Next time your yoga teacher asks you to “rest” in that Down Dog for just a few more breaths, look around you – no two Down Dogs are quite the same. Excepting severe injury, genetic anomaly or deformity, we all have the same muscles pulling on the same bones to create the hip and shoulder flexion needed to assume the Downward Dog position.  What then, makes one person’s movement so different from another?  Or what makes the same movement different when done with a different or

“Remember it is not how deep into a posture you go – what does matter is who you are when you get there”    ~Max Strom My students ask me all the time, “Do you think I am ready to move up to the next yoga class level?” or “How do I know when it is the right time to try out a more advanced class?”  The truth is, there is no set algorhythm for determining readiness for progression in yoga.  We cannot look at variables such as years experience, body type, age and current ability

Go from a human being doing yoga to a human being yoga” ~ Baron Baptiste When your yoga teacher goes on vacation – what do you do?  Do you take a day off from exercising?  Run out to find an available spot in the nearest fitness class?   Try a few poses on your own when you feel the urge to “get your yoga on”? Why not take advantage of the time off the mat to practice bringing yoga into your life wherever you find yourself.  Here are a few ideas: Breathe (right here, right no

Remember you can’t reach what’s in front of you until you let go of what is behind you.                                                                                       ~livelifehappy.com Folding forward, one becomes immediately aware of his or her limitations. Whether it is your hamstrings, the pain in your back or simply your belly that gets in your way – something will keep you from going too deep too fast.   Even in a beginner yoga class there are so many opportuniti

It is not the load that breaks you down.  It is the way you carry it.    ~Lou Holtz Legs-up-the-wall is my very favorite pose – so easy and so profound.   The beauty of this pose starts with the sanskrit name translated into “making action by turning things around”.    The list of ailments of the mind and body that are eased by this pose are endless and yet there is no effort, no prerequisite pose and very few contraindications – you simply find a way to turn yourself upside-

Sometimes you have to let life turn you upside-down, to learn how to live, right-side up. For anyone who has ever heard “…allow yourself to rest in down-dog” this pose can quickly become the pose you love to hate.  As you turn yourself upside-side down, gravity starts to pull on you and not in the ways you are used to.  Where do you start to find yourself grounded especially if your heels do not touch the floor? How do you balance your weight equally between your arms and leg

There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.  Nelson Mandela Here is where you may be thinking…”This is one pose I know – I can do this one!  All I need to do is stand at the front of my mat, right?” Well, yes…and no.  Tadasana or Mountain pose comes from the ever-repeated “call to action” pose in Ashtanga yoga – Samastitihi (SA-MAS-TI-TI-HI) translated as “equal standing”.  There is a reason I am only

“Within you there is a stillness and a sanctuary to which you can retreat at any time and be yourself”      Hermann Hesse This week’s pose is Sukasana or “Easy Pose”.  Don’t the name fool you, there are some tricks to getting this one right.  This pose is the beginning and the end of your practice.  Many students struggle to present themselves in this pose as the eager student sitting upright with their spine straight and their shoulders back.  The problem with sitting in thi