Every yoga practice must have purpose, order and meaning
Did you know that holding Cobra pose (Bhujangasana) for several breath cycles brings down your cortisol (the stress hormone) and increases your testosterone (the “oumph” hormone)? The study published in[…]
Most yoga teachers I know spend a lot of time perfecting their craft – they read a lot, attend workshops, experiment in their own practice and teach many classes. This[…]
In my first year of college my academic advisor had roped me into presenting at a minor conference. I complied, even though I didn’t care about the subject that was[…]
When I started working with students one-on-one many years ago, I used to offer free initial evaluations to anybody who was interested. It was time-consuming and not really cost-effective, but[…]
I learned to drive pretty late in life. I started in my early 20s when I came to the US, but never needed a car, so I delayed driving till[…]
Nowadays we tend to define our health and fitness mostly through numbers (body mass index, target heart rate and so on) and performance (ability to touch the toes, run a[…]
Many years ago, when I just started teaching yoga, I wanted to make sure that my students got enough stretching. One time a good friend of mine took my class.[…]
“Clinical psychologists sometimes say that two kinds of people seek therapy: those who need tightening, and those who need loosening. For every patient seeking help in becoming more organized, self-controlled,[…]
To be honest, the older I get, the less I am interested in doing yoga for the sake of physical fitness. It somehow feels like a waste of time. There[…]
Thank you, thank you, thank you to all of you who completed our Reader Survey! I take your feedback to heart and will use it to guide my publishing choices[…]
With 2016 soon coming to a close, let’s take a moment to look back at the ground that we’ve covered. This year we focused on three major topics: axial extension[…]
The term superfood is usually used to describe nutrient-rich food that is especially beneficial for our health and well-being. Certain yoga poses can be described as “superposes” because they also[…]
Many years ago I read a book by Mukunda Stiles called Structural Yoga Therapy. I loved the book and found it very helpful, but the one example I remember most[…]
When a student comes to you complaining of knee pain, the first thing you need to do is assess tracking. Tracking is a relative position between the hip joints, knee[…]
“Get your earplugs ready” – jokes one of my students before attempting Chair pose. Over the years of working together we both got used to the loud crackling sound that[…]
According to joints classification, knee is a “hinge joint” that folds and unfolds like a hinge. Indeed, life would be so much easier for many of us if it was[…]
Few years ago I went to Paris and stayed in the tiniest hotel room I’ve ever seen. I had to walk sideways by the bed to get through and the[…]
Once you begin to think of chair yoga poses in terms of directional movement of the spine, it becomes much easier to both structure your yoga practices and make pose[…]
If you teach chair yoga to a group or individual student for a while, at some point you will inevitably feel like you ran out of ideas. There are definitely[…]
“So why did you decide to give yoga a try?” – I asked a new student once. “Well, – she said – I tried to back out of my garage[…]
