A practical introduction to yogic breathing and meditation
Three Evenings
March 15, 16, and 18, 2026
5:30 pm - 6:45 pm
Overview
Yoga offers a practical pathway for steadily quieting the mind and living with greater clarity, steadiness, and integrity.
This three-part series introduces an accessible introduction to yoga breathing practices (prāṇāyāma), foundational meditation techniques, and selected teachings from Chapter Two of the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali.
Chapter Two, titled Sādhanapāda (“The Chapter on Practice”), lays out the foundations of yoga practice:
the attitudes and disciplines that support inner steadines
the habits that obstruct progress
and the essential framework of Aṣṭāṅga Yoga, the eight-limbed path.
Together, we will explore:
The yogic view on suffering and its causes
The pathways to relieving this suffering
How we work skillfully with the breath as a gateway to meditation
How we relate to thoughts rather than becoming entangled in them
How we meet friction, distraction, habit, and change
Take small steps toward the aim of yoga
Details
Over three sessions, we will gradually prepare the mind and body for meditation by first grounding in the breath: our most reliable bridge between outer activity and inner presence.
We begin by learning how attention naturally settles through simple, accessible breathing and awareness practices.
From there, we turn inward, exploring how the mind moves, why it wanders, and how we might meet thoughts, emotions, and bodily sensations with steadiness and curiosity rather than resistance.
As practice deepens, we gently examine the habits, reactions, and inner friction that pull us off center, using breath and awareness to remain present even when experience becomes uncomfortable.
Throughout the sessions, we will widen the circle beyond the mat, exploring how discipline (tapas), self-study (svādhyāya), and devotion/humility (īśvara-praṇidhāna) can help carry stillness into daily life: our relationships, decisions, and inevitable challenges.
By the end of the series, each participant will have the beginning of a personal breath-and-meditation practice, along with a set of practical tools to support clarity and steadiness well beyond the mat.