Teaching

According to yogic texts and teachings, the wind that flows in the middle of the body, Samana Vayu, helps in the process of digestion. It can do much more than that. (more…)

Whatever might cause us to move through our lives in a jerky, hesitant, insecure way, we still possess the ability to be graceful, fluid and easeful. Sliding on a blanket on a smooth wood floor is like a gentle ride. It reminds us to glide through our yoga practice using our muscles in a flowing way. (more…)

Stretching out the body is one of the benefits of yoga. But, we are not stretching just our body. We are elongating and thinning our physical, mental and emotional blockages within our inner channels. So if we focus on our right side to motivate a movement, then the inner body on the right side gets tuned. (more…)

How often do we as parents and teachers say, “Good job!” in response to something our child or student has done? Feedback like this comes out of our mouths so often that it is habitual. It is only when we try to eliminate this kind of encouragement that we notice how hooked we are on it.

So, what is wrong with encouraging someone this way? (more…)

We have hundreds of nerves streaming from our spine into all parts of our body. You can see this very clearly laid out in the Bodies exhibit. According to ancient yogic texts, The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali and the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, we have thousands of energy channels (nadis) threading through our bodies in a similar way. However you think about it, getting in tune with your inner landscape is a way to learn more about yourself. (more…)

When we move into a pose, it is tempting to try to make the pose look like some picture in our mind. And it is true that initially we do learn a lot by imitating what we see visually. But after some experience with our practice we want to move in and out of our poses from our inner view. (more…)

This was originally posted by Jennifer on Hip Slope Mama (www.HipSlopeMama.blogspot.com).

On two consecutive Thursday evenings in July, I taught free yoga classes in Bryant Park. I was somewhat prepared for a large crowd because Lululemon, the event sponsor, told me that there had been over one hundred people on the lawn in the park (more…)