We all know that muscles are the engines that drive all movement in the body. But did you know that muscles serve many other critical body functions? And that these all get affected and decline as we begin to lose muscle mass with age. Muscles are the most metabolically active tissue in the body. Muscle … Continued
Struggling with finding correct alignment in your yoga practice? Most people do. The sad reality is that most yoga students struggle with finding ease and comfort in yoga poses. Many poses are difficult, and our tendency is to muscle our way into poses in an effort to “do yoga” the way we think we should. … Continued
Do You Struggle with These Common Pelvic Floor Problems? Feeling a constant need to go to the bathroom, even though you’ve just been there – and don’t really need to go? You may be dealing with an overactive bladder – a form of incontinence that is surprisingly common. Pelvic floor problems like incontinence and pelvic … Continued
Can Alzheimer’s disease be prevented? Indeed, promising new research shows that dementia is not an inevitable condition of old age over which we have no control. There are steps we can take to reduce our risk of Alzheimer’s and improve cognitive functioning – and the earlier we start, the better. Join Baxter Bell, MD, C-IAYT, … Continued
Inversions like Sirsanana (Headstand) and Sarvangasana (Shoulderstand) are also sometimes referred to as the king and queen of asana. They balance the entire nervous system and are considered to be among the most important poses for our daily yoga practice because of their profound effects on physical and emotional health. Benefits of inversions include greater … Continued
Every second of the day, your body is functioning seemingly effortlessly, regulating the literally millions of physiological functions that keep your body running. The part of the nervous system in charge of orchestrating all these functions behind the scenes, so to speak, is the autonomic nervous system. The autonomic nervous system regulates all the functions … Continued
As yoga teachers, we often experience situations where students are unable to perform even basic yoga postures properly, because of physical limitations in strength and/or flexibility. To help such students progress, it’s essential for yoga teachers to know how to assess a student’s current strengths and limitations. Join yoga teacher and physical therapist Chrys Kub, … Continued
Motherhood is a rite of passage and yoga is an ideal method for carrying women through that rite of passage into the fourth trimester of postpartum. Yoga can help women embrace motherhood and their new identity, as well recover after giving birth. A woman’s body undergoes miraculous and enormous changes, a complete transformation, during pregnancy … Continued
Like the rest of our body, the brain changes in numerous ways as we get older. What happens to the brain during healthy aging? And are there ways that we can positively influence the changes in the structure and function of the brain, much as we can with muscles and bones? In this course, Dr. … Continued
One of the inevitable changes of aging is a gradual loss of the ability to balance. While this may at first seem insignificant, it is a key factor in the increased risk of fractures people face as they get older. Most fractures of the hip, wrists, or ankle are preceded by a fall, and the … Continued
In this course Dr. Timothy McCall will provide an overview of the emerging field of yoga therapy: the use of yoga and its vast toolbox to help treat virtually any health condition — physical or psychological. Yoga therapy has grown enormously in the last several years, there are ever-increasing numbers of scientific studies examining its effectiveness, … Continued
Most people know the importance of core strengthening for health and long-term well-being, but the pelvic floor is an important group of core muscles, which tend to get ignored. “The torso is like a tote bag for your organs,” says Leslie Howard, a Bay area yoga teacher who conducts workshops nationally on pelvic floor strengthening to … Continued