And just like that, Sharath Jois’ annual tour of the U.S. is over. It always goes by too quickly, leaving us wanting more and already dreaming of next year when he will return from Mysore, India to teach us again. Still so much to learn!

Before we start looking ahead, it’s good to consider what we’ve accomplished in one short month. This May—starting in Stanford, continuing to UCLA, and ending in NYC—practitioners from all walks of life met up to practice Ashtanga yoga straight from the source. Nearly 2,000 people joined the three- to six-day workshops and drop-in classes at all three locations.

Tag and Share the Facebook Photos Here!

Thank you all who came out this year! Each and every one of you contributed such amazing energy and enthusiasm that we’re still riding the high from a truly remarkable experience. Let’s keep this feel-good momentum going with a strong daily practice. If you ever need a reminder, take a look at these three albums of the tour—see photos for Stanford, UCLA, and NYC—which showcase some of my favorite moments. Be sure to tag yourself and share with family and friends on Facebook, too. Maybe we can recruit some new faces or inspire some long-time practitioners who missed out this year to join us in 2018. I’m already looking forward to it!

Many blessings,
Sonia

Photos by Agathe Padovani and Tom Rosenthal

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Another amazing week has gone by in a flash! We saw a terrific turnout at UCLA with nearly 400 practitioners (more attendees than last year’s L.A. tour), showing up to practice yoga with Paramaguru Sharath Jois, the lineage holder of Ashtanga. The fire that sparked at Stanford University earlier this month, continues to burn, drawing more and more beginners as well as advanced yogis to the practice. If you were there, see if you can find your face (or arm or leg!) in this fun Facebook album of our time together this May 16 to 21.

Tag Yourself and Share the Facebook Photos Here!

We’re thrilled to see this amazing community growing across the U.S. Speaking of which, the next—and last—stop on this tour is New York City! If you are on or near the East Coast this May 26 to 31, drop in for a session with Sharath, make new friends, see old ones, deepen your practice, and create memories that will last a lifetime. Registration is still open and a few spots remain in each. Sign up here! We hope to see you there.

Related: Sharath Jois Visits Stanford: See the Photos!

Photography by Jesse Gordon

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What a whirlwind week at Stanford University! For the second year in a row, more than 200 yogis—beginners and advanced alike—rolled out their mats at the Ford Center basketball court to deepen their practice with the lineage holder of Ashtanga, Sharath Jois. In town from Mysore, India, Sharath kicked off his 2017 U.S. tour with a 6-day workshop for both the primary and intermediate series this May 7 to 13. We were thrilled to see so many beginners sign up this year. Their enthusiasm mixed with the energy of long-time practitioners made this gathering extra special for all of us. It was great to see so many new and familiar faces this year.

Thank you all so much for coming out! We’ve put together a little Facebook gallery of the past week. We invite you to tag yourself and share these experiences with friends and family. You might even inspire someone to join us at UCLA (May 16 to 21) or NYC (May 26 to 31)—or maybe come back yourself for a little more mat time. We’d love to see you again!

Take a look at the Stanford photos here!

I’m really excited to continue on this journey with Sharath as we gear up for the second and third legs of this U.S. tour. It’s not too late to sign up for a workshop or drop-in class. Registration is still open and a few spots remain in each. Check it out here. Hope to see you there!

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When we first launched Sonima in the fall of 2014, my simple intention was to create a wellness website where everyone could find in-depth knowledge as well as practical tips and advice on how to live mindfully and pain free, one incredibly busy day at a time. Less than three years later, this vision has been honored, and I am humbled. Most of all, I’m grateful for all the support we’ve had along the way, especially from our loyal readers, like you

I am so proud of Sonima’s editorial team who worked hard to not only make this dream website a reality, but also award-winning. Specifically, I would like to thank Amanda Jedeikin, our Founding Editor (she had a gorgeous baby boy a few months ago), and Cristina Goyanes, our current Editor, as well as Shira Atkins, Founding Associate Editor, Una Graonic, Digital Marketing Manager, and Erik Simon, Creative Director and President. Truly, this Webby is theirs. It also belongs to our COO, Sean Nolan, our project managers, Alexandra Douwes and Nellie Morris at Purpose Generation, and Brian Brey at Idiom, plus all of our invaluable experts and their contributions. This beautiful community is the foundation of this unique platform that we hope is helping you live better every day.

Thank you, all, for helping us revel in this victory. We promise to keep investigating the topics that matter and sharing our findings with you so that we can continue to live fit and free.

Many Blessings,

Sonia Jones

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When Jennifer Ashton was in massage school, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. During her treatment she received bodywork twice a day day for 16 months, and this experience not only transformed her healing process, it also changed how she thought about her future life’s work. Ashton spent time doing palliative care massage and bedside massage before turning her focus entirely to cancer patients when she became the massage program coordinator at Mount Sinai’s Dubin Breast Center in New York City.

