People across the world from ancient times to the present have turned to the just before dawn and bowed, praying or chanting or otherwise asking for the mysterious sun to return. In India and with yoga, we find a particular  mythology.

The Sun Salutations that initiate many yoga classes are rich in symbolism. Surya is the chief solar deity who drives his chariot across the sky each day as the most visible form of God that one can see. It is also the ancient Sanskrit term for “sun,” which in most ancient mythology is revered, as Richard Rosen (2003) says, “as both the physical and spiritual heart of the world.” Namaskara is from the root namas, “to bow” (as in “namaste”). In the myths of the Vedas, the gods use the sun’s heat for many purposes, especially creation. Our “inner sun,” the spiritual heart center, is seen as the source of light and truth along the life’s path. In Surya Namaskara, we are bowing to the truth of who we are in our essence, releasing the head lower than the he...

This is where we can infuse our classes with creativity and playfulness. Shakti is the creative power of existence, the cosmic energy that animates the universe, the source of energy, the mother goddess, representing the active, dynamic principles of feminine power.

In some Indian traditions, every god in the panoply of Indian deities has his Shakti, the divine feminine energy without which the god would have no power. Shakti is the world-protecting, feminine, maternal side of god, symbolizing the spontaneous and loving acceptance of life’s tangible reality. She is the creative joy of life, the beauty, enticement, and seduction of the living world, instilling in us surrender to the changing qualities of existence. She is the preeminent enigma to the masculine principle of spirit, symbolizing the way that the flow of experience in daily life casts mists around the clarity of being. As we constantly project and externalize our Shakti energy, we create the universe of our life, the sma...

The tale of Vasistha and Vishvamitra in the Ramayana tells of the dynamic tension in spiritual life between the ease that arises from contentment and the spiritual depth that can result from struggle and effort. Vasisthawas an enlightened spiritual sage who established a peaceful, self-governing, cooperative society where all were happy. He had a “cow of plenty” named Nandini with the power to grant him whatever he wanted.

The powerful ruler of a neighboring kingdom, Vishvamitra, was curious about Vasistha’ssociety and went to visit with his army. Vishvamitra was impressed with Vashistha’s cow and tried to take her away by force, but Vasistha’sspiritual power—his tolerance and mastery of emotion—was too great for the many weapons that Vishvamitra used against him. In an epic battle between Vishvamitra and Vasistha, a hundred of Vishvamitra’s sons were incinerated by Vasistha’s breath. Vishvamitra eventually abdicated and committed himself to a simple ascetic life in pursuit of spiri...

Kagola, a poor student of the Vedas, sat at night reciting aloud the sacred verses of the Vedas, his pregnant wife by his side in the dim light of candles. One late night he heard a voice laughing and correcting him for mispronouncing a verse. The tired and short-tempered father was enraged, cursing the unborn child, causing him to be born with eight crooks in his body, naming him Astavakra for the deformity (asta meaning “eight,” vakra “crooked”).

The crippled and humbled child sought to redeem himself to his father, studying deeply in the sacred philosophy of India and, in time, becoming a great Vedic scholar. But his deformities caused others to judge him for what they saw, not for his knowledge, wisdom, and simple articulation of the essence of mystical experience. While still a boy, King Janaka heard of Astavakra’s wisdom and sought him out as a sage and teacher. When the boy’s father learned of Astavakra’s great scholarly accomplishments and the honor bestowed upon him by King...

The verbal root as in asana includes the idea of ritual, a set of actions with symbolic significance that we can tie into practice to highlight certain areas of personal, emotional, spiritual, social, and ecological experience. When teaching yoga, you can accentuate these ties by emphasizing the symbolism expressed in different parts of the practice. One source of symbolism is the vast realm of mythological figures found across the world’s diverse cultural landscapes. Whether we interpret myth as allegory and a “medium for or a flawed version of an immutable, eternal reality created by or for unsophisticated minds” or as “an essential function of the mind (conscious or unconscious) to express repressed needs and desires or to make sense out of life and resolve all conflicts therein,” as Devdutt Pattanaik (2003, 161–162) contrasts, we can find within them profound wisdom about the conditions and circumstances of life and consciousness.

Indian mythology is especially rich in tales, sy...

Shiva is usually represented in Indian iconography as immersed in deep meditation or dancing the Tandava upon the demon of ignorance in his manifestation of Nataraja, the lord of the dance (Zimmer 1972, 151–157). As an ancient form of magic, dancing induces trance, ecstasy, and self-realization. Shiva manifests in the form of Nataraja to gather and project his frantic, endless gyrations in order to arouse dormant energies that are the creative forces shaping the world. Leading a class through a linked dance-like series of warrior asanas and vinyasas awakens students’ creative energy as body and breath are synchronized in flowing movement. But Nataraja is also the god of destruction, manifesting the element of fire that symbolizes the destruction of illusions we hold about life and the world.

In the balance of the dancing Shiva, we thus find a counterpoise of destruction and creation in the play of the cosmic dance, offering a pathway to enlightenment and equanimity.

When Shiva’s consort Shakti was killed by the chief of the gods, Daksha, Shiva tore out his hair in grief and anger, creating the fierce warrior Virabhadra from his locks. With a thousand arms, three burning eyes, and fiery hair, Virabhadra wore a garland of skulls and carried many terrifying weapons. Bowing at Shiva’s feet and asking his will, Virabhadra was directed by Shiva to lead his army against Daksha to avenge Shakti’s death, which he did with immediate success. Like Shiva, Virabhadra’s aim in destruction is not revenge but to destroy the real enemy, which is the ego standing in the way of humility.

Approaching the asanas named for Virabhadra—Virabhadrasana I, II, and III—we can encourage students to cultivate the mind of the spiritual warrior, aware of all sides, unattached to attainment, centered in one’s being. Staying focused in the practice, holding on in the midst of fear and intensity, the spirit of Virabhadra helps students discover the strength and humility to explo...

Like Ganesha, Hanuman commands respect and veneration across Indian culture for his strength, humility, selflessness, devotion, determination, fearlessness, and commitment to spiritual discipline. The son of Vayu, the god of wind, and Anjana, a celestial being with the tail of a monkey (a vanara), Hanuman was the friend, confidant, and servant of King Rama. (Hanuman is also called Anjaneya, meaning “arising from Anjana,” for whom the Anjaneyasana, Low-Lunge Pose, is named.)

He accomplishes many feats in the Ramayana War. When Rama’s wife, Sita, is kidnapped, Hanuman searches the world for her, eventually encountering the vast ocean. Everyone in the search party laments Hanuman’s inability to jump across the water, and he too is saddened at the likely failure of his mission. But his commitment to his master is so great that Hanuman feels his powers, enlarges his body, and leaps across the ocean to find her.

The story is one of purity of motive in uniting what has been separated, and...

Reminding students of the essence of hatha yogas a practice of balanced integration of effort and ease is a powerful starting point for making yoga more transformational, especially as students begin to explore and discover how the practice can play with the apparent polarities of life. Although typically reduced to “physical yoga,” the term hatha is made from the syllables ha and tha, which respectively signify the solar and lunar energies pulsating throughout the world. Both sun and moon have rich symbolic significance in Indian mythology. The solar energies are expansive and invigorating, while lunar energies are more integrative and calming. The term hatha yoga thus conveys the integration of opposites, the balance of effort and ease, a practice that is at once awakening and calming. Brought into asana and pranayama classes, these balanced qualities make yoga more sustainable and transforming.

Note: ALL forms of physical yoga – from Ashtanga and Iyengar to Anusana and Vinaysa Fl...

Ganesha is the most popular member of the Indian pantheon of mythological deities. Represented as a short, potbellied man with yellow skin, four arms, and an elephant’s head with one tusk, Ganesha is the second son of Shiva and Parvati (a form of Shakti). As with all the Indian gods, there are innumerable myths surrounding his creation and his role in the universe. He is the Lord of Obstacles, popularly worshipped as a remover of obstacles, although many stories have him both placing and removing obstacles.[i] Ganesha’s elephant head symbolizes his unstoppable power and auspiciousness, his rotund body and potbelly symbolize abundance, and the subservient rat he rides symbolizes the wisdom that arises in the sublimation of selfish desires. While these qualities might seem to be in contradiction to one another, Ganesha represents balance in spiritual and material life. Loving, forgiving, and moved by affection, he can be ruthless when combating evil. If loved and respected, Ganesha is ...