Yoga for Life

We study together.

A Sangha is not an audience. It is a community of curious souls seeking a deeper connection with Yoga, asking real questions, side by side, evolving together, since 2010.

Wherever in the world you practice, there is a seat for you here. 🙏

Study the whole system.

In ta***ic tradition and iconography, wisdom is depicted as a sword: it cuts through confusion cleanly, or not at all. Half-knowledge leaves the knot tied.

Yoga Philosophy Applied is the whole blade. Seven lectures, each between 2 and 3 hours, a complete semester of traditional wisdom, from the origins and lineages of yoga to the Yoga Sutras, Karma, Pranayama, and a playbook of happiness.

Lecture 1 is our gift to you: https://www.yogaforlifepdx.com/yoga-philosophy-applied/course-preview

Pursue your seeking. 🙏

In her words, not ours. 🙏

"I felt as if I was well-informed, but I still underestimated how much this training would affect and how much I would learn." , Erika Rae, Yoga practitioner and teacher

Depth surprises even the well-prepared. To every student who has gone deeper with us: thank you for trusting the path.

Some knowledge is studied. Some is remembered.

All week we have spoken about learning the system: the koshas, the lineage, the texts. All of it matters. All of it is the map.

But there is another kind of knowing that no book hands you. Patanjali calls this PRATIBHA, the inner knowing that arrives before the reasoning does.

It is not a replacement for study. It is what study makes room for. We learn the map carefully so that one day we can look up from it and recognize truth.

A question to sit with this weekend: what do I already know, that I have not been listening to?

We are our own healers. And, sometimes we can use some support.

, Kelly

What is pranayama, really?

Unlike breath work, which is an exercise for the lungs. PRANAYAMA is the movement of life force (PRANA), the energy that animates every layer of our being.

This is one of the most common misconceptions in modern yoga, and one we gently work to correct: the breath is the doorway, not the destination. Through the breath we reach what moves beneath it.

, Raj

One Self, seven shells.

In Sanskrit, KOSHA means sheath. The koshas can be imagined as layers, or lenses, of experience. In Hinduism, there are five: matter (ANNAMAYA), life force (PRANAMAYA), mind (MANOMAYA), intellect(VIJNANAMAYA), bliss (ANANDAMAYA); and Vajrayana Buddhism adds two additional layers: consciousness (CHITTAMAYA) and the complex of karmic motivations (ATMAMAYA).

Most modern yoga works with the first shell alone. Universal Yoga works toward strength, balance and unification across all of them to help overcome bias of any shell.

The full map is taught in Yoga Philosophy Applied. Lecture 1 is our gift: https://www.yogaforlifepdx.com/yoga-philosophy-applied/course-preview

Be curious. Seek knowledge, practice, and attain wisdom. 🙏

A community of curious souls seeking a deeper connection with Yoga. That is what Sangha means to us, and what these fifteen years have been.

Our role as teachers isn't to meet you where you are – but to show you where you're going.

Wherever in the world you practice, there is a seat for you here. Follow along, share this with someone who is seeking, and practice with us. 🙏

Before the next decision, a pause.

What motivates me to take this action?

This is SVADHYAYA, self-study. Not judgment. Just honest looking. Sit with it today. 🙏

Who am I?

Yoga begins with this question, and Yoga Philosophy Applied is our complete answer to how the tradition explores it.

Seven lectures, each between 2 and 3 hours. A complete semester's worth of undergraduate-level study: the origins and lineages of yoga, Who Am I?, the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Karma, Pranayama, a playbook of happiness, and Hinduism versus Buddhism.

Designed for curious souls who want yoga in its truest form, wherever in the world you practice.

Lecture 1 is our gift to you, completely free: https://www.yogaforlifepdx.com/yoga-philosophy-applied

Pursue your seeking. 🙏