To date Ashton and her team has provided over 6,200 massages to patients. Listen as Sonia Jones, founder of Sonima.com, talks with Ashton about this innovative program and the ways in which she stays centered and balanced while doing this good work.

Related: 4 Herbal Remedies That Are Potentially Dangerous

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Cancer doesn’t just happen to the body. It also affects the mind and the spirit. While cancer treatments are solely focused on fighting the disease on a cellular level, integrative medicine can additionally help patients rebuild their energy and morale while strengthening their resolve to get better, too, which are all crucial for recovery. At the Mount Sinai’s Dubin Breast Center in New York City, the psychological department offers a myriad of ways to approach this next-level mental and physical care with programs ranging from hypnosis, family therapy, and couples therapy to yoga, meditation, massage and crafts.

“We can improve quality of life. Symptoms and side effects of the cancer treatment don’t have to be as bad. You might be able to speed up your recovery a bit. You don’t have to be as distressed as you go through the different steps,” says Guy Montgomery, the director of psychological services at the Dubin Breast Center. “We want to help people get to a place where they want to be,” he adds. In this video interview with Sonima.com founder, Sonia Jones, Montgomery further explains the important role integrative care can play in a patient’s treatment and recovery.

Related: Is Integrative Yoga Therapy the Future of Healing?

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In Chapter 2, verse 47 of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, it’s written: prayatna shaithilya ananta samapattibhyam, or “the means of perfecting the posture is that of relaxing or loosening of effort, and allowing attention to merge with endlessness, or the infinite.” In yoga, the concept of finding the balance between effort and surrender permeates through all elements of the practice. On the one hand, we need to release effort to merge with the infinite and attain perfection, however, we need a tremendous amount of effort before we can get to the point where we release that effort.

In this video, Paramaguru Sharath Jois, alongside Sonima’s founder Sonia Jones, discusses how the paradox of effort is central to being a yogi. “Always you have to put effort,” says Sharath, “But once you become comfortable, there is no effort.” In this sense, effort contains infinite stepping stones; as we ascend, we constantly teeter between staying still and moving forward, and in both instances the self contains both types of movement. For Sharath Jois, effort is highly personal; “the real yogi never shows [the world] anything—he does it [practice] for his own purification.”

Related: Why Practice Yoga?

Don’t miss your chance to attend class with Ashtanga yoga master Sharath Jois when he visits the U.S. in May 2017! Learn more here.

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When we practice yoga, we bring all of our habitual patterns with us. The practice has inherent neutralizing effects, but sometimes, whether because of extreme tightness, hyper-mobility, stress, or otherwise—our practice gets muddled by our current state. There are many ways to center the body and mind before practice including meditation, breathing practices, as well as moderate exercises to prepare the body. In this video, alignment expert Pete Egoscue, with the help of Sonima founder and long time Ashtanga Yoga practitioner, Sonia Jones, offers a pre- and post-yoga workout routine to help solidify the powerful effects of the practice.

Related: A Workout Meditation to Do Before Exercising

The pre-yoga active alignment sequence consists of stretches for the muscles in the arms, feet, and legs to help the body loosen up and get grounded for practice. Additionally, you’ll work through spinal undulations which will help prepare the body for back bending. Think of the post-yoga sequence as a cool-down that will feel great on the hips, work out any left over kinks in the back, and leave your hamstrings and legs feeling sturdy but soft.

Follow along in the video above or download a PDF of these exercises below, with step-by-step directions so you can take these sequences on the go.

Pre- and Post-YogaActive Alignment Sequence

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Photos by Hailey Wist

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While the physical aspect of yoga is gratifying and enlightening, the real test of practice is in the hours after you leave the studio. Being kind and compassionate to your neighbors does not only apply to those on the mat next to you. Ideally, the goal with a strong yoga practice is to be able to carry that inner peace and kindness you’ve cultivated in your practice wherever you go, and at all times.

This does not mean that you need to pretend to be a saint. Instead try to become more aware of what upsets you and work hard to not let it get to you. “Every second of your life, you should have more consciousness of what you are doing and how you are reacting to others,” says Ashtanga yoga master Sharath Jois, who sat down with Sonima.com founder, Sonia Jones, during his 2016 U.S. Tour. Watch this short clip to learn more about what it means to live and breathe a yogic lifestyle every day.

Related: Sharath Jois Shares His Personal Yoga Story

Don’t miss your chance to attend class with Ashtanga yoga master Sharath Jois when he visits the U.S. in May 2017! Learn more here.

The post A Master’s Insights on How to Live a Yogic Life appeared first on Sonima.

