The Yoga Barn has a wall that displays posters of its workshops. The teachers are predominantly white. Travelling to Bali brought up mixed feelings. Happy to be there, certainly, but also confounded by the rampant yoga tourism. Who can blame the people here for giving us what we want? Whether it’s cheap massages (which don’t seem be frequented […]
Hey new yogis, many of you have asked me about insurance and why you need it. Check out this guest article from Canopy. They cover some important points and – for my yogis in the States – I wanted to hook you up with this really great rate! – Rachel Have you ever thought of what […]
Bird of Paradise is a bound standing pose, where you balance on one leg and try to look like a stork. But, you know, an elegant stork. It’s a doozy of a pose, requiring balance, open hamstrings, external rotation, and deep hip flexion. Let’s take a closer look at how you can get your students […]
Natarajasana – Dancer’s Pose – is a beautifully challenging yoga pose. It’s a complex pose with a lot of benefits: Opens the chest and front line of the body Works your balance (ankle and hip stability) Increases focus The component parts (parts of the body that need to be warmed up or educated in order to […]
“Don’t turn your feet out.” “Never drink water during practice.” “Flex your foot to protect your knee.” “Don’t invert when you’re menstruating.” I love it when a teacher tells me what to do. When a teachers sounds confident (or even better – arrogant!), some deep doggy pack instinct in me goes, “Follow this alpha. They […]
This class yoga pose is complex! Requiring deep opening through the hips and shoulders, wheel uses the strength of the arms and legs to leverage the practitioner into the pose. Make sure to use stages for the peak, starting with bridge pose. Here’s a look at how I may sequence this pose for a flow […]
I taught this delightful little power sequence in YYoga’s 3-Day Principles of YYoga Teacher Training as a demonstration of sensibly sequencing to peak poses. Keep in mind that access to Dragonfly is limited by the joint of the hip – not just the muscles. For more info on skeletal variation, check out Paul Grilley’s outstanding […]
I fall over in handstand. I try, I miss, I get afraid, I fall. I am not one of those effortless inversion mamas, deftly floating from pose to pose. I admire those practitioners, marvel at their grace. I’ve been afraid of handstand since I fell out of it over four years ago. I have other sins. […]
One of the most powerful gifts that yoga provides to us is a safe space to feel richly and authentically. How many of us get caught in days of politeness, with work or with friends, “Why yes, Amanda, while I agree your projections are viable, I respectfully disagree and hope that we can find a mutually […]
Two armies are poised for battle. Our hero falls to his knees at the impossibility of the choice: should he uphold his righteous claim to the throne and slay his enemy – who also happen to be his kin? Or shall he be killed and forsake his duty? Frozen by terrible consequences on all sides, he collapses and […]
“Stack your hips.” Oh, friends, how many times have I heard this oh-so-convenient (and oh-so-terrible) cue? The problem with cuing stack your hips in Ardha Chandrasana is that most students can’t actually do it. It’s like asking students to “square the hips” in Virabhadrasana II. You simply can’t square the hips (or stack the hips) in […]
To do this pose well, you need open outer hips, coupled with hip buoyancy (from the core and back leg activation) coupled wtih a willingness to reach the chest forward to counterbalance the lifting of the back leg. Component Parts: Sequence: Props needed: Strap, two blocks, chip foam block Want more? Check out my […]
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Big Box Yoga. Mainstream yoga. Franchise yoga. “It’s so…corporate,” the yogi whispers. “Sure, I occasionally go there, but the real yoga is happening at (insert name of small, financially unstable, ma and pop studio name here).” The multi-location heavyweights – be it YYoga, Yoga Works, Core Power, or Bikram Yoga – are often criticized […]
I have a bad habit of reading my phone while walking into heavy traffic. Yesterday, walking to lunch, I had to deliberately return my phone to my bag on three separate occasions after, zombie like, my hand decided to reach in and pull it out. “No, Rachel, No!” I muttered out loud, as if my […]
Once upon a time, there lived six blind men in a village. One day the villagers told them, “Hey, there is an elephant in the village today.” They had no idea what an elephant is. They decided, “Even though we would not be able to see it, let us go and feel it anyway.” All […]
Tinder. The new art of dating. Tinder is a strangely compelling (and slightly disturbing) app that allows you to connect with potential dating (or friends?) in your vicinity. It’s like Angry Birds meets Plenty of Fish. How it works: you set some parameters, view the profile pic of potential candidates, then swipe right if you’re […]
When I first starting practicing yoga, I knew that it would change my life. After my first sweet Savasana, I suddenly realized that if I practiced diligently and consistently, I would become calm, kind to stranger, sweet to horrible children, magnanimous with ex-boyfriends and generous with catty women. As I looked upon the serene and clear […]
The beginnings When I first started practicing yoga, it was one of the most challenging and rewarding physical disciplines I had experienced. I got stronger, I felt great, and my practice improved. I felt like I had come home. After several years of yoga-euphoria, something changed. First my practice plateaued. And then it started to […]
Congratulations! You’ve got a bun in the oven and rapid changes are on the way. Not only is your body undergoing marvelous and radical transformation, but most likely other areas of your life (career, relationships, home) are shifting to make room for this new being. Whether you’re a novice or veteran yogi, practicing yoga during […]
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