by Gregor Maehle | Aug 23, 2019 | Meditation and Samadhi, Society/ civilisation, Yoga Philosophy
Here is a summary of my keynote lecture at this years British Wheel of Yoga Congress in Coventry/ UK, which was published in the summer edition of Spectrum. It explains how the concepts of samadhi and bhakti interdigitate and in the process sums up the the main...
by Gregor Maehle | May 12, 2018 | Yoga Philosophy
The forms of suffering, or afflictions (kleshas), according to Patanjali, are ignorance, egotism, desire, aversion and fear of death. In stanza II.4 he points out that forms of suffering do not just occur in the fully active form but also in the so-called dormant,...
by Gregor Maehle | Apr 13, 2018 | Asana, Ashtanga Yoga, Yoga Philosophy
More on what posture was designed to be. A few weeks back I posted my commentary to Patanjali’s sutras II.46 and II.47, showing how far removed modern yoga has become from it’s original concept. Here now sutra II.48, which deepens the inquiry: II.48 In asana there is...
by Gregor Maehle | Mar 14, 2018 | Audio/Video, Society/ civilisation, Yoga Philosophy
Here Gregor discusses what the yoga industry misses out on by reducing yoga to asana, to a mere workout. Yoga can be a path to inner peace by calling off inner conflict, conflict with ourselves. Outer conflict is an externalization of inner conflict, conflict going on...
by Gregor Maehle | Mar 10, 2018 | Audio/Video, Teaching, Yoga Philosophy
When BKS Iyengar was once asked what he thought of Ashtanga Yoga he said, “There is only Ashtanga Yoga”. What he meant was that yoga that is not eight-limbed is not truly yoga. In this short video Gregor is explaining what is missing in a lot of modern...
by Gregor Maehle | Mar 2, 2018 | Asana, Ashtanga Yoga, Yoga Philosophy
Here is more evidence that the current Yoga-is-gymnastics-with-a-meditative-twist fad does not really stack up to what yoga truly is. In this stanza Patanjali defines the relationship between posture and the higher limbs. Included are many explanatory quotations from...
