How to: Headstand – Step by Step

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 […]

Victoria Yoga Conference: 2013!

Rachel will be teaching at the