February 2021

---

Q: The troubled period we are living in matches descriptions of the Kali Yuga. I find the Yoga practice particularly well designed to facilitate the journey despite the challenges. I was wondering if the seers provided some advice, guidelines, or special practices specific to the Kali Yuga. Also, I read that practice and learning were accelerated during this time. Any truth to that?

The Kali Yuga is the period where one has to face the truth of impermanence and the suffering caused by human ignorance. This is the gateway into true, deep yoga practice. Without it the ego function prevents us from truly caring about others. The other Yugas are internal meditation stages, which naturally flow as we understand time, space, and interpenetration of everything. From the perspective of the Yugas, someone in deep meditation stands at the beginning and the end of time and is therefore free. 

The Yuga system is based on the mathematical geometry of musical scales and is explained beautifully in The Myth of Invariance by Ernest McClain and by Antonio T. de Nicholas in his work on the Rig Veda. There is no historical, geological, astrological, astronomical “proof” of any of this. Regardless, at the very least it is brilliant mathematical fun and metaphor.

A special practice that is incredibly valuable, especially as we consider the turmoil we are now in, and that is reflected in the idea of the Kali Yuga, is the Buddhist practice of holding all beings in your heart. Of course, this is the core teaching of the Bhagavad Gītā as well.

We are living through a delicate time in history, whether or not it is definitively the Kali Yuga. In all such times yes, practice and learning are not only extremely important, but when approached with as much clarity as possible they can be accelerated by the fact that one is dealing with crises.

---

Q: The little understanding I have of the word yama means 'to kill' or 'to push down'. Is this what we are doing when we are practicing the yamas? And is this where and how this limb's name originated?

Yama is the god of death and he is considered to be a compassionate teacher. Yama is not violent, mean, or oppressive (see the Kaṭa Upaniṣad). But because he is the god of death, people often confuse the word yama with concepts like killing or pushing down. The word yama in other contexts merely means to control.

For instance, the word prāṇāyāma means to release the prāṇā from restrictions as opposed to stop or oppress the prāṇā. When practicing the yamas, as described in the Yoga Sūtra, we are controlling the tendency of ignorance to hurt others, to tell lies, to exploit, steal or do harm. This is the origin of the use as a foundational concept for ethical behavior. Since there is an element of control in the discernment required to behave in an ethical manner, the word yama is applicable.

---

Q: The German Yoga teacher Ronald Steiner speaks of fascia as like a rubber band in that if we always move in the same way it can become stretched unevenly and wear out or create disbalance or imbalances. He uses the example of different areas being stretched unevenly if we always do Paschimattasana with stretched versus bent legs. In my practice, I’ve been straightening and stretching my legs some days and bending them on other days. What would you say about this?

For many reasons beyond just the movement and patterning in the fascia, it is intelligent to not become caught in our habitual patterns of movement and form. So yes, bending the knees some days and straightening them on others can be good. But possibly more important than that (which itself could become another habitual approach to the postures) is to wake up the legs! You do this by activating the feet, lifting kneecaps, and feeling connections from your toes all the way to the pelvic floor (and on up to the head). 

To feel full-body lines is the way to respect and use the patterning of the intelligence as it manifests in the healthy and pleasant patterns of fascia. This is what’s called proper alignment.  

---

Q: I've stumbled on a roadblock: The more I practice there is less desire to categorize, and more desire to simply observe, to move more slowly, speak more softly, behave more kindly. My difficulty is that this residue drains away as I necessarily re-engage with the regular world. My practice can bring me to a state of not wishing to judge or evaluate almost as if I’m floating in a cloud of neutrality and acceptance. But then almost any real-life situation pulls me into needing to have an opinion. When we connect with others, we do so by sharing opinions, feelings, experiences, etc. and this pulls us into judging, individualizing, and so on. How do we connect with others in a truly loving way?

This is a wonderful roadblock! And like most roadblocks, there’s usually a detour just around the corner. In this case, the detour is for you to take a shift in perspective.

Though most of us would probably love to be in a state of bliss in which residue and insights from the practice last forever—as if “floating on a cloud”—these states of calm and equanimity just don’t last. Not for anyone. The practices are designed to help us wake up to whatever we’re facing minute by minute. They provide a space within which we can deepen our understanding of ourselves and others and they help us sustain steadiness and stability.

But steadiness, stability, equanimity, and bliss are only definable in the context of complementary patterns and states of being. They, like everything else, including the impact of our practice, are always changing, therefore the positive residue will also change. Observing all of these shifts as part of a continuum rather than as opposing or mutually exclusive states is a practice too. Having opinions, discussing differences of opinion, and using discernment—making judgments—are equally important as feeling neutral. The trick is to notice the tendency to project our beliefs, desires, anxieties, anger, attachment, etc. onto others. 

The fact that you even notice that the impact of practice shifts over the course of the day means you’re becoming more and more aware—the yoga is naturally spilling naturally off the mat into your life. This is wonderful news, and shifting your perspective to see this is how the roadblock dissolves!

One thing we often recommend is to look at our practice in geologic time. Meaning, look at it as a long-term, organic process. Day by day it may seem that things aren’t changing or the positive impact of a healthy practice doesn’t last very long. However, if you think back six months or 10 years, you’ll probably notice lasting positive shifts in perception, tolerance, ability to find balance and so on that are now lasting aspects of your practice and your interactions in the world. 

---

If you've got a burning philosophical question or one about yoga asana, meditation, or pranayama, or if you wonder about how yoga intersects with your life, please submit a question here. We'll try our best to answer! We'll publish one or two in our newsletter and, if you wish, please give us your initials and where you're from so we can include them in our answer. Thank you!