from my porch, watching soft rain blanket the mountainous terrain of central Costa Rica. We returned yesterday morning, April 6th, from our annual retreat, the Five Element Immersion . 12 souls plus myself deepening into our practice together for 11 days. As usual, I find myself in the reflective and contemplative mood which often follows a deep retreat experience. I'm hoping to capture some of those ideas in writing, hence the inspiratio

Overview The spiritual science known as Hatha Yoga began to make its way into prominence in the 12th or 13th centuries AD, when texts started to emerge which made reference to a ‘new’ type of Yoga or spiritual method. This method was known as hatha yoga: the yoga of the Ha (sun) and Tha (moon), also known as the the yoga of force (another translation of hatha is “force”). Many of these techniques and teachings which came to be known under the umbrella term hatha yoga were gr

Every year, around this time of seasonal change, when summer becomes autumn — the leaves fall and things retreat inward before winter —...

Good day friends, Thanks for joining me for another Episode of “Sādhana Lab” where we explore themes, ideas and concepts related to the...

Good morning (or good afternoon) to you, yogi Have you ever been frustrated at a lack of movement internally, on an emotional level?...

Hi all, Grant here. Today I feel inspired to share with you a video that I made recently to add to our collection of educational content...

Greetings friends, In today’s publication I’d like to visit themes centered around the Element of the Earth. This essay is part of a...

This essay is part of a series of writings on the topic of the pancha maha bhutas . Read our contemplations on Earth , Water , Fire ,...

Today we will continue our exploration and discussion on the subject of the pancha maha bhutas , and in specific we will cover the Air...

The Pancha Maha Bhutas series is a short arrangement of essays where we dive into each of the 5 Great Elements based on the traditional...

Our orientation to WATER and how we view the characteristics and qualities of this elemental "personality" is based on how it is seen to manifest in our body, where its essence is located in the subtle body (according to yogic/Tantrik physiology), and conclusions from the experimental model & methodology of bhuta shuddhi that is used in our yoga sadhana.

We must remember that the ideas of Yoga are all related to the objectives or aims of this spiritual path. At the same time, we must also remember that these ideas were and are presented as methods and ways of experimentation rather than as rules or dogmas. his is important, as our own individual attainment is dependent on our ability to think for ourselves and apply any of the means suggested to arrive at our own conclusions and understanding...