To be or not to be a yogi: How to actually start being a yogi

So, people always ask me about what it actually means to be a yogi, as if there’s some secret manual or a specific ritual you need to master to unlock this enlightened state of being. It isn't really like that, though I get why people think it is. You don't just show up at a place like YogaWorks, twist your body into a pretzel for an hour, and suddenly walk out with all the answers to the universe. It’s more of a slow burn, a gradual shift in how you perceive everything around you, which can be a bit overwhelming if you aren't prepared for it. It’s less about the physical poses and more about that quiet, internal calibration that happens when you finally stop fighting against the flow of things.
So, if you happen to find yourself near the New York Public Library tomorrow around 12:30 PM, there’s actually something worth checking out. Dr. Vlado Poznovija—who some folks might know better by his moniker, Swami Brahmajnananadd—is doing a short talk to help promote his new book, Being a Yogi. It’s a pretty massive undertaking, honestly, running well over six hundred pages, where he dives into all those ways you can actually level up your daily life and your spiritual growth. He covers just about everything under the sun, from physical and mental conditioning to diet, your sex life, even the way we sleep and dream, not to mention how our concept of God evolves over time. It touches on personal development, communication, relaxation, and meditation too. The lecture itself is going to be fairly grounded, mostly focusing on the core fundamentals of Yoga and making all these complex teachings accessible to people who aren't necessarily practitioners.

Just a quick correction here: tomorrow is actually today, Thursday, October 28th.😁
I'm not sure where this was originally posted, but I figured I'd share it here anyway. I was just scrolling through Monitor's pages earlier, and honestly, there’s a lot to take in there if you actually bother to sit down and read.

You can find more details right here. I'm here.

From the YogaWorks website:

If you follow the guidance laid out in this book, you’ll eventually find your way to Divine Perfection, Unconditional Love, and the absolute truth.

It’s pretty straightforward, isn't it? 😁

Roger Hall15 said:Correction: tomorrow is actually today, Thursday, October 28th.😁
Reposted from the monitor page.

You can read more here.

From the YogaWorks website:

Pretty straightforward, right? 😁

🙂 EXACTLY 👍

Look, I don't personally know the man, but I’ve spent some time wading through his articles. From what I can gather, he seems to stick to traditional yoga sadhana regardless of whatever specific organization or institution he might be affiliated with—or whether he's just operating as an individual, for that matter—and despite all those "new agey" techniques floating around these days. He doesn't come across as pretentious or cultish to me; he actually seems to know exactly what he's talking about, and frankly, he strikes me as a fairly grounded, sensible person. To be honest, he left me with a pretty positive impression. If anyone is genuinely interested in Raja Yoga, I'd say they probably won't go too far astray by following him, though of course, I could very well be wrong.