With 76.4 million boomers entering the last half of their lives, healthy aging is becoming an increasingly popular buzz word. But when we talk about healthy aging and how yoga helps perhaps facilitate a more healthy aging process, we usually only think in terms of about preventing aches and pains and prolonging the years we … Continued
The yogic action of Jalandhara Bandha, while it is designed for the practice of breath retention during pranayama, contains vital insights into the subtleties of how we hold our head, and how that in turn affects our breathing, muscle tone, and even the functioning of our nervous system. How we hold our head isn’t just … Continued
The original texts of hatha yoga cite the bandhas as being crucial to having a fruitful yoga practice. The bandhas are simple yet powerful muscular actions in the area of the pelvic floor (mula bandha), lower abdominals (uddiyana bandha), head, neck and shoulders (jalandhara bandha). Their original significance centered around pranayama and the movement of … Continued
Everything in nature is made up of five basic elements: earth, water, fire, air, and space, according to Ayurveda and yoga philosophy. The five elements are viewed not just as external forces, but vital forces of life interweaving with our physical, mental, and emotional being. Knowledge of the five elements, or tattwas, as they pertain … Continued
High blood pressure remains a leading cause of heart attacks, strokes, congestive heart failure and kidney disease in Western societies. One in three Americans suffers from hypertension, according to the CDC, and only about half of those have it under control. Millions of others, including many who turn up in yoga classes, have dangerously high … Continued
“Death Begins in the Colon” said Dr. Bernard Jensen, D.C., also known as the father of holistic health. The accumulation of toxic debris in the body due to inadequate digestion and elimination, he suggested, produces poisons that slowly, over time can kill us. Interestingly, what Dr. Jensen pointed out some 70 years ago , for … Continued
Why do issues like prostate problems (for men), prolapse (for women), incontinence, and pelvic pain disorders become increasingly common as we get older? And, is there anything we can do to prevent or slow this process? In this course, yoga teacher and yoga therapist Leslie Howard will discuss common male and female pelvic floor disorders … Continued
The ability to structure and sequence classes so that students have the best possible experience, both on the mat and afterwards, is one of the hallmarks of skillful teaching. In this course with Natasha Rizopoulos, we’ll begin with an overview of essential sequencing principles. We’ll explore the idea of sequencing as a coherent narrative arc … Continued
Kinesiology is the study of human movement. To teach with confidence and efficacy, it’s of course important to know basic kinesiological principles, such as the names, origins and insertions of the skeletal muscles. But this alone is not nearly enough. It is perhaps more important to understand how the muscles work together so that the … Continued
For the trained eye, the body has many secrets to tell. As yoga teachers, we quickly develop the ability to observe when students have difficulty with alignment in yoga postures. But observing is one thing, knowing how to help students overcome alignment issues is another issue altogether! Many alignment issues are not so much rooted … Continued
The breath is a powerful tool inducing greater relaxation and wellbeing, and healthy breathing affects our long-term health and how well we age. The breath is also one of the subtlest and most effective gateways to connecting to Spirit or the sacred essence of who we are. Of course today, the specter of COVID-19 in … Continued
Many people – yogis and non-yogis alike – have heard of the piriformis muscle, usually in the context of trouble it is causing. A tight piriformis can cause hip pain, deep in the back of the buttock, or it can put pressure on the sciatic nerve where it passes through the buttock. Pinching of the … Continued