Oh wow, how to answer succinctly -- it's been a long, meandering path! I'll try my best. While I'd say I first learned about meditation from my music practice a

Oh wow, how to answer succinctly -- it's been a long, meandering path! I'll try my best. While I'd say I first learned about meditation from my music practice as a child, my first formal introduction to meditation was through Thanissaro Bhikkhu [1] who a few of my friends practiced with in college (and later ordained as monks with). I later came to Mahayana Buddhism through Suzuki [2] and Thich Nhat Hanh [3], and then settled into a Vajrayana practice -- I'd suggest Mingyur Rinpoche's Joy of Living course for an intro to Vajrayana [4]. For yoga practice I happened to one day wander into the closest yoga studio to my house here in Brooklyn, which coincidentally happened to be one of the best yoga schools in the city at the time. The owner [5] was exceptionally challenging, all his teachers were the best around, and he really pushed everyone to expand their limits, it was a great environment to learn in. I was going at least 5x per week for a few years. It can be hard to find a yoga school, as most these days are just gym classes, and very few are going to teach pranayama, kriyas, meditation, etc. If I'm in a new place and am looking for a shala to practice in I'll typically choose the place that has Ashtanga/Mysore on the schedule, as it's likely that the owners/teachers aren't just interested in yoga as exercise. I'd really suggest finding a master teacher/s to practice with in real life, there's nothing like it. You'll know it when you find it. I also read pretty obsessively when I started my yoga practice, some of which I'll leave below [6][7][8][9][10][11]. If you start practicing you'll find the sutras and other texts that speak to you as well, just put in the work and stay curious and open! Happy to answer any questions. [1] https://www.dhammatalks.org/ https://www.dhammatalks.org/ [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen_Mind,_Beginner%27s_Mind https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen_Mind,_Beginner%27s_Mind [3] https://plumvillage.shop/products/books/zen/the-other-shore-a-new-translation-of-the-heart-sutra-with-commentaries/ https://plumvillage.shop/products/books/zen/the-other-shore-... [4] https://joy.tergar.org/ https://joy.tergar.org/ [5] https://www.instagram.com/wearejared/ https://www.instagram.com/wearejared/ [6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roots_of_Yoga https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roots_of_Yoga [7] https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/784289 https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/784289 [8] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_on_Yoga https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_on_Yoga [9] https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/35455963 https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/35455963 [10] https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/13542603 https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/13542603 [11] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/295000.Cutting_Through_Spiritual_Materialism https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/295000.Cutting_Through_S...