As a long-time nature lover and organic farmer, I can almost always be found a mere walk or a bike ride away from forests or protected areas that foster biodiversity. While working in the garden at the Salt Spring Centre of Yoga for the past few years, I was surrounded by wooded areas which were […]
Posted on July 30th, 2021 by Salt Spring Centre of Yoga.
Shakespeare said, “There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.” We may understand this as an intellectual concept, but it’s not how we usually live our lives. We have some very strong preferences (in itself not a problem), but when we react when something doesn’t go as we want – with […]
Posted on June 28th, 2021 by Salt Spring Centre of Yoga.
What’s love got to do with it?” Tina Turner As I am sitting down to write about how upset I am this week upon hearing more people of colour being killed at the hands of the police, I have Tina Turner’s song “What’s love got to do with it” rolling around in my head. I […]
Posted on May 30th, 2021 by Salt Spring Centre of Yoga.
One time, I heard someone ask Babaji about the details of his past. He wrote, “I live in a room with two doors: come in and go out.” Who can say for sure what Babaji, himself a living poem, meant by that? I will try, God help me. The room is the present moment. Through […]
Posted on May 30th, 2021 by Salt Spring Centre of Yoga.
Babaji teaches that surrender means letting go of our identification of being the doer – Thy will, not mine. This is what is meant by Ishwarapranidhana, the last of the yamas and niyamas. It’s the final letting go. While we may hold surrender to God as an intention, as long as we’re still identifying as […]
Posted on May 6th, 2021 by Salt Spring Centre of Yoga.
by Mahāvīr I spent many weeks this winter marvelling at the beauty of the land in its quieter season. The grasses, flattened by cold and snow, and the trees, barren of leaves, leave the contours of the land to plain viewing, and they carry a magic that whispers of adventures to come. And so the […]
Posted on April 28th, 2021 by Salt Spring Centre of Yoga.
Babaji has written, “Accepting the present is happiness.” Although we may understand this on some level, some of the time, very often we want things to be different from how they are right now. If it’s unpleasant, we want it to stop or go away; if it’s pleasant, we want more of it or we […]
Posted on March 30th, 2021 by Salt Spring Centre of Yoga.
While we’re still in the midst of Covid restrictions, we continue to sing, study and practice online by zoom. There are weekly Yoga Sutra and Bhagavad Gita study opportunities as well as morning meditation offered by the Salt Spring Centre of Yoga, the Vancouver satsang, and Mount Madonna Center. These classes have brought the extended […]
Posted on March 30th, 2021 by Salt Spring Centre of Yoga.
We human beings like to think we can control what happens in our lives, yet there is so much that is not in our control. Each of us comes into the world with certain tendencies. We can’t change our height, our body type, the colour of our skin, our age or the family patterns we […]
Posted on February 26th, 2021 by Salt Spring Centre of Yoga.
by Broderick Rodell PhD, ND, E-RYT Within each us we have the potential for darkness and light, and we have the choice to pursue either. If we choose to turn towards light, we will realize that it is an ongoing, never-ending process so long as we are embodied beings on this planet. Darkness represents ignorance, […]
Posted on January 31st, 2021 by Salt Spring Centre of Yoga.
By Courtenay Cullen There is a remembering that happens outside. “Outside.” Even the word is designed from the perspective of an “inside” being. That being “in” is somehow our natural place, and being on the “outer” side of “in” is somehow the atypical state. That somehow we have always been sitting at the window, looking […]
Posted on January 30th, 2021 by Salt Spring Centre of Yoga.
by Greta Chandrika Happy birthday to my dear friend afarLike sisters we were and sisters we still areYour quick wit and laughter and very keen mindAlways so gentle, always so kind You liked to sing with your lovely voiceSongs of kirtan and you would rejoiceIn the spiritual oneness of all creationAnd the blessed event of […]
Posted on December 29th, 2020 by Salt Spring Centre of Yoga.
The practice of non-possessiveness on all levels including thoughts and deeds. I am the queen of downsizing in our family. I actually need to downsize, declutter, get rid of things. It seems to calm my mind which quite frankly, needs all the help it can get. As a visual artist, when surrounded by excess clutter for […]
Posted on December 29th, 2020 by Salt Spring Centre of Yoga.
The ideas of Santa Claus are not so far fetched as some grown-ups or non-believers may assume. There are many legends of Santa Claus from countries all over the world and origin stories that can be researched on Google. Many contest that Santa Claus or Saint Nicholas was at some point either ordained a saint […]
Posted on November 29th, 2020 by Salt Spring Centre of Yoga.
Though the term derives from the Buddhist tradition, right livelihood has evolved to refer more broadly to any meaningful, fulfilling work that makes a positive contribution to the world and expresses a compassionate or sacred intent. For some people, right livelihood takes the form of a career devoted to social change, ethical business practices, and […]
Posted on November 29th, 2020 by Salt Spring Centre of Yoga.