Every yoga practice must have purpose, order and meaning
I love it when Eastern and Western approaches to health and wellness overlap, even if they speak entirely different languages. For example, the Ayurvedic tradition is based on the concept[…]
After a year of keeping our interaction circles and our travel routes intentionally small, we are now starting to venture out into the world, only to discover that our bodies[…]
Our digestive systems are in charge of breaking down food into its basic components, which are then absorbed into the blood and transported throughout the entire body. Food is the[…]
How do you start your morning? In a given week, do you create space to begin your day with intention, peace of mind and a connection to something bigger? Or[…]
Humans have used body movements and hand gestures to tell stories and facilitate particular psychological states since the beginning of time. For example, Hawaiian hula dance was meant to promote[…]
Nyasa is a symbolic gesture of placing the mantra onto one’s body so that the body becomes the seat or temple of the Deity. One of the most potent and[…]
Mudras are specific hand gestures that are meant to have symbolic, energetic and healing qualities. Most mudras are static gestures, but you can also make them dynamic when the actual[…]
Since most mudras are simple hand gestures, they are pretty easy to integrate into one’s yoga practice. What we try to avoid is making a mudra an afterthought, something that[…]
The word “mudra” is most often used to describe a particular hand gesture, but there are also face mudras and whole-body mudras. According to the yoga tradition, mudras have multiple[…]
I noticed that when I start my day with news, social media or to-do lists, the whole day is marked with a tinge of urgency and mild agitation. But if[…]
There is a series of eight sequential movements in qigong called “eight pieces of brocade” or “eight silken movements” that has been around for hundreds of years. Individual movements of[…]
Your immune system is complex and multilayered. It includes seemingly unrelated parts of your body, like skin, mucus and tears; a range of organs and tissues, like bone marrow, thymus,[…]
The beginning of a new year always gives us an opportunity to organize our thoughts about what we plan to focus on in the upcoming year. What is most important[…]
This year certainly turned out to be like no other. At times it felt like it was dragging on, yet it’s somehow surprising that it is almost over. Faced with[…]
I used to have a student who would quickly bounce his knee up and down when seated. The first time he caught me looking at his knee, he said: “I[…]
There are many ways to control breath in our yoga practice. I put them into a comprehensive chart to remind you of all the options you have and to help[…]
If you want to learn to play Mozart on a piano, you need to learn the musical notes first. The same applies to your breath. Before you can begin experimenting[…]
Kapalbhati (Skull shining) is one of those interesting techniques that can either help you or harm you, depending on how you do it. Many articles on Kapalbhati tout its perceived[…]
I did my first 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training course at Mt Madonna Center in Santa Cruz, California twenty years ago. Mt Madonna center is a residential community that was established[…]
The Western medical tradition has adopted a “zoom in” approach to our health and wellness. It divides the body into organ systems that have specific missions and perform coordinated activity.[…]
