Chants and Invocations

Resources for learning the invocations & their meanings

Invocation to Patanjali

Geeta Iyengar explanation

BKS Iyengar chanting the invocation (audio)

Invocation to the Guru

Audio

Words and translation of both invocations

Video file with space for you to practice repeating the chant

Comments

A Meditation For Calming, Soothing (6 min exhalation)

As one of my contributions to our collective effort to survive this time, I am periodically offering a free 10 minute guided meditation on my blog. 10 minutes because everyone can find 10 minutes in their day to do something that sustains you and increases your positive impact on the people around you. And because research shows that even 10 minutes of meditation can improve your brain functioning - and make you feel better. There are dozens of meditation apps and sources out there. I don't claim mine is anything better than what you find could elsewhere. But two things might make your experience of these guided meditations unique. First, if you have attended any of the leadership retreats where I offer a mindfulness practice, you may find that listening to these guided meditations connects you to the retreat experience and allows you to renew the feelings of connectedness and power you had there. Second, many of my guided meditations will have a social justice element that connec...

One Year Later...

For three weeks I’ve been trying to write something about the anniversary of DJT’s election. Trying and failing. As is always the case when something is hard to write, the problem is that I don’t know what I want to say. One thing I know I want to do is note, mark, recount how I felt a year ago. It was a kind of despair that I haven’t experienced before. I don't say that lightly - I have had a lifelong struggle with depression, I have experienced deep disappointment and challenges in life. But this past year has been different. A year ago, I felt deeply fearful for myself, personally – for the safety of any people who engage in systematic dissent when an authoritarian is in power. I felt deeply fearful for the progressive movement. I felt personal concern for the immigrant and people of color communities that I knew would be targeted. I felt very concerned for people who relied on Obamacare for lifesaving health care, with so many pledges for immediate repeal floati...

Race, Racism, Friendliness

I’ve been caught up in all kinds of human connectedness for the past month and lacking the time for solitude, the space for introspection. This is the busiest time for my job, and alongside the normal hectic pace we are also dealing with major internal changes – layoffs, reorganizing, new leaders in key roles. It’s all stuff that would probably be happening with or without the DJT era, but the general sense of constant unrelenting attack makes it that more challenging. And yet. While I miss the solitude and introspection, I’ve been really deeply moved by the connections. And reflecting now on how they underlie any struggle for justice, and how do they fit into the yogic life. A couple of weeks ago I co-facilitated a day-long session to help a group of union leaders talk about how race and racism affect their organization and their work. It was powerful. We had a group of about 50, mostly white men, mostly older than me. A colleague and I put together an agenda and we b...

Practicing Yoga and Social Justice

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