Nirguna Yoga

Jessie is back!! Don’t miss class with this gorgeous lady Mondays at 6pm!! Her knowledge and experience is off the charts and she is a gem of a teacher with so much to share! @yogisonfire

Come hang with Jordan every Thursday @ 6pm, Friday @ 9:30 am and Sunday @ 9am for a pumped up 26&2 class! Take your practice to the next level with a challenging and invigorating foundational Hatha yoga class.

Vivekakhyāteḥ is about unlocking one’s limitless potential, giving us control over our lives in a way that is beyond our wildest dreams. There have been many names in the ancient yogic traditions for this awesome potential. The philosophers of the ancient Yoga School called it puruṣa meaning the True Self. The great masters of the Vedanta School called it brahman meaning the Universal Soul. The Buddha called it śūnyatā which means emptiness. They were presented throughout history as different concepts but the point of them all is the same and this is the secret heart of the wisdom handed down to us by the yogis across the millennia: If you understand the secret potential within all things, then you can learn to use this potential to have anything you want. Anything you can dream of.

Don't miss the Primary Series with Robin on Saturdays at 9am!

One of our goals at Nirguna Yoga is to offer a variety of yoga methods. It is our belief that there is not just one way to practice yoga and each tradition has its own strengths. Practicing from a variety of yoga lineages, we become more well rounded in our own practice.

I had the honor of practicing the Primary Ashtanga series with Robin last Saturday morning and it made me so happy! I didn’t realize how much I missed it and needed it! Pretty much all Vinyasa practices have in one way or another come from Ashtanga yoga. It is incredibly valuable as a yoga practitioner to learn the roots of Vinyasa by learning the Primary series. It is very basic all the while challenging and you can modify where ever you need.

Robin has been practicing this series for over two decades and she has been blessed to have studied with some of the most notable teachers in the lineage! She is an incredible gem of a teacher! Come take advantage of Robin's expertise! It is so much fun to practice together and to get inspiration from each other's strengths!

You don’t have to go that deep in Standing Bow get the benefits of this pose! On a physical level it works the entire circulatory system. It requires more mental strength than physical strength to stay in the pose. It helps develop patience, determination, and willpower but most importantly it radically opens our heart. The work of a yogi is to strive to keep our hearts open at all costs, it’s the greatest form of protection.

Come meet and practice with this gem of a yogi (@chris._.xilva) today at noon!!

Vivekakhyāteḥ is the very highest goal of the eight limbs: some kind of really deep thunderbolt of understanding that’s supposed to hit you in a state of meditation. This section of the Yoga Sutra is understanding what is real and what is not. It’s about realizing the reality of a kind of ultimately powerful, ultimately potent potential that is available inside every single one of us.

Sanskrit word for the day: “Jnyana” meaning knowledge or wisdom. Ever wonder why the word “know” has that stupid silent K at the begining? Well, knowledge comes from an older greek word, “gnosis” which also meant knowledge. See? It’s got a “g” that you’re not supposed to pronounce. That all comes from this older word jñāna with this hard to pronounce “jñā” sound at the beginning which, even way back then meant: to know stuff. According to the yoga sutra, your jñāna is gonna blaze up like a bonfire if you master the eight limbs of yoga.

योगाङ्गानुष्ठानादशुद्धिक्षये ज्ञानदीप्तिराविवेकख्यातेः॥२८॥
Yogāṅgānuṣṭhānādaśuddhikṣaye jñānadīptirāvivekakhyāteḥ||28|

2.28: By practicing the limbs of yoga, impurities are destroyed and knowledge shines forth. This culminates in a realization of fine distinctions.

To be absolutely honest, you can’t actually pronounce Sanskrit correctly with just English sounds.
You can get pretty close with some sounds, sort of close with other sounds, and other sounds are just gonna be a mess. That’s ok. Frankly, even scholars in India argue now about how they think these sounds were originally made. We’ll just give you a rough guide here and you don’t need to stress it too much. If you really want to learn it, you’ve gotta find some nice teacher with a live tongue and a live ear to talk to you and listen to you and help you make the sounds coming out of your mouth sound like the ones coming out of theirs. In the meantime:
Vowels
a sounds like ‘uh’ as in but
ā sounds like ‘ah’ as in mom
i sounds like ‘i’ as in bit
ī sounds like ‘ee’ as in feet
u sounds like ‘oo’ as in boot
ū sounds like ‘oo’ as in boot like the last one but it’s supposed to be a little longer, like booot
e sounds like ‘ay’ as in say
ai sounds like ‘ai’ as in I
o sounds like ‘o’ as in go
au sounds like ‘ow’ now
ṃ sounds like ‘m’ sometimes or ‘n’ but it can even sound like ‘ng’, or ‘ny’, or ‘ṇ’ (you can see that
ḥ yeah, um people are still arguing about how you’re supposed to say this one. We’re going with a popular theory where you echo the vowel sound that comes before it. So ‘aḥ’ becomes “aha” and ‘iḥ ’ becomes “ihi.”
ṃ sounds like ‘m’ sometimes or ‘n’ but it can even sound like ‘ng’, or ‘ny’, or ‘ṇ.’ There are a bunch of confusing rules to it based on the way it should flow into the letter that follows it. We’ll point it out to you when it’s important.

Awkward Pose Pt II

“Knees up, chest up, upper body leaning back.”

The yogi must project energy in every direction to keep balanced. Upward through the spine resisting gravity so the yogi can remain on tip-toes even as hips are sitting down. Forward through arms & fingertips as hips are moving back behind the feet. All the while, feet & knees must remain hip-width distance to protect alignment.

This pose requires *ultimate* focus for a yogi, and practicing it regularly strengthens the mind and the body.

- Instructor, Marisol Enrique

📷: Red Head Studios