Yoga Sūtras 3.21 - 3.22: What does becoming invisible and reading omens have to do with yoga? Nothing! It is a metaphor. Becoming invisible means being able to be still. Patañjali is cleverly leading us towards a superior foundation; one from which we can more clearly discern what we are doing with our time and energy - to see: Our we our own best friend or our own enemy. In order to assess this, we must first bring ourselves under control. So just like in the Vedic instructions, so too in the yogic instructions: Listen carefully (3.17), look carefully (3.18), control your body with stability & ease (3.21), then we can see how to guide ourselves in this life. 

Live Class meets every Wednesday from 10:45 - 12:00 pm (California Time)

To learn more about our offerings or to make a donation in support of our work, please visit our website: https://www.samjiva.com/donations

David Miliotis - Samjīva Nilayam: Ashtānga Yoga Orange County

samjiva.com  |  youtube.com/ashtangayoga  |  @samjivanilayam

Yoga Sūtras 3.18 - 3.20: In Ashtānga Yoga we are taught to fix our attention in three places: Breathing, Posture & Dṛṣṭi (eyes). Why are the eyes so important? Patañjali actually teaches three essential aspects of the eyes that will help us to overcome our habits and lack of self-awareness (yea, really - have you noticed how little we actually know about ourselves or are you still under the spell of thinking everything is happening consciously - because it certainly is not). Sūtra 18 is the first teaching on the eye. We are supposed to observe our eyes as a self-reflective meditation (svādhyāya) to shed light on where we are coming from. The other two essential aspects about the eyes are found in Sūtras 3.26 & 3.28. Together, these three teaching about the eyes bring far greater depth of purpose to our Ashtānga practice of Dṛṣṭi.

Live Class meets every Wednesday from 10:45 - 12:00 pm (California Time)

To learn more about our offerings or to make a donation in support of our work, please visit our website: https://www.samjiva.com/donations

David Miliotis - Samjīva Nilayam: Ashtānga Yoga Orange County

samjiva.com  |  youtube.com/ashtangayoga  |  @samjivanilayam

Yoga Sūtras 3.17 - 3.22 (but mostly 3.17): Vital to the process of yoga is what Patañjali refers to as cleaning our memory (smṛti). This essentially means becoming conscious of our karma and managing it with freedom rather than from the bondage of our habits & the concepts we hold about the way the world is and should be. We do this by self-reflecting (svādhyāya). The process when done with deep sincerity is quite liberating. So much so that Patañjali gives us a list of self-reflective meditations to quicken our progress along the path to greater self-awareness, skill & joy. First and foremost, we must learn to become exceptionally good listeners.

Live Class meets every Wednesday from 10:45 - 12:00 pm (California Time)

To learn more about our offerings or to make a donation in support of our work, please visit our website: https://www.samjiva.com/donations

David Miliotis - Samjīva Nilayam: Ashtānga Yoga Orange County

samjiva.com  |  youtube.com/ashtangayoga  |  @samjivanilayam

Yoga Sūtras 3.13 - 3.16: Well you know, "the only thing constant is change." So we are either going up or going down, but our conditions are definitely not staying the same. So, think about how conditions get created and take the best possible steps towards creating more preferable conditions. Our behavior, our health, our wealth, all these things either go up or down according to the behavior and actions we choose now. If we want to become enlightened, then we must work towards becoming ripe for a big awakening. If we want to do handstands and backbends, then too, we must take appropriate steps in order for this to happen. If, in the future, we want the best opportunities for our children, then we provide the best situations for them now. If we spend too much time just enjoying ourselves, being complacent, avoiding discipline and intelligent hard work, then our behavior, our health, our wealth will degrade. Whatever we do or do not cultivate, will either prosper or decline accordingly. This is Patañjali’s message in this section and he gives us some common sense considerations to help us implement this wisdom.

Live Class meets every Wednesday from 10:45 - 12:00 pm (California Time)

To learn more about our offerings or to make a donation in support of our work, please visit our website: https://www.samjiva.com/donations

David Miliotis - Samjīva Nilayam: Ashtānga Yoga Orange County

samjiva.com  |  youtube.com/ashtangayoga  |  @samjivanilayam

Welcome back from Summer Break! In this Yoga Sūtras class, we summarize Patañjali’s basic yogic process and correlate this with sūtras 3.09, 3.11 & 3.12. Tied into this perspective are sūtras 1.13 (definition of practice), 1.07 & 1.08 (proper use of mind & improper use of mind) and lastly 2.01 (kriyā yoga: tapas (discipline), svādhyāya (study & analysis) and īśvara-praṇidhāna (action going beyond short-sighted immediate gratification).

Live Class meets every Wednesday from 10:45 - 12:00 pm (California Time)

To learn more about our offerings or to make a donation in support of our work, please visit our website: https://www.samjiva.com/donations

David Miliotis - Samjīva Nilayam: Ashtānga Yoga Orange County

samjiva.com  |  youtube.com/ashtangayoga  |  @samjivanilayam

Yoga Sūtras 2.52

Yoga Sūtras 2.52, tataḥ kṣīyate prakāśa-āvaraṇam ||

Prāṇāyāma reduces that which covers our inner spiritual light ||

Breathing bridges the unconscious to the conscious. How? Physiologically breathing belongs to both the autonomic (unconscious) functions as well as conscious motor actions. The more we master our breathing the less unconscious we become. Our psychological conditioning - unconsciously stored in the body - gradually gets washed clean by mastering our breathing processes.

