Category: Yoga & Movement

Stephen Cope: Finding Your True Calling

Stephen Cope is the scholar emeritus at Kripalu Yoga Center and the director of the Kripalu Institute for Extraordinary Living, as well as the bestselling author of The Wisdom of Yoga and The Great Work of Your Life. With Sounds True, Stephen has produced an eight-week online course titled Your True Calling: Essential Teachings of Yoga to Find Your Path in the World. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon speaks with Stephen about discovering and living out your dharma—the true purpose of your life. They discuss the wisdom found in the Bhagavad Gita and the many ways this ancient parable can be applied to modern life. Stephen explains why “missing by an inch is the same as missing by a mile,” as well as why we need to decide what not to do in order to bring our gifts to life. Finally, Tami and Stephen talk about the concept of being a warrior and what this means as we bring our unique skills to bear in a world that needs them more than ever. (67 minutes)

Practice You: A Personal Message from Elena Brower

Dear friends,

 

You’ve been practicing you, your entire life. You have always been the author of your own experience. My new book, Practice You, is a journal, filled with over 150 pages to draw, write, and dream. It’s an invitation to become the author of a sacred text of your own design, an opportunity to write a personal field guide to your highest self.

Practice You contains a series of Explorations, one for each of the nine aspects of your being. Each Exploration begins with a meditation, a chance to contemplate from a new vantage point. Today I’ll share the Embody meditation with you, from the “I Am” Exploration that opens the book.

Begin by taking a moment to sit and get grounded. Place your hands on your thighs, palms down, and begin breathing, deeply and slowly. Sense the weight of your seat, and let your spine rise tall. Feel yourself embodied, present, and steady.

  • How do you define yourself?
  • What are the words you’d use to describe your current attitude about your life right now?
  • What’s the most visceral, urgent need you have right now in order to feel alive, happy, and at home in yourself?

With gratitude,

Elena Brower

P.S. Look for me on Sounds True Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter on Tuesday, September 26—we’ll be giving away copies of Practice You & much more!

Yoga for Activating the Heart

Dear friends,

Are you feeling it? Our planet is going through a major energetic shift. People all over the world are feeling called in a new way to align their deepest soul callings with their external lives. There is a global energetic shift contributing to both a magnificent spiritual longing as well as a lack of ease, and the everyday stresses of modern life—along with changes in the Earth’s electromagnetic field—can make us feel strangely separate from our own authenticity. It can feel like standing on the shore of a whitewater river, looking across to the calm green peace on the other side, and wondering how to get back over there. We know there is something genuine that we are missing, but we need a bridge over the separation to return to our own peaceful heart.

We are all spiritual beings expanding into the vastness of our potential. The connection to our heart is a reminder that we are so much more than our bodies and minds. The stillness is where the miracles come through us, and the chaos is the distraction. How do we return to the silence of the heart that gently guides us towards our destiny?

We have found an effective bridge in the simple techniques from Kundalini Yoga. In our new book, Essential Kundalini Yoga: An Invitation to Radiant Health, Unconditional Love, and the Awakening of our Energetic Potential, we explain how to use ancient tools from the Himalayas to shift the frequency of our prana, our inner energy, our bio-magnetic field, and our nervous system so we can align with our highest calling. These tools allow the beautiful energy of your own highest self to be directly accessed and the stillness of your heart to guide you. This form of yoga helps to clear energetic blocks and resistances so our natural brilliance can flow into our body and into our lives from the inside out.

Our goal in writing this book was to present deep concepts in a way that would be accessible, demystified, and easy to follow. We envisioned that the layout could evoke a sense of peace and depth. We wanted to get past the rigmarole and provide clear instructions so you can get to work actualizing the truth of your own vibration, and allow the beautiful shine of you to expand into your life.

YOGA FOR ACTIVATING THE HEART

Here is an example of a very effective exercise that can help you reduce stress and bring you back to your heart center at any time during your day. It works in a very short amount of time.

 

  1. Sit up straight, either cross-legged or in a chair. If in a chair, sit forward closer to the front of the chair so you do not lean back.
  2. Hook the fingers of both hands together in front of your chest and pull your elbows steadily and strongly to the sides.
  3. Close your eyes and inhale very slowly. Keep pulling on the grip. Breathe deeply into your abdomen. Exhale slowly as well.
  4. Imagine that with each breath you are drawing in light through the top of your head.
  5. Continue breathing long, deep breaths while pulling side to side for three minutes.
  6. To finish, inhale deeply, hold the breath, and shift your hands to push your palms firmly together, pressing as hard as you can. Focus your attention on the top of your head. Exhale and repeat two more times.
  7. Release your palms, place them on your knees facing up, and take time to connect with your breathing.

Inside each of us is a core of pure love. There is not a soul on Earth who is not feeling the effects of this shift in one way or another. Yet, through it all, our core energetic state is love. We truly believe this book can help navigate your journey back into love, hope, and miracles.

We thank you for being a part of this evolution. May you feel the light of love and the many blessings that are with you always.

 

With our love always,

Karena Virginia and Dharm Khalsa

 

Snatam Kaur: Original Light

Snatam Kaur is an American-born, internationally renowned kirtan singer raised in the Sikh and kundalini yoga tradition. Known for her blends of ancient chant and modern instrumentation, Snatam also teaches meditation and yoga. With Sounds True, she has published the book-and-CD set Original Light: The Morning Practice of Kundalini Yoga. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon and Snatam discuss the roots of her spiritual practices and the meaning of the Aquarian Sadhana, which is one of the most important aspects of Original Light. They speak on the tradition of Japji meditation and why working with the spine is an essential part of kundalini yoga. Finally, Snatam shares a pair of potent chants for expressing and celebrating one’s own sense of kundalini. (71 minutes)

Seane Corn: The Yoga of Awakening

Seane Corn is a celebrated yoga teacher, philanthropist, and the cofounder of Off the Matt, Into the World—a leadership training organization devoted to the use of yogic principles to foster global activism and education. With Sounds True, she has most recently released The Yoga of Awakening, a trilogy of instructional DVDs intended to guide viewers from the purely physical aspects of yoga into its more openly spiritual depths. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Seane and Tami Simon talk about yoga as a path of inquiry, and how that path could be a palliative for a world still saturated with conflict. They discuss the possibility of healing trauma through yoga, as well as how that trauma has long-term effects on the chakras. Finally, Tami and Seane speak on what it means to live purposefully and seven essential aspects of a fully embodied heart. (71 minutes)

A Yogi in Love with Life

Beryl Bender Birch is one of the most well-known teachers of classical yoga in the United States, as well as the author of many books and audio programs on the subject. With Sounds True, Beryl has recently created the book Yoga for Warriors: Basic Training in Strength, Resilience, and Peace of Mind. In this edition of Insights at the Edge, Beryl and Tami Simon discuss the usefulness of yoga for people with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. In order to better communicate these techniques, Beryl walks Tami through basic ujjayi breathing. They also talk about the link between quantum physics and yoga, as well as the “revolutionary” role of yogis in modern society. (70 minutes)