Free Video with Doug Keller! Happy Baby Pose – Hip Opening with Proper Alignment
Happy Baby Pose looks deceptively simple, lie on your back and grab your feet, right? Yet without proper alignment awareness, this hip opener can strain your lower back and sacrum rather than releasing your hips. This detailed tutorial teaches you
Preventing Chronic Disease: Yoga May Alter Gene Expression Linked to Inflammation
Chronic stress, and the resulting inflammatory response, is a known cause of numerous illnesses. Although yoga is found to reduce stress and increase wellbeing, we know little about the molecular mechanisms mediating these effects. Interestingly, increasingly research suggests that one
Enlivening the Body's Subtle Energy with Mula Bandha
Some Sanskrit words have successfully made it into our pop culture. One of the terms that seem to be thrown around a lot is mula bandha. You’ll hear a teacher instruct you to “engage your mula bandha” in various poses. What
Can Simple Stretching Help Fight Cancer? The Groundbreaking Research of Dr. Helene Langevin
What if one of the most powerful tools against cancer were something you already do in your yoga practice? Dr. Helene Langevin is a physician-scientist whose career has been shaped by a single, elegant idea: that the body's connective tissue
Yoga for Healthy Wrists: Research Confirms Yoga is Effective for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
As a neuroscience researcher, I have been involved in bench work activities for more than two decades. Routine laboratory work involves repetitive hand movements, tissue homogenization using handheld homogenizers, pipetting using handheld pipette aids, reagent and chemical preparations, and tabulating
Navasana at the Wall: Yoga for Safe and Sound Core Strengthening
Navasana (Boat Pose) is a challenging yoga pose that cultivates a deep connection with your core. It simultaneously strengthens several core muscle groups: abdominals, hip flexors, adductors (inner thighs), and spinal muscles. Core Muscles and Navasana The abdominal muscles (particularly
Sankalpa, Visualization, and Yoga: The Diaphragm-Psoas Connection
In yoga practice, the Sanskrit word sankalpa means “resolution” or “intention,” usually in association with the practice of Yoga Nidra. According to Swami Satyananda Saraswati, “sankalpa has the potential to release tremendous power by clearly defining and focusing on a
Donna Farhi: Keys to Pain-free Living - The Importance of a Balanced Core Cylinder
Donna Farhi is an internationally renowned yoga instructor, leading countless intensives and teacher training programs. She is the author of The Breathing Book, Yoga Mind, Body, and Spirit: A Return to Wholeness, as well as Bringing Yoga to Life: The Everyday
Happy Hips: 5 Strategies to Stabilize Your SI Joints in Yoga
In 2015 I got a brand-new left hip joint. The relief was immediate. In a matter of weeks, I progressed from being unable to walk more than three blocks to walking more than a mile—with no pain. When my surgeon
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.
Why We Get Shorter As We Age: How Manual Therapy and Yoga Stretches Can Help You Stand Tall
The intervertebral discs are responsible for 25 percent of our spine’s overall length. Since the average adult spine measures 24 to 28 inches, the intervertebral discs account for six to seven inches. The water-filled, gel-like nucleus pulposus and annulus fibrosis
Spine Divine - How Spinal Fluidity Keeps You Healthy for the Long Haul
Do we get older just because of age? Or do the patterns we’ve etched into our bodies decrease the fluid movement in our spines and thereby limit our movement potential? In this interview with YogaUOnline, yoga teacher, Hellerwork Practitioner, Structural
Shoulder Biomechanics, Part 2: The Infraspinatus and Teres Minor Muscles
Welcome to the second of our series on the shoulder joint in yoga. The first article in the series discussed the subscapularis muscle, the main shoulder internal rotator. Now we’re on to the antagonist muscles of the subscapularis, the infraspinatus