This discussion goes in-depth into the psychology of being present vs being not present - which simply comes down to whether we give our attention to the process of perception or to the memory-thoughts that arise moment to moment. How does this relate to reducing that which covers our spiritual light? Because it is our conditioning - which is just memories in action - that suppresses our innate wisdom. There's more to the process so check out the discussion ... ! We also detail the various lists that get presented to help us recognize our conditioning: e.g. the six spiritual enemies, the five kleshas, etc.

Live Class meets every Tuesday from 10:45 - 12:00 pm (California Time)

To learn more about our offerings or to make a donation in support of our work, please visit our website: https://www.samjiva.com/donations

David Miliotis - Samjīva Nilayam & Ashtānga Yoga Orange County

samjiva.com  |  youtube.com/ashtangayoga  |  @samjivanilayam

Yoga Sūtras 2.49 - 2.53

Yoga Sūtras 2.52, tataḥ kṣīyate prakāśa-āvaraṇam ||

Prāṇāyāma reduces that which covers our inner spiritual light ||

Check out the discussion ... !

Live Class meets every Tuesday from 10:45 - 12:00 pm (California Time)

To learn more about our offerings or to make a donation in support of our work, please visit our website: https://www.samjiva.com/donations

David Miliotis - Samjīva Nilayam & Ashtānga Yoga Orange County

samjiva.com  |  youtube.com/ashtangayoga  |  @samjivanilayam

Yoga Sūtras 2.49 - 2.51

Yoga Sūtras 2.51, bāhya-abhyantara-viṣaya-ākṣepī caturthaḥ  ||

Beyond the objects of breathing – such as exhalation, inhalation and so forth – lies a fourth realm to prāṇāyāma (aka kevala kumbhaka).  ||

Today we practiced a simple yet very effective pranayama for increasing our lung capacity. We discussed the ratios to be used for breathing exercises and the process of making the breath very long & very subtle – the secret process for developing the not so mysterious but widely unknown fourth pranayama (kevala kumbhaka). Check out the discussion ... !

Live Class meets every Tuesday from 10:45 - 12:00 pm (California Time)

To learn more about our offerings or to make a donation in support of our work, please visit our website: https://www.samjiva.com/donations

David Miliotis - Samjīva Nilayam & Ashtānga Yoga Orange County

samjiva.com  |  youtube.com/ashtangayoga  |  @samjivanilayam

Yoga Sūtras 2.49 - 2.50, Check out the discussion ... !

Yoga Sūtras 2.50, bāhya-abhyantara-stambha-vṛttiḥ deśa-kāla-saṁkhyābhiḥ paridṛṣṭaḥ dīrgha-sūkṣmaḥ  ||

Prāṇāyāma is practiced by regulating the ratios of time and the location of the breath during, exhalation, inhalation & retention. It requires diligent observation and advances as it becomes longer and more subtle.  ||

There are many parts of the breathing process to learn & develop. Jalandhara Bandha helps us develop the stability of the structure throughout the breathing process and this prepares us for meditation or rather stabilizes our attention. The 胎息 tāi xī embryonic breathing pattern leads to stability: exhaling from the Mūla Bandha to the heart, then also inhaling the same, from Mūla Bandha to the heart - constantly drawing the energy in & up seeking back to our origin - deep inside the core of our core.

Live Class meets every Tuesday from 10:45 - 12:00 pm (California Time)

To learn more about our offerings or to make a donation in support of our work, please visit our website: https://www.samjiva.com/donations

David Miliotis - Samjīva Nilayam & Ashtānga Yoga Orange County

samjiva.com  |  youtube.com/ashtangayoga  |  @samjivanilayam

Yoga Sūtras 2.46 - 2.48, Check out the discussion ... !

Yoga Sūtras 2.46, sthira-sukham āsanam ||

Āsana is a stable and pleasant bodily position ||

Pattabhi Jois taught this Sūtra to us in a very practice way. He said that sthira (stable) means maintaining a straight back while sukha (pleasant) means breathing freely.

Live Class meets every Tuesday from 10:45 - 12:00 pm (California Time)

To learn more about our offerings or to make a donation in support of our work, please visit our website: https://www.samjiva.com/donations

David Miliotis - Samjīva Nilayam & Ashtānga Yoga Orange County

samjiva.com  |  youtube.com/ashtangayoga  |  @samjivanilayam

Bhagavad Gita Ch. 4 v. 30 - 36, Bowing, Questioning & Serving: Knowledge is not about facts. Knowledge transforms our behavior. When we suddenly realize what we are doing, and instantly change our course, that is the raft of Knowledge lifting us out of our erroneous ways. Check out the discussion ... !

Bhagavad Gita 4.34,

tad viddhi praṇipātena, paripraśnena sevayā | upadekṣyanti te jñānaṁ,  jñāninas tattva-darśinaḥ ||

Seek that enlightenment by prostrating, by questions and by service; the wise, will instruct you, seekers of Truth,in that Knowledge ||

You can watch this week’s class on Youtube or listen to it on our Podcast: https://www.samjiva.com/satsanga

Live Class meets every Thursday from 5:30 - 6:45 pm (PDT)

Youtube Video: https://youtu.be/GGZjGePo5C4

To learn more about our offerings or to make a donation in support of our work, please visit our website: https://www.samjiva.com/donations

David Andrew Miliotis - Samjīva Nilayam & Ashtānga Yoga Orange County

samjiva.com  |  youtube.com/ashtangayoga  |  @samjivanilayam