Forward Bend With Ease

Even if you’re flexible, it’s not that easy to maintain your spine’s natural curves when you sit in Dandasana (Seated Pose). As with every pose, there are as many variations as to how Seated Pose will look as there are people. Dandasana,

Healthy Eating through Yoga

For most Americans, sedentary lifestyles and consistent abundance of food have led to this country having the highest obesity rate in the world (as U.S. News and World Report described in a May 28, 2014 article). Some in our country have

3 Steps to Safer, More Effective Yoga Twists

The best image that seems to help yoga students get a hang of twisting postures is the image of “wringing out the towel.” To be able to effectively wring the water out, you need to pull both ends away from each

Free Online Yoga Video! Natasha Rizopoulos: Keys to Core Stability – Two Postures to Transform Your Practice

In yoga, we hear a lot about the core, and the importance of core strength. But what exactly is the core and what does it mean to cultivate core strength in a balanced way? In this yoga practice video, Natasha

Yoga Can Change Your Brain: A Review of Research Provides Preliminary Evidence

Studies are continuing to show that yoga practices can change your brain. A review of the literature in Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice suggests that yoga may change not only brain structure but brain waves as well. A group of researchers compiled

Natasha Rizopoulos on Teaching Yoga: Moving from Louder and Faster to Slower and Quieter

It's easy to get seduced by the sweat of a vigorous, gymnastics-oriented Power Yoga practice and ignore the metaphysical context, writes yoga teacher Natasha Rizopoulos in this blog post.  However, as yoga teachers, it behooves us to get more adept at sharing

The Fifth Niyama: Ishvara Pranidhana - Surrender to the Lord

The fifth and last of the niyamas (personal observances) from Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras is Ishvara pranidhana: “surrender to the Lord.” There have been centuries of debate among scholars about what exactly Patanjali meant by Ishvara. This Sanskrit word literally translates as

10 Foods That Are Essential To Your Health

We all like to eat. Food is necessary for survival, and it also often tastes good and satisfies sometimes mysterious cravings. There’s nothing wrong with liking food. However, many of the food products available today contain excessive chemicals, filler products

The Fourth International Fascia Research Congress: The Body Connected

The Fourth International Fascia Research Congress (FRC), held September 18-20, 2015 near Washington, DC, USA continued the tradition of presenting the latest and best scientific research on fasciae in all its forms and functions. Researchers from six continents presented. Nearly 800

The Yoga You May Not Have Heard Of (And Why You'll Want to Try It)

When most people think of yoga, they think of the flowing Vinyasa style yoga or the sequence of standing and seated yoga postures typically used in Hatha yoga. Few people have heard of Kundalini yoga and even fewer are aware

Preventing Anterior Knee Pain and Yoga

Patellofemoral pain syndrome (PFPS) is the most common overuse injury of the lower extremity 1, 2. PFPS is a condition characterized by pain surrounding the kneecap associated with activities involving lower limb loading (eg, walking, running, jumping, stair climbing, and prolonged

Yoga for Metabolic Syndrome - An Interview with Dr. Baxter Bell

Heart disease, stroke and diabetes all rank among the top 7 leading causes of death in the U.S. Can yoga help reduce the risk of contracting these all-too-common chronic diseases? In this interview, Dr. Baxter Bell discusses one of the leading precursors of these

The Fourth Niyama: Svadhyaya - Self-Study

The fourth of the niyamas (personal observances) from Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras is svadhyaya. In Sanskrit, sva means “self;” dhyaya translates as contemplating, meditating on or reflecting upon. Svadhyaya therefore can be translated as self-reflection, self-contemplation or the study of oneself.

Yoga Anatomy: The Benefits of Twisting Postures

Just like any other discipline, yoga has its own “lingo” that is widely used in yoga classes. The problem is that it is not always clear to the student what the teacher means. For example, I heard in a class

Yoga Wisdom: A Simple Principle for Better Mental Health

Neuropsychologist Rick Hanson reports on the power of this simple (though not always easy or automatic) principle from yoga that can improve our mental health and help us live a fuller, more authentic life.  What’s in your heart to say? The Practice:

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