Clear and simple steps for how to do and teach headstand. Look at common misalignments in order to help your students find their best path to stability and lightness. This video was filmed during YYoga‘s 200-hour Teacher Training Program.
Teaching Flow versus Power: what’s the difference?
These two styles look the same, so what’s the difference? At YYoga, we make a distinction between Flow and Power. Now, these styles are very similar and use the same kinds of poses (sun salutations, standing poses, arm balances, inversions, complex backbends). They both derive from the Ashtanga tradition, which incorporates standing poses held for […]
Linking in flow classes: how to teach smart transitions
Have you been in a class where any of the following have occurred: The teacher (maybe it’s us) links 12 million poses on the same side. Thighs are trembling. Anger is mounting. The teacher forgets to do one side, or forgets and entire series of poses You have to change your foundation to get to […]
Open those hips! Eka Pada Koundinyasana A
My IT Band is tight. Tiiiiiiight. Or more correctly, I should say that my gluteus maximus, which feeds into and inserts on the IT band, is tight, so that the resulting pull tautens the IT band. (“IT” stand for “ilio-tibial”, and this band is a swath of connective tissue that runs from the pelvis to […]
Back to Basics: Plank Pose
You know it. You love it, you hate it. You love to hate it. It’s plank pose. What’s plank pose? Also known as “Phalakasana,” plank pose is a modification of Chaturanga Dandasana (“four-limbed staff pose”), which is doozy of a core stabilizer found in the traditional Sun Salutations. Plank looks like a high push […]
Tips to Mastering an Arm Balance
To master an arm balance, you must master your booty. Seriously. Your pelvis is heavy, and knowing where to put it during an arm balance will make a big difference in your ability to distribute your weight effectively and ultimately find lightness and ease in your pose. Balancing in an arm balance is about: hands […]
Spring into Spring: Handstand!
Spring into Spring! Flowers are blooming, sprouts are sprouting, the sun is out in Vancouver, which means that it’s time to do handstand! Inversions are asana of marvelous integration, asking us to stabilize our mobile shoulder joints and connect all of our moving pieces together – no small task while we’re all topsy turvy. The […]
Freeing the Shoulder: quick tips for creating space
What exactly is the shoulder? And why do they get so freakin’ stuck when we try to lift our arms overhead? Two Joints of the Shoulder The shoulder is actually two joints in one: the gleno-humeral joint (the ball and socket joint where the upper arm connects to your shoulder blade) and the scapulo-thoracic joint […]
Karma Chameleon! What is Karma anyway?
I heard this great podcast from the guys at “Stuff you should know.” An accessible and interesting primer on the history of karma from Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant.
Alchemy! The secret roots of hatha yoga.
Did you know that alchemy is part of the roots of hatha yoga? The desire to transmute the body into a worthy vessel was inspired in part by the alchemical explorations of turning lead into gold. “The siddha is a spiritual alchemist who works on and transmutes impure matter, the human body-mind, into pure gold, […]
Protect thy neck: further thoughts on yoga injuries in headstand and shoulderstand
Tonight in class, one of my students asked me to expand on the response article to “How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body,” particularly as it relates to two asana: shoulderstand and headstand. Headstand and Shoulderstand – labelled the King and Queen of Asana by Iyengar for their therapeutic properties – got a bad rap in […]
When the muse stops talking: how to teach when inspiration doesn’t strike
A yoga teacher and galpal of mine recently emailed me about the proverbial drying of the creative yoga well. “Last Wed I feel like I taught the WORST yoga class of my life: it was so vanilla, last minute sequencing on my feet (which sometimes I’m good at, but this time I lost the muse), […]
“How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body”: A Response
The New York Times recently ran an article, “How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body,”that has a rather sensational and silly title and a fairly simple point: doing yoga can cause injuries. The article, citing the musings of yoga teacher Glenn Black, references the medley of yoga injuries that have been developing through the West over […]
Sugarcane in the moonlight: Ardha Chandrachapasana
Who doesn’t like sugarcane in the moonlight? De-lish. But let’s face it, getting into this variation of Half Moon (Ardha Chandrasana) can test your balance, flexibility, and coordination as you reach back and grab your lifted leg. Never fear, here are some tips that help make this elusive pose more accessible. Component Parts First, to […]
The Elegant Wheel
Urdhva Dhanurasana (Upward Bow, also known as “Wheel”) is one of the most delicious and expansive of yoga asana, inviting a full opening of the “Eastern,” or front, side of the body. As in all yoga asana, the stability (sthira) of the back body is essential for supporting the full expansion and sweetness (sukha) of […]
Headstand: a lesson in patience
Headstand is like the grandpappy of inversions. Unlike the 5-year old exuberance of handstand, or the slightly more moderated enthusiasm of forearm stand, headstand evokes a deep seated patience and – dare I say – necessary dignity in the practitioner. Kicking up into headstand is a big ol’ no-no, primarily because the head is rooted […]
How Reincarnation Works
From the guys at “HowStuffWorks.com”. Love these guys – an interesting take and explanation. Listen to “How Reincarnation Works.”
Finding the sukha spot – even in parivrtta ardha chandrasana
I realized last week that I was trying too hard to lift my arms. I was reaching my arms overhead in urdhva hastasana and – I thought – doing a pretty good job. I was straightening the arms, lifting through the sides of the waist, and (for once) not sticking my ribs at. Ah-ha, I […]
“Eka pada Koundin-What?”
Eka Pada Koundinyasana. It’s one of those poses that you see on the cover of yoga journal, performed by someone smiling peacefully (and seemingly in no state of stress or panic) that makes you go, “Huh? Riiiiiiiiiight.” As my boyfriend said with alarm upon seeing this picture to the left, “Jesus! That is not good!” […]
Sankalpa – a New Year’s Meditation
This meditation comes by way of Rachel Zinman, a stunning ISHTA teacher in Australia. My favorite teacher and Mentor Alan Finger always recommends the Sankalpa Meditation as a great way to start the New Year. He says that a Sankalpa- setting an intention for your self is different to a New Years resolution. A resolution […]