Blogs

By Allison Stuart Kaplan "To keep the body in good health is a duty, otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear." – Buddha When you don't have enough time in the morning for your yoga practice or daily fitness routine, but still want to prepare your mind and body for the day, I have a spirited plan for you. This 20-minute breath and movement practice on your mat will energize you from the inside out and exercise your entire body. Roll out your yoga mat and sit comfortably on your bum with erect posture.  Rest with open palms on your legs, close your eyes and tune...

By Amanda Hessling   Once I developed a basic understanding of the One encompassing the many, the practicality of effectively applying the service came into question. How do we serve God, the One, and OurSelves purely so that our agami - our future actions - will be cleared of the "bad" karma of our past - sanchita - and full of love, bliss and devotion?   How do we turn karma - the accumulated results or our past, present and future - into karma yoga - the devoting of your actions to God, ensuring good karmic effects?   We first begin with our thoughts. Many believe, including...

by Dave Lesinski In a day and age in which many people struggle with digestive disturbances, it is important to introduce the Ayurvedic concept of agni. Gluten intolerance, candida, food allergies, bloating, gas, brain fog, fatigue and more can all be connected to an imbalanced agni. Agni, which is the Sanskrit word for fire, refers to our ability to "fire-up" and digest food as well as digest our daily life experiences. It is essential to enable your body to transform the food you eat into the energy and power you need to be healthy, happy and active. Your body's health at every level depends...

The sign on the classroom door reads, "Please observe noble silence." What exactly, though, is "noble silence"? And what is this sign asking us to do? "Noble silence" was first used by the Buddha and is described as follows by Spirituality and Practice: "Listening takes place not just through the ears,  but with all the senses. Sometimes the best way to prepare ourselves to hear in a new and better way is to be still and silent. When we quiet our motor minds — and our motor mouths — we find that we are better able to open our hearts. The ancient practice of Noble Silence helps...

By Amanda Hessling   The liberation of my body and soul, the Jivamukti, has been through the practice of karma yoga, the offering of the fruit of one's actions to the Whole, the One, the Divine.   When I first arrived at Karma Yoga, I did not know what ‘karma yoga' truly meant. I knew karma was a Hindu concept that essentially encompassed the phrase "what goes around, comes around" and yoga meant union, yolking, oneness. I never took the time to contemplate the reason that Katherine named the studio Karma Yoga, but even on my earliest visits here, my Soul was working behind...

By Allison Stuart Kaplan A month ago, a student in my yoga class requested to speak with me. "Allison, you are so strong", she said. "Yet, I sense you've had many challenges in your life. Where does your strength and happiness come from?" "If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough." Albert Einstein I've been moved to contemplate this question from the moment she asked. Now, I'm  ready to answer. The peaceful warrior. When I was young, I had so much energy that it was spewing out from my pores. I was a fighter leading my own resistance; angry, strong, fiercely passionate,...

By Michael Sosin I am addicted to Kundalini Yoga.  It has been a force in opening me to the possibilities that come with living with an open heart and an honest intention. In March, I was struggling.  I had separated from my ex-wife, with whom I have three children.  The divorce was pending, a life together to be divided. The toll was emotional and physical.  I was at a point of seeking a different way to raise myself out of the muck I was in. I had started practicing at Karma Yoga in February.  One of Katherine's Saturday morning classes introduced me to Kundalini postures and meditations. ...

A few years ago I injured my lower back in a yoga class.  It was one of those things that had been waiting to happen for several months and it has led to some interesting and important discoveries about the function of our abdominal muscles and those related to our core. Those of you who take my classes know that I do a lot of core strengthening.  As we age, this is the first part of the body to "go south."  Very literally, the muscles weaken, our bellies swell forward, our backs curve in unison with our stomachs, and they begin to hurt.  This is a common but unnecessary development of getting...

[I want to share this beautiful post from ASKInYourFace.com, a wildly successful website for women by Karma's own Allison Kaplan. It first appeared there on October 4, 2012 and has generated tons of traffic. Enjoy!] Heal your heart with love! Have you ever been stood up, left hanging, left waiting and wondering? No call, no apology, no explanation or accountability – nothing at all. What kind of person stands on top of another, and why? How does this painfully selfish and self-centered behavior make you feel? How does one reconcile feelings of intense disappointment and hurt? When...

A long time ago someone wise once shared with me some brilliant knowledge:  "Expectations are resentments under construction."  It was such enlightening and freeing information for me during a crucial turning point in my life's journey. For as long as I can remember before some self-revealing, resolving, healing and evolving work,  I always looked outside myself for others or situations to make me happy or determine my self-worth.  Of course, I was unaware of this at the time.  I call this my old operating system or the software that I came in with. I was heartily in need of a metaphorical...