Some amazing old footage from Mysore with Sri K Pattabhi Jois.

Our experiences and feelings are mainly related to our bodies and minds. We know from our daily experiences that mental happiness is beneficial. For instance, though two people may face the same kind of tragedy, one person may face it more easily than the other due to his or her mental attitude. Dalai Lama

Taking time out to focus on yourself and your yoga practice can really recharge the batteries, and can often take you to another level with your yoga. Rachel is running a yoga weekend at the beautiful Morley Old Hall in Norfolk in May 2012; all details listed below. Made me smile to see cake is also available. All about the balance ;-) Yoga Holiday in Norfolk, May 2012 Come and join us at Morley Old Hall, Wymondham (nr Norwich), Norfolk for 3 days (2 nights) of yoga, relaxation and delicious food! The weekend will include: 5 yoga sessions + 2-3 meditation sessions One-to-one work during breaks (optional) bed, breakfast, lunch, dinner, all refreshments (dietary requirements catered for) and housekeeping (oh and cake of course!) Pick-ups from and to local station Plenty of chill-out time to read, write, go for walks or anything else you fancy doing For those of us who can't live without it, we'll even have free wi-fi!! All of the yoga sessions are multi-level...

This book written by Astanga yoga teacher Lino Miele is now in its 8th edition. It was was written by Lino under the guidance and direction of Sri K. Patthabi Jois and records the exact number of vinyasa (breath-movement sequencing) for each posture in both the primary and second series. I personally have never practised the coming to stand at the end of each vinyasa, but most of the breath counts are very familiar to me. Although I think it would be interesting to see how (and why) some of this has changed over the years. Perhaps the new directer of the Ashtanga yoga institute (KPJAYI) in Mysore, Sharath Jois, who is continuing the lineage of ashtanga yoga (handed down from his grandfather Patthabi Jois), will revise this count sometime in the future?! It is a great guide for anyone practising ashtanga yoga and a fantastic reference book for accurate breath in this wonderful system.

By Genevra Pittman NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Weekly yoga classes eased pain and improved functioning in a study of patients with chronic lower back pain; but the yoga sessions weren't any better than regular stretching classes. Participants in both types of classes had better functioning and fewer symptoms after three months than patients in a control group. "We've known for a while that exercise is good for back pain," said Dr. Timothy Carey, from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, who wrote a commentary published with the study. Yoga, he told Reuters Health, "seems to be a perfectly good option for people with back pain, but it is not a preferred option." Finding that yoga and stretching had about equal effects means it was probably the stretching involved in yoga, and not the relaxation or breathing components of the practice, that helped improve functioning and pain symptoms, researchers said today in Archives of Internal Medicine. The stud...

Truth resides in the heart of every man. And it is there that he must seek it, in order to be guided by it so that, at the least, it will appear to him. But we do not have the right to force others to see the truth in our way. Mahatma Gandhi