Posts by Tasha Friedman

Happy Guru Purnima! By Tasha Friedman Nisargadatta Maharaj, the great 20th-century master of Advaita Vedanta, used to do a strange thing. He continued to honor

Celebrating Padmasambhava By Tasha Friedman The path is always before you, within you, all around you. But where it will take you is a mystery,

Happy Birthday to His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama! By Tasha Friedman Happy Birthday to His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama! Among Tibetan Buddhists, the

Into Great Silence: Approaching the Divine Mystery through Prayer By Tasha Friedman Eventually, the questions disappear. Slowly, as the echoes die out, or abruptly as

Celebrating St. Joan of Arc By Tasha Friedman What are you willing to give your life for? Although we might not think of it in

The Monkey and the Tiger: The Synergy of Effort and Grace in Spiritual Practice By Tasha Friedman “Krishna may embrace me in love or trample

Choosing Peace: The Path From Conflict to Love By Tasha Friedman Let’s begin with a bold statement: all people can exist in peace and harmony,

Happy Birthday to Swami Lakshmanjoo, the Great Teacher of Kashmir Shaivism By Tasha Friedman Happy birthday to Swami Laksmanjoo—or Lal Sahib, “the friend of God,”

Happy Birthday to Shankaracharya, the Father of Advaita Vedanta By Tasha Friedman “I am Consciousness and Bliss without form. I am Shiva, I am Shiva…”

Freedom and Balance in Meditation   By Tasha Friedman There is a feeling that comes in meditation like letting go of the handlebars of a

Happy Birthday to Guanyin, the Bodhisattva of Compassion By Tasha Friedman Today is Guanyin’s birthday, or one of three birthdays on which the bodhisattva of

What Makes a “Good” Meditation? By Tasha Friedman How’s your meditation going? A simple question, but not always easy to answer. When you’re learning to

Happy Birthday to Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu! By Tasha Friedman Chaitanya wrote no books and left few formal teachings, but like ripples from a stone dropped

Courage and the Path of Love Stepping out on the spiritual path takes the heart of a warrior. It takes tremendous courage to live with

Will Spiritual Manifestation Bring True Happiness? By Tasha Friedman You are the author of your own life. The divine power of creation and dissolution is

A Moment of Freedom Can Change Your Life By Tasha Friedman Transformation doesn’t always come with a flash and a bang. Sometimes, maybe most of

Tu B’Shevat: Happy Birthday to the Trees! By Tasha Friedman Today is Tu B’Shevat, the birthday or new year for the trees in the Jewish

Love Everyone and Tell the Truth: Satya, Ahimsa, and Living in Authenticity Yoga isn’t only what you do on the mat. Once you step onto

Happy Birthday to Paramahansa Yogananda! By Tasha Friedman This beloved saint, who was influential in introducing yoga and Eastern spirituality to the West, is perhaps

Happy Birthday, Ramana! By Tasha Friedman What to say about Ramana Maharshi? If you have participated in a silent retreat or Hatha Yoga module at

Merry Christmas! By Tasha Friedman It’s easy to see God in a baby’s eyes. A shining, smiling newborn creature without a single care or contraction,

Seeing the Miraculous: Celebrating the Virgin of Guadalupe By Tasha Friedman If we could see the world as it is, everything would appear as a

Bittersweet Desire: Intimacy and Otherness in the Pure Land of the Heart By Tasha Friedman There is a place in your heart that is soft

Sharing Silence: The Beauty, Power, and Challenges of Sangha By Tasha Friedman A sangha is primarily a place for people to be alone together. When

Take a Walk: Meeting Nature from the Spiritual Heart By Tasha Friedman A long walk in the woods is a spiritual practice in itself. Have

By Tasha Friedman Happy Karthika Deepam! This time of year, when in the northern hemisphere nights grow longer and daylight hours shrink, many cultures around

Onions, Garlic, and Ayurveda: What Restricted Vegetables Can Show Us about the Yogic Lifestyle By Tasha Friedman There’s nothing as mouth-watering as the smell of

Yoga and Ayurveda: How to Develop the Best Practice for Your Dosha By Tasha Friedman

 No two people are the same. So, no two yoga

By Tasha Friedman Happy Diwali! Today India is blazing with color and light. It’s the first day of Diwali, one of the most widely celebrated

Learning to Love Useless Moments: Natural Cycles and the Beauty of Doing Nothing By Tasha Friedman How many beautiful, precious, and perfectly useless moments do

By Tasha Friedman ¡Feliz Día de Muertos! Día de Muertos (“Day of the Dead”) is iconic of Mexico, although it is celebrated throughout the Latin

By Tasha Friedman “How do we make love to God? How does the soul make love to God?” Today is the feast day of St.

Beginner’s Mind, Open Heart: Living in Freshness and Simplicity By Tasha Friedman What do you believe that you know right now? And how much are

Be a Whole Human: Integration on the Spiritual Path By Tasha Friedman “A spiritual life is first and foremost a life, and must be lived.”

By Tasha Friedman   Celebrating the Equinox First, a story. Prahlada is a young prince, and his father is a demon: Hiranyakashipu, a king among

By Tasha Friedman   Yom Kippur: Entering the Book of Life G’mar chatimah tovah: May you be inscribed for good in the Book of Life!

By Tasha Friedman   Happy Birthday, Swami Sivananda! “Love, serve, give, purify, meditate, realize.” –Swami Sivananda On this day in 1887, one of the greatest

By Tasha Friedman   Happy Pachamama Day! “Pachamama” is the Quechua name for Mother Earth or Mother Nature, translating literally as “World Mother.” For many

By Tasha Friedman   Before we can say what compassion is, we should understand what it is not. Compassion is not pity, which comes from

By Tasha Friedman   “I say nothing to Him, I love Him.” –St. Therese of Lisieux Prayer is the Heart speaking to itself. It is

By Tasha Friedman At night, all distinctions disappear. Falling asleep to the outside world, you awaken to the life within. Shivaratri (the “night of Shiva”)

By Tasha Friedman Can the mind be your partner in spirituality? Does the path to transcendence only run through denial, or is it possible that

By Tasha Friedman Do you perceive yourself as just one limited thing, a body and mind, floating around in a sea of other limited things?

By Tasha Friedman “All of the world is just a narrow bridge. What’s important is not to be afraid.” –Rabbi Nachman of Breslov Even while

By Tasha Friedman Stop now. Close your eyes. Feel your heart. You are here, you are aware, right now. At this very moment, humanity is

By Tasha Friedman “All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle.” (St. Francis of Assisi) As the Earth’s northern

By Natasha Friedman Give Them Everything It’s not about you. Sun. Sand. Waves. Vast, open sky. A simple place. Do it for them. When you’re

By Tasha Friedman Few concepts in spirituality are so profoundly simple and dazzlingly complicated at the same time as Karma Yoga.

By Tasha Friedman There’s a special kind of paranoia that the Tibetan Buddhist tradition says you should cultivate: a sneaking suspicion that everyone around you