Is Your Yoga Practice Rewriting Your DNA? The Science of Longterm Transformation
When you roll out your yoga mat and begin to breathe more deeply, settling into your practice, something extraordinary begins happening inside every cell of your body. While you're focused on the finer mechanics of practice, breath, and presence, your
Yoga and Your Reticular Activating System
In my most recent post on Empress Pose, I mentioned that when we bring the chin toward the chest, we deactivate the reticular activating system (RAS). Many of you were probably wondering what the reticular activating system is. So I thought
Yoga Anatomy Language: Part 2
In a previous article, we reviewed the starting point of anatomy with anatomical position. If you missed it, you can read Yoga Anatomy Language: Part I here. From here we can move on to naming some major movements. In this
Dr. Ray Long: Yoga Anatomy: Two Steps to a Healthier Side Forearm Plank
Side Plank Pose (Vasisthasana) offers numerous benefits, but it is a physically very challenging pose. However, even practiced in small doses, it can strengthen your core. If you are one of the many people who struggle with hands, wrists and
A Blueprint for Learning Anatomy for Yoga Teaching
When budding yoga teachers try to learn anatomy as part of their training, often what they experience is a feeling of overwhelm. Even for those that have a background in science, applying anatomy for yoga is a unique exercise, one
The Best Kind of Happiness
The year was 2005, and I was lying in the warmth of summer on a yoga mat in the lush green lawn outside Kripalu Yoga Center. I had gone there to escape the confusion and upheaval of a pending divorce.
Yoga Teaching & Practice: Parivrtta Trikonasana (Revolved Triangle Pose) - Tutorial Yoga Video
Every yoga pose is challenging in its own way, and Parivrrta Trikonasana (Revolved Triangle Pose) is no exception. There are so many points of action and alignment to think about. But they all come together to create a truly beautiful
Help from Your Hyoid: Stabilize Your Core in Chaturanga Dandasana
What's an eight-syllable Sanskrit name that, when spoken by a yoga teacher, elicits fear (or at least, a groan) in roughly half the population that practices yoga? The same phrase evokes a feeling of invincible awesomeness in many others. The
Is Fostering Body Awareness a Key to Health and Healing? An Interview with Tom Myers
Tom Myers is the author of Anatomy Trains, which charts the integrated structural connections, the myofascial meridians that connect all parts of the body. In this interview, Tom discusses the consequences of our current neglect to develop interception, i.e., the
5 Benefits of Yoga's Frog Pose (Mandukasana)
Frog Pose (Mandukasana), is a powerful hip-opening yoga posture that offers a wide range of benefits for the body and mind. This pose targets the core and offers a deep stretch to the hip flexors and inner thighs. Here are
Yoga Asana for Balance, Not Just Flexibility: 2 Hip Relaxers to Try
What do typical non-yoga practitioners in Western culture picture when they think of yogis? I daresay it’s people who’ve twisted their bodies into “pretzels,” their feet behind their heads or in some other seemingly impossible position. On the contrary, yoga
Right Speech: 5 Guidelines for Mastering the Subtle Art of Mindful Communication
If you are brave enough to venture into online comment sections, you may feel as if you need a shower afterward. I know I do. Online communications are a minefield. The proliferation of anonymous commenting on blogs and social media
Enlivening the Body's Subtle Energy with Mula Bandha
Some Sanskrit words have successfully made it into our pop culture. One of the terms that seem to be thrown around a lot is mula bandha. You’ll hear a teacher instruct you to “engage your mula bandha” in various poses, while
Common Shoulder Issues in Yoga: An Interview with Julie Gudmestad
Julie Gudmestad is the founder of Gudmestad Yoga (now Paxton Yoga) in Portland, Oregon, and was one of the early leading contributors to Yoga Journal and Yoga International. Julie is particularly well known for her unique anatomy-based teaching style which
Warrior I Pose: The Peaceful Warrior
In yoga, the Warrior poses are some of the practice’s foundational poses. The foundation of the Eight Limbs of Yoga is ahimsa (non-violence), or as Alistair Shearer translates it, “dynamic peacefulness.” We might well interpret “warrior” differently from our usual