Sublime

Working to perfect Mūlabandha is key to enhancing an āsana practice (and to beginning and deepening your prāṇāyāma and meditation practices), because all poses ground through the seed-point of Mūlabandha and, on a more external level, the pelvic floor.

Is the tension you experience when you reach your edge in a yoga pose due to the makeup of your fascia? Maybe. And, just as our fascia is uniquely constructed, so too are our ligaments and joint capsules. All these tissues have the capacity to contract, and that capacity is uniquely determined by nature and nurture, by our biology and our biography

the grosser aspects of the kleśas are eliminated by kriyā-yoga, the more subtle aspects by meditation, but, as indicated by the last sūtra, the actual burnt seeds, or residual impressions of the now impotent saṁskāras, are not completely dissolved until the mind, along with all its latent saṁskāras, merges back into its matrix at the death of the y

a more action-oriented type of yoga referred to here by Patañjali as kriyā-yoga and consisting of discipline, tapas; study, svādhyāya; and dedication to God, Īśvara-praṇidhāna.

To equate the practice and purpose of yoga with this limb alone is to miss the whole point of Patañjali’s system (particularly and ironically if this is done with a view of improving the sensual prowess of the body and mind in order to maximize physical and mental pleasure).

In this manner, we can perceive feelings, thoughts, and sensations clearly and respond to them with kindness and equanimity. Bringing awareness to and cultivating the sound of ujjāyī breathing is a vital, underlying thread of the internal practice of Aṣṭāṅga Vinyāsa yoga. It trains the mind to listen and become absorbed by sound so that movement is