Vinyasa Flow: Build Core Heat with Dynamic Movement
Vinyasa yoga has a reputation for being fast — a rapid-fire sequence where poses blur together and breath gets left somewhere around the third Sun Salutation. If you've ever finished a flow class feeling wired rather than centered, you already
Muscle TLC: How to Add Oomph to Your Yoga Practice with TheraBands
For over a year now, I have been integrating stretchy bands called TheraBands into my yoga practice and teaching. My wife and amazing yoga teacher, Melina Meza, turned me on to these useful props, and she started using them for
Stand Tall: 11 Yoga Poses to Improve Posture
This sequence is designed to help you improve your posture, especially if you tend to slump forward. Because this is a rather long practice, feel free to shorten it by only doing the dynamic versions of yoga poses that offer
Piriformis Pain: A Yin Yoga Sequence to Alleviate Piriformis Syndrome Symptoms
The piriformis is a little muscle that can be a big pain. In our modern world, we are highly susceptible to a number of incongruencies in the body because of weakness and inflexibility within certain muscles. This is particularly true
Yoga for Detoxification: How to Power Up Your Body's Natural Detox Processes
Yoga helps detox our bodies. Let's build heat in our practice today. Twist longer. Breathe deeper. Sweat harder. You’ve probably heard those phrases in a yoga class before. But are they true? Can yoga really help detox your body by
Is Magnesium Deficiency Contributing to Your Muscle Tension, Pain, or Fatigue?
Sometimes, despite all your efforts to release tension and relieve pain with pandiculation, you may get to a point where you feel like something else is going on. There may be some other factor besides learned muscular patterns that’s causing
6 Vagus Nerve Exercises to Boost Your Well-being - Free Online Yoga Video
Did you know that activation of the vagus nerve in yoga keeps your immune system in check and releases an assortment of hormones and neurotransmitters, such as acetylcholine and oxytocin? This results in reductions in inflammation, reduced allergies, relief from
Know Your Yoga Asana: Demystifying Sanskrit Posture Names
So far, in Part 1 we learned about how English and Sanskrit are related, so some of those mysterious words you’ve been hearing will actually be easy to remember if you connect them with the corresponding English words (for example, “sputa” for
Yoga Pose Primer: Revolved Triangle Pose (Parvrtta Trikonasana)
If I had to pick the most complicated asana in the canon of common poses, Parvrtta Trikonasana (Revolved Triangle Pose) would be among the top few. Parvrtta Trikonasana is a balance pose, a spinal rotation, a forward bend, and even
King Dancer Pose: What You're Missing When the Pose Won't Hold
King Dancer Pose (Natarajasana) is one of yoga's most beautiful shapes — a standing backbend that opens the shoulders, hip flexors, and heart simultaneously, balanced on a single leg. It's also one of the most misunderstood. Most practitioners approach it
Why Your Hamstrings Stay Tight No Matter How Much You Stretch
Tight hamstrings are one of the most common physical complaints in the world — and one of the most persistently mishandled. The standard response is to reach for your toes, feel the pull, and hold. But that pull often signals
Crow Pose: What Nobody Tells You About Crow Pose (And Why You Keep Falling)
Crow Pose (Bakasana) has a reputation that precedes it. Most practitioners see it performed in class — arms bent, body lifted, balance somehow held — and quietly decide it isn't for them. It looks like a feat of upper body
Backbends Tutorial: Building Real Flexibility Without the Low Back Pain
If backbends have ever left you gripping your low back, you're not alone. You're also not broken. Most people who sit for long hours simply aren't set up to bend backward safely yet. Hip flexors shorten from years in a
A Balanced Life: The Key to Happiness
Work-life balance is just one aspect of a happy life. It’s not about spending equal time, but quality time in each area of your life. A balanced life requires self-discipline. You have to divvy up your time so you aren’t
The Body's Inner Wisdom: Reclaiming Your Power with Somatic Yoga
In life, clarifying moments – sudden bursts of awareness that can change our understanding about one small thing or everything – can come in many ways. Yoga Teacher and Somatic Educator Donna Brooks vividly remembers one such flash. In the