Yoga master Sharath Jois wasn’t always passionate about his practice. At age seven, he preferred to be playing the most popular sport in India, cricket, rather than be getting bendy on the mat. To build his practice, however, his guru grandfather, Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, would encourage him to perform a few yoga postures before he joined his friends in a game out in the streets of Mysore, India. Thus began Jois’ early journey to becoming the world’s most advance practitioner of Astanga Yoga. In this video interview with Sonima.com founder, Sonia Jones, Jois takes a break from his 2016 U.S. Tour to discuss the importance of teaching children yoga. Learning discipline, focus, and how to manage stress are just a few of the ways yoga can help your child be better prepared to have a good, calm, healthy life.

Related: How Yoga Can Help Kids

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YOGA POGA SHMOGA! is an endearing story about the resiliency of a sibling relationship, tested when Mitzi chooses to practice yoga with her friends instead of hanging out with her younger brother, Axel. Feeling left out, Axel scorns his sister’s new activity with his dismissive catch phrase, “Yoga Poga Shmoga!” When his sister offers him his own yoga mat, Axel gives in, imagining his yoga mat as a magic carpet and on it, learns some yoga poses. He is soon reveling in the calming, joyous nature of yoga and inspires their whole neighborhood to practice in unison.

Written by wellness advocate and founder of Sonima.com, Sonia Jones, and illustrated by acclaimed artist Todd Dakins, YOGA POGA SHMOGA! dives headfirst into the power and fun of yoga, showing how it takes one person to open a world of mindfulness to the larger community. Yoga for children has gained popularity in recent years. 3.1% of American children now practice yoga, which has been shown to reduce stress, help focus and build self-esteem in children.

Jones, co-founder of the Sonima Foundation, Founder of Sonima.com, and Advisory Board Member of The Contemplative Sciences Center at the University of Virginia, has a deep connection with and passion for yoga, meditation and general health and wellness. Yoga doesn’t discriminate—anyone who wants to be mindful, fit and healthy, no matter their age, race or gender, can practice. Jones advocates the importance of yoga and mindfulness for children, adding that kids who are physically and emotionally present are healthier, do better in school, and treat people kindly.

Related: The Surprising Research on the Power of Compassion

YOGA POGA SHMOGA! helps children and families learn about the benefits and the enjoyment of yoga in an accessible, relatable way. It encourages families to incorporate an active, healthy lifestyle into their everyday lives. 100% of the author’s proceeds will be donated to the Sonima Foundation. Watch the video above to get a sneak peek of the book before it hits stores, and go to Amazon.com to preorder it now!

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In this video, join Sonima’s founder, Sonia Jones, and Deepak Chopra, M.D., in learning about the way that meditation can positively affect sleep. Insomnia, says Chopra, is a result of stress, and given the way meditation can work to soothe anxiety, meditation can also be seen as an antidote to sleep issues. During meditation the frequency of the brain’s electromagnetic waves are lowered. While brain activity appears to go down in meditation and sleep, it is actually quite active as the body and mind are repaired and restored during these unique states.

Related: A Meditation to Quiet Anxiety

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When you’re first getting started, meditation can feel like a mysterious and daunting task. In truth, the most important step to beginning meditation is quite simple and concrete: Just take the time to do it. Diligence in practice is important, so make quiet contemplation a part of your daily ritual. Once you get started, don’t worry if you’re doing it right or not, because there is no such thing as a wrong meditation. Just follow the instructions or quiet your thoughts as best you can and transformation will follow. Watch the video above to learn more about Deepak Chopra’s essential advice for new meditators.

Learn how to meditate in 2016! Learn more about Sonima’s 10-Day Meditation Challenge here.

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What is the best time to meditate, and what do you do if you just can’t fit it in? Deepak Chopra, M.D., and Sonia Jones, founder of Sonima, talk about the ideal times for contemplation and why certain points in the day may be better than others. If you cannot consistently set aside a few minutes to sit, there are also ways to bring self-reflection to a hectic day. Watch the video above to learn this essential advice.

Build your meditation practice in 2016! Learn more about Sonima’s 10-Day Meditation Challenge here.

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According to Shankar Nair, Ph.D., an assistant professor of religious studies at University of Virginia, there are manifold Sufi meditation techniques for quieting the mind and reaching meditative states. In this video, Sonima’s founder, Sonia Jones, sits with Nair to explore some of these techniques. Nair focuses specifically on what’s known in Sufism as Fikr, sometimes referred to as Muraqaba—techniques that help focus the mind through invoking God’s name.

Related: What is Sufism?

Some orders, Nair tells us, use focus on vibrancy and color to help cultivate the mind, while others might use focus on vice and virtuous counterpart for finding meditative presence. The end goal is proximity to divinity, and purity of thought, but the avenues of reaching these blissful states of awareness and devotion are diverse. Following in the footsteps of the Prophet Muhammad, some Sufis take spiritual retreat, where they do Fikr meditation practice alone and secluded for as many as 40 days.

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