Here is a video from the Cobra-yoga.com channel on the decoupling practice. It is both practical, actionable in our normal lives, and freeing. These are some of the qualities we need in order to tread a spiritual path as a householder in the modern world. Let me know how it works for you.

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I do not want enlightenment as an extraordinary state. Let us live it woven into a vibrant, creative, loving life.

The aim is to cultivate the ability to meet reality exactly as it is, wholeheartedly, and to respond with love, clarity and one-pointed action.

Practice whilst participating in life.

I see a spiritual path as a way of true freedom. Look at it this way: the word samsara translates conditional living. In the ashtanga opening invocation chant, this is described as a poisoned herb. That does not sound good, right? If our spirituality depends on a condition – quiet, peaceful solitude, for example, then it is conditional. I feel that one should be aiming for unconditional, constant, spontaneous practice. In my case, springing from the hustle and bustle of life as a dad, leader, husband, friend and creative person.

Everything becomes practice and training.

• Vinyasa trains the body.
• Prāṇāyāma trains the nervous system.
• Meditation trains attention.
• The Sutras train understanding.
• The Gita trains action.
• Family trains love.
• Work trains service.
• Creativity trains participation.
• Ordinary life trains all of them at once.

Practical approach, practical tools.

To practice in all situations in life, we need to have a framework that can be applied in all situations. I started collecting the tools together for this back in 2024.

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“The deepest adventure is not elsewhere. It is learning to inhabit the life you already have so completely that even the ordinary begins to shine.”

Everything is the practice of letting go of samskara – colourings of the mind field. So as to clear the way for each moment in life to pass into the heart and pass through, without causing further colourings. A flow. Like with our vinyasa practice. Each moment unfolding and blossoming, with a unique energy.

The work is to constantly be letting go of past samskaras. Those that buried deeply are the ones that are the hardest. However, I think that they are the ones that appear most often.

Three levels of practice

• Replace unconscious negative thoughts with conscious positive ones
• Mantra. A stable base to provide a pause between and a freeing from samskara.
• Witness. Return to observing the mind

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1. To become increasingly available to life by recognizing and releasing the conditioning that obscures my natural presence, love, creativity, and service.

2. My deepest nature expresses itself as loving presence, joyful engagement, and generous participation. Every practice I undertake is in service of removing whatever obscures those qualities.

This is a proper, old fashioned blog post. Updated with some morning reflections on Sunday the 28th of June.
One thing I am finding interesting. Fixing up our house and embarking on all of the projects I have been putting off in it, has become a metaphor do something else. I have been searching in other places for my engament, excitement and inspiration. I have continually said yes to challenges out in the world. As a parent board leader for the school, new yoga workshops, new responsibilities on the periphery of my core areas at work. Meanwhile, the important household projects like shoring up my terrace, painting, fixing and making our beautiful home on a mountain in Norway better has fallen by the wayside. Times where we, as a family, set goals and find out how to make our environment better, seem a playground now for engaging our family in positive stuff. My wife Cecilie is really into it. It is a gift of engagement to her. The actual, real householder work is no longer a metaphor. Anyway- these things are unglamorous, a slog, a grind for me. But they are now going to be part of the practice. I will do this and say no to more seemingly exciting things. I see a real sense of moment to moment engament and ritual in this stuff.

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Everything else is just the mind. Likes and dislikes. Illusion of self.

Have a nice Sunday!

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A small exercise to notice the inner voice—and to step beyond it into the present moment.

The mind has many names and expressions, but here I will use the Sanskrit word manas. In the Charaka Samhita, “life” (ayu) is described as the ongoing combination of body (sharira), sense organs (indriya), mind (manas), and soul (atma).

In class today, I asked everyone to close their eyes and silently repeat the word “hello” in the mind. The purpose was to notice that inner voice—the voice we so often take for granted—and then, for a moment, try to sense where it lives.

This inner voice is the expression of the mind that deals with likes, dislikes, fears, and dreams. It’s not “bad” in itself, but it is a filter. If we live only from this place, we never really experience what is in front of us. Instead, we experience life through the constructions our mind makes: how we think the world should work, how it must fit our stories so we can understand it.

My own aim in practice is to learn to step back, to observe this voice, and then to choose whether or not to engage with it. Because when we’re caught in it, we miss the moment itself. And the real moment—the one happening right now—has a richness and clarity that no mental filter can ever match.

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“Abhyasa vairagyabhyam tannirodhah.”

Translated, it means:

“The control of the mind is achieved through practice (abhyasa) and non-attachment (vairagya).”

This sutra highlights two key principles in the path of yoga.

1. Abhyasa (Practice): This refers to the consistent and dedicated effort one puts into the practice of yoga. It involves the repetition of specific techniques, such as physical postures (asanas), breath control (pranayama), and meditation, to train the mind and body.
2. Vairagya (Non-attachment): Vairagya emphasizes the importance of letting go of attachments and desires. It suggests that true mental control comes when one can detach themselves from the results of their actions, not clinging to success or being overly affected by failure.

The combination of abhyasa and vairagya is seen as a balanced approach to achieving control over the fluctuations of the mind (citta). By consistently practicing yoga and cultivating a sense of non-attachment, individuals can gradually attain a state of mental equilibrium and peace. This sutra is part of the foundational teachings of classical yoga philosophy and serves as a guide for those on the yogic path seeking inner transformation and self-realization.

How does this relate to 1.13?

Sutra 1.13 follows Sutra 1.12 in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, and it is essential to understand the relationship between these two sutras. I’ll build a piece on this soon.

1.13 involves Patanjali’s instruction on bringing us back to the core element of practice: making the effort to remain steady in an internal focus.

In summary, Sutra 1.12 emphasizes the importance of practice (abhyasa) and non-attachment (vairagya), and Sutra 1.13 introduces the cultivation of practice. Together, these sutras offer a holistic approach to the practice of yoga and the development of a balanced and peaceful mind.

Link to sutras 1.12 on YogaInternational. Yoga Sutra 1.12 (yogainternational.com)

Soon we hit sutra 1.14. Check this post:
Tapas & Ishwara Pranidhana – Cobra-Yoga

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Here are a couple of references: tapas on Yogapedia: Tapas and the Discipline of Yoga (yogapedia.com)

Ishwara Pranidhana: What is Ishvara Pranidhana? – Definition from Yogapedia But note that I have changed the context here from a traditional, orthodox religious focus.

I will unpack several of the other concepts in Sutra 1.14 in another post and video. Vyāsa says that four of the elements need to be present in order to infuse our practice with reverence (Satkāra): tapas, brahmacharya (conduct consistent with Brahman – ie. self-discipline), vidya (correct understanding) and shraddha (definite purpose).

Sutra 1.14

sa tu dirghakala nairantarya satkarasevito drdhabhumih
sa that tu verily, definitely dīrgha long kāla time nairantarya continuously, without any interruption satkāra respect āsevita fully attended, completely served dṛḍha firm, strong, unshakeable

These two elements are also to of the three keys to Kriya yoga. More on that another time.

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Quick post on some autumn news. I’ll be teaching alternate Saturday classes at Yoga-Huset, Fana this autumn.

I will also be teaching at a yoga weekend on Varaldsøy in November.

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