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Why all this talk of sleep? So that you ca stay AWAKE & this is what you want to do when you are AWAKE – The documentary film on Autobiography of Yogi’s screening will take place in the Bay Area. I wrote about the book earlier this month when I posed a question, “Was Steven Jobs a Yogi?”, not even knowing this film is due to release – Mark your calendar and go see it – I cannot wait! “Small, brown Mystic”? Love<3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyLkg3uDe1c Here' the link for local screening schedule… here in the Bay Area, it’s playing in San Francisco, Berkeley, San Jose and Santa Cruz – the yoga capitals:)

Eight limbs of ashtanga yoga or Raja yoga or any yoga from my perspective…are as follows:

Yama – code of conduct, self-restraint…discipline.
Niyama – commitments to practice, study and devotion
Āsana – integration of mind and body through physical practice.
Prāṇāyāma – regulation of breath for focus and healing.
Pratyāhāra – abstraction of the senses, withdrawal of the senses.
Dhāraṇā – concentration, one-pointedness of mind
Dhyāna – meditation (quiet activity that leads to samadhi)
Samādhi – the quiet state of blissful awareness, superconscious state.

Why is Yama, first of the eight? It’s self-explanatory -Yama (restraints) consists of five parts:

ahimsa (non-violence) or love…
satya (truthfulness)
asteya (non-stealing)
brahmacharya (abstinence from temptations that does not serve you – or …no comment)
aparigraha (non-covetousness)

The five codes of yama lay down the prerequisites for elimination of fear, fear that prevents us from acts of courage and love,
prerequisites to attain a tranquil mind… easily said than practiced, of course. It’s a repetitive practice; at least an effort.

Maybe a bit Native-American-ish but very traditional Japanese name that contains the character “YAMA” … roots back to Shinto-ideas taking in ancient Vedic ideas possibly.

Yama does not mean code of conduct, restraint or discipline in Japanese but just simply means “mountain”…and now I see a connection…
When you practice Pranayama, as you sit “mountain”-like, you get to that place where you are no longer blowing in the wind, unrooted … rather you are SOLID, SECURE, and GROUNDED. Your head held high and proud … tranquility is felt. There is utter… SERENITY. Your prana is not disturbed or leaking but vibrant and well contained – locked in with your bandhas protecting your prana from escaping. Prana, that light that you have within, that shines in the darkness. Prana, that inner-heat, the glow that you have within that warms the heart. Prana, that flow you have within that cascades into that glistening and shimmering pool… the source that nourishes our spirit.

In Tadasana – Mountain Pose:

The techniques of yoga are methods of purifying the nervous system so that it can reflect a greater degree of consciousness and our lives can become an increasingly positive force in the world…. If these techniques are correctly practiced, the whole nervous system in revitalized – the body enjoys better health and more energy, the rested mind is freed from the burden of past experience, and perception is restored to its primal freshness.

– Alistair Shearer, Introduction to The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

AND THAT’S why Restorative Yoga works for me. Thank you for keying in on this Teacher Judith.

When I went to Restorative Yoga training with Judith Lasater, I underestimated thinking that it’s about R&R and napping away to restoration. I was foolish – You are sweaty from handling all the props and folding all the blankets “correctly” and flipping off the chair! hahaha and she did an asana practice where I thought ??? where IS that ankle I am supposed to grab and extend to where? … what? the other side??? Anyway – let’s get our nervous system tuned up so we can experience the lusciousness to the fullest in this life.