19 Aug a week of Supta Padangusthasana, part 1
[caption id="attachment_809" align="alignnone" width="467"] photo: Yoga Art + Science[/caption] A week of Supta Padangusthasana! Actually, more like two weeks...
16 Aug feeling versus force
I'm always happy to see an article from Aadil Palkhivala featured in Yoga Journal. The latest My Yoga Mentor newsletter from YogaJournal.com had this article from Aadil discussing the why and the how of teaching students to work from feeling rather than force. As teachers, everything...
13 Aug self-care starts within
As some of you know, Whitney and I took to the road at the beginning of August with our senior shih tzu, Orson, and our newly-adopted pup, Edie. We traveled to Missouri for Whitney's parent's 50th wedding anniversary celebration. As I posted earlier, traveling gives...
12 Aug can alignment-based yoga attract the masses?
My fellow Purna Yoga student, Carl Ferrette brought the following blog post, from Yoga Spy, to my attention and I found it a very interesting read, as I, too, have wondered why alignment-based yoga just doesn't seem to get the traction that more flow-oriented styles...
01 Aug well… just one cookie…
Yesterday I traveled from Asheville to Jefferson City, Missouri with my husband Whitney, our senior dog Orson, and our newly adopted puppy (one week tomorrow!), Edie Peach, for the 50th wedding anniversary party for Whitney's folks. Traveling with Orson is old hat, but with Edie...
30 Jul this week’s “every day” pose: supta padangusthasana
At the heart of a Purna Yoga practice is the willingness to accept growth and change, to live a life of aspiration. For me, that means sometimes setting goals, milestones or markers on my practice. While you have to keep the setting of asana goals...
26 Jul yoga and your brain
"Without the sustained intention of focusing on the present, and calming the mind, going to a yoga class is literally just going through the motions." - "Yoga: Changing the Brain's Stressful Habits" by Alex Korb, Ph.D from his PreFrontal Nudity column for Psychology Today I found this...
24 Jul saucha
In the Yoga Sutras, Patanjali lays out the ashtanga path of yoga, detailing the 8 limbs of any yoga practice as yama (controlling the organs of action), niyama (controlling the organs of perception), asana (poses), pranayama (breath work), pratyahara (withdrawal of the senses), dharana (concentration),...
23 Jul banana ice cream
Saying nutrition is a huge part of my yoga practice is an understatement. I'm just as conscious of what I eat as what poses I practice and how much time I spend meditating. Changing my diet to an anti-inflammatory one has been instrumental in bringing...
22 Jul a week of Setu Bandha
Last week, my chosen "every day" pose was Setu Bandha Sarvangasana. I picked this pose for two reasons: I don't particularly like it and I felt like my psoas, quadratus lumborum and erector spinae muscles were tight. I hoped in picking Setu Bandha to develop...