There’s a special place in my heart for Tias Little. I studied with him many years ago and the vivid imagery and metaphor he used had a profound impact on the way I think about the body. He’s also got this dry, dry, dry humor that I love. In the years since I studied with Tias, he has started doing dharma talks and one of them inspired this episode.
You see, I think most of us are perfectionists. And, as much as I love to put in a hard day’s work full of drive and goal-crushing, perfectionism doesn’t lead to happiness. It’s an illusion of control that (mostly) takes us out of the present moment and into a myth of life being neat, tidy, and complete. It can also bleed into our relationships with those we care about most — friends, partners, children — creating conflict and suffering that’s unnecessary.
In this episode, I ask Tias how we can use yoga and Buddhist psychology to become aware of our perfectionist tendencies and reframe them. Over the past few weeks since our conversation, Tias’ words have stayed with me and helped me find more freedom and ease. I hope it does the same for you.
Here’s a little more about Tias:
Along with his wife, Surya, Tias runs Prajna Yoga in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Tias synthesizes years of study in classical yoga, Sanskrit, Buddhist studies, anatomy, massage, and trauma healing. Tias began studying the work of B.K.S Iyengar in 1984 and lived in Mysore India in 1989 studying Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga with Pattabhi Jois. Tias is a licensed massage therapist and his somatic studies include in-depth training in cranial-sacral therapy. Tias is a long time student of the meditative arts and Buddhist studies beginning with Vipassana and continuing in Tibetan Buddhism and Zen. Tias earned a Masters degree in Eastern Philosophy from St. John’s College in 1998. Tias is author of three books, The Thread of Breath, Meditations on a Dewdrop and Yoga of the Subtle Body.
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RECOMMENDED AND RELATED LINKS
Prajna Yoga
Yoga and Perfectionism: A Dharma Talk by Tias Little
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