... Below are the essential yoga principles that I ascribe to. Posting them here as they are good reminders - even if you are looking at this for your home practice ...

There is a scholarship and systemization that is the basis to all Hatha Yoga. This is what Mark Whitwell and my other teachers have taught me. Some of the primary principles practiced in classes are:

• Classes follow proper sequencing.
• We adapt the yoga to suit and respect our individual needs. 
• We stay within the comfort of the breath. We work but do not force.
• Asana is strength receiving. These are nurturing practices.
• The body movement is the breath movement. 
• The breath envelopes the movement and its four parts are given time and space.
• Asana serves bandha, and bandha serves breath. 
• Asana, pranayama, and meditation are practiced together as a seamless process.

   "Asana practice should be a harmonious experience, never a struggle. The manner of breathing into a wind instrument - a flute for instance - can create either a grating screech or a melodious song. The body, too, is an instrument. If used skillfully, as in the unison of movement and breath, the resulting posture is a useful and harmonious experience. When performed with the graceful orchestration of all its parts, asana can become a music of the body, breath and mind. Such music moves everything it touches." ~ A.G. MOHAN    ~With thanks to all my teachers.