VINYASA - RESOURCES
There Are Many Benefits To Practicing Yoga
Vinyasa has three parts: arising, abiding, and dissolving. The dissolving of one thing is the arising of the next.
The Sanskrit word vinyasa means “to place in a special way.” It means that everything is connected and the sequence of things matters. It means that every action, thought, or word that arises now is planting the seed for future fruit. “In a special way” means the unfolding of life is logical. If you plant a tomato seed, you will get a tomato. If you plant an apple seed and you wait long enough, you will get an apple tree. And if you plant a hard thought, you will get a hard heart.”—Cyndi Lee, May I Be Happy: A Memoir of Love, Yoga, and Changing My Mind
Many people shy away from yoga because they don’t think they’re flexible enough, but thinking you’re not flexible enough to do yoga is like thinking you’re too dirty to take a bath.
Yoga is not for the flexible. It’s for the willing.
“Every hour of yoga we practice, we grow a day younger.”—Jonathan Sprout
“Sun salutations can energize and warm you, even on the darkest, coldest winter day.”—Carol Krucoff
“Yoga is the art work of awareness on the canvas of body, mind, and soul.”—Amit Ray
“Vogue and Self (magazines) are putting out the message of yoginis as buff and perfect. If you start doing yoga for those reasons, fine. Most people get beyond that and see that it’s much, much more.”—Patricia Walden
“I have been a seeker and I still am, but I stopped asking the books and the stars. I started listening to the teaching of my Soul.”
Here are some excellent organizations and resources for starting or growing a yoga practice.
The Sat Yoga Institute continues the tradition of wisdom schools that have been the foundation of human culture for as long as there have been historic records.
The Khalsa Healing Arts Center in Yardley, PA, United States, has a vision to provide the most comprehensive personal care for everyone who comes through their doors. Each individual is treated according to needs and is supported throughout the entire healing process. We at Force For Good are big fans of Mahan Rishi and Nirba Kaur at this Khalsa Clinic.
Yoga Alliance has a responsibility of protecting and supporting members and the broader yoga community so instructors may freely practice and teach highly quality, safe, accessible, and equitable yoga free from government regulation.
VETOGA provides yoga, meditation, and healing arts to military, veterans, their families, and communities. They host free monthly yoga classes, events and veteran specific 200-Hour Teacher Trainings throughout the year.
“Yoga is a dance between control and surrender – between pushing and letting go – and when to push and when to let go becomes part of the creative process, part of the open-ended exploration of your being.”
Purple Dot Yoga Project has a mission to empower and support individuals impacted by domestic violence and trauma using yoga as a healing tool.
Yogis for Positive Change, was founded in August of 2014 to serve as a rallying point and advocacy group for yogis and other peaceful warriors throughout Washington DC, United States. Their mission is to foster a sense of cooperation within the Yoga Community and encourage involvement in community service as a positive way to create societal change and mend political divides.
Yoga Outreach consists of passionate people who deliver programs and trainings, lead the organization, and build connections with the growing yoga community.
Yoga Activist, Inc. is organized to build connections between qualified yoga instructors, social service providers, government agencies and communities that have little or no access to yoga as a self-empowerment tool. This is accomplished through educating yoga instructors in appropriate ways to bring yoga to communities that include homeless, trauma survivors, at-risk youth, prison populations, and persons with drug and alcohol addiction, mental illness or physical impairment.
“You cannot do yoga. Yoga is your natural state. What you can do are yoga exercises, which may reveal to you where you are resisting your natural state.”
The Yoga Activist Organization Directory offers links to yoga outreach organizations offering yoga for different communities.
Yoga Journal offers an extensive yoga sequence library and find a home practice that fits into your schedule.
The Hard & The Soft Yoga Institute is one of the most comprehensive yoga teacher training schools in the United States.
“Mindfulness helps you go home to the present. And every time you go there and recognize a condition of happiness that you have, happiness comes.”
Omega Institute Yoga Service offers the intentional sharing of yoga practices (e.g., movement, breathwork, meditation, relaxation) that support healing and build resilience for all, regardless of circumstances, taught within a context of conscious relationship, and supported by regular reflection and self-inquiry. Jonathan has joyfully taken advantage of this classic service while attending the Omega Institute in upstate New York, United States.