Good Vs. Bad Stress: The Critical Difference Between Challenge and Threat
When we’re faced with a potentially stressful situation, we automatically and subconsciously ask ourselves two questions: Could this situation cause me harm or loss, or is there a potential benefit? Am I capable of handling this situation? This is the
Santosha: How Yoga Can Help You Realize that You’re Enough
What does it mean to have enough? How much food, shelter, clothing, money, health, and wellbeing is enough? And perhaps more importantly, what does it mean to be enough? The answer will vary from person to person and depend on
When Touch is a Trigger: Hands-On Adjustments in Trauma-Sensitive Yoga
Touch can be relational, connecting, healing, and necessary for wellbeing. But Yoga Outreach (YO) classes are touch-free zones for several important reasons. No-Touch Zones Feel Safer Not all of Yoga Outreach’s students are trauma survivors. But a high proportion of
Yoga Arm Balancing Magic: 4 Empowering Crow Pose Variations
Crow Pose, or Bakasana, is one of those yoga party trick poses. It’s a majestic arm balance that challenges us to face our fears, builds strength, and helps us find balance. And while learning everything there is to know about
Yoga for Beginners: Develop Your Breath to Transform Your Asana Practice
I was chatting to someone recently and she commented to me, "I've been to all these yoga classes, but I'm just not clear about the breathing." So I wanted to write this article in order to give you a few
Peak Pose Dhanurasana
Have you ever felt as if you were stuck to the floor when you practice Bow Pose? You’re not alone. Dhanurasana may not look as complicated as, say, Urdhva Dhanurasana (Upward Bow Pose), but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. You
Yoga’s Easy Sitting Pose: How to Make it Easier
Learning to sit comfortably on the floor is as important for a basic asana practice as it is for seated meditation. Yet for many people, this is not an easy task! So in this post, I’m going to address a
Artificial Blue Light is Making Us Age
What is Blue Light? All light is composed of electromagnetic particles moving in waves. (1) Each color of the visible spectrum is associated with a wave of a particular length and intensity. These waves emit energy. Although it may seem
Be Present Where You Are: How Pregnancy Changed My Yoga Practice
Injury, illness, aging, and other major physical changes frequently cause us to reexamine our yoga practice. Often, it takes a radical shift in our physical practice to understand the genuine purpose that Yoga serves in our lives. What can still
Breath, Focus and Resistance: How Yoga Practice Builds Strength and Endurance
Yoga is an endurance training system, as well as strength training. Let me tell you how I reached this conclusion. Endurance Training: Endurance training is also referred to as aerobic exercise, as it ensures that the energy demands are continuously
Yoga Anatomy: How Learning about Force Couples Can Teach You about Your Muscles
Sometimes it’s hard to remember all the muscles, bones, and joints. Even if, as yoga teachers, we hone in on learning just the muscles, that can be daunting too. We know alignment and action words, but it’s really important to
Too Much Sitting? Try Standing Poses
Most of us sit too much in our daily lives. That’s just the nature of the work most of us do. We sit in front of devices for hours on end. In theory, we could practice yoga stretches at our
Yoga Anatomy: 4 Steps to Hanumanasana (Monkey Pose)
To paraphrase the poet William Blake, you can see the world in a grain of sand. Similarly, you can learn a great deal about all asanas by carefully studying one. For this blog post, I focus on Hanumanasana (Monkey Pose
Remembering George Floyd: Yoga, Colorblind Racism, and Keys to Conscious Change
“We have to see this moment as a time for fundamental shifting.” Rev. Willam Barber Change usually happens slowly, unseen, like the invisible growth of a plant. But then, sometimes, change happens in one moment - a dramatic, traumatic, seismic
A Simple Restorative Yoga Practice for Stressful Times
Restorative Yoga is really magical. It has the power to slow your heart rate, improve digestion, regulate your breathing, and put you into a state of blissful relaxation. It works all of this magic by simply moving your body into