Half-Hero Pose: Television Yoga for Tight Quads
One of the most fruitful areas for a new yoga practitioner to explore is television yoga. It’s not a formal practice. You don’t have to wear special clothes, roll out a mat or light a candle. And if you watch
Let Your Light Shine – The Power of Prana in Health and Healing
A core concept in the yoga tradition has always been the idea of working with Prana (life force energy) to foster greater healing and well-being. While we in the Western world tend to think of yoga in terms of the physical expression
Fasting for Health: What Are the Benefits?
Is fasting for health sustainable? And more importantly, does it work? Let me start by telling you first why I began fasting. On a Wednesday morning in January, I woke up sick. I had a sore throat, I was unusually
Yoga for Strength: Fierce Pose
I spent 10 years of my childhood in a small retirement village in Wisconsin. My next-door neighbors, Walter and Evelyn, were my favorites to visit. They were in their late-70s and early 80s while we lived there. I would go
The Role of Shoulder Extension in Camel Pose
Ustrasana (Camel Pose) is a deep and elegant backbend. It can also be quite challenging to practice, as it often causes—and requires—extreme extension in the lumbar spine. The lumbar vertebrae come together in a way that supports shoulder extension in
Practice Figure 4 Cross-Legged Hip Stretch at the Wall
At first glance, it may not look as though the wall is useful in a Figure 4 Stretch (Supta Kapotasana). Yet it potentially offers good leverage and resistance to venture deeper into the realm of mobility and flow in your
Wall Yoga Exercises: Why Practice Yoga at the Wall?
“I thought yoga at the wall would be wimpy, but it was really challenging!” said Eadaoin, one of my advanced yoga teacher trainees, after taking one of my yoga wall classes. Her comment ignited my enthusiasm to write this book.
How to Overcome the 4 Most Common Yoga Teacher Challenges: The Power of Niche Building
Ah, becoming a yoga teacher. For most of us, it’s a dream come true. Becoming a yoga teacher is the first step toward building your own practice to greatly enhance yoga's transformative aspects. And it’s a first step toward doing
What is Pelvic Floor Therapy?
What is Pelvic Floor Therapy? Many women and some men, seek out pelvic floor therapy for an answer to incontinence, painful sex, prolapse, or pelvic pain. Pelvic floor therapy is often thought of as Kegel exercises or contracting pelvic floor
Yoga for Osteoporosis: 5 Ways to Reduce the Risk of Vertebral Fractures
Osteoporosis affects 10 million Americans, and another 44 million have osteopenia, i.e., low bone mass at levels considered a precursor to osteoporosis, according to the National Osteoporosis Foundation. An estimated one out of two women will break a bone due
How Well Are You Aging? An Easy Test of Health and Longevity
How healthy is your body? And, how well are you aging? The more we know about the health of our body and early warning signs of breakdown or distress, the more we are able to take steps to prevent or
Build Confidence and Strength With These 3 Tree Pose Variations
Tree Pose (Vrksasana) variations with props can help you to better understand the subtleties of alignment and balance. Props are such valuable tools in your yoga practice to help you find support, optimize alignment, challenge your balance, and beyond. There
Working with Injuries or Physical Limitations? An Invitation to Deepen Your Yoga Practice
If you stick with yoga long enough, and perhaps not even very long, you’ll certainly be dealing with the question of what’s the right thing to do when you get injured or sick. Do you forge ahead and get to
Stretch and Strengthen: Yoga for Pelvic Floor Health
The best yoga poses for the pelvic floor actually depend upon what your pelvic floor needs. Sure, a strong pelvic floor is essential for many reasons, but did you know you need to be able to relax the pelvic floor
Glute Amnesia: Yoga for Your Forgotten Rear
Are you forgetting about your backside? If you spend most of your day sitting, there’s a good chance that you are suffering from glute amnesia. The more you sit, the more you “forget” how to use your glutes! The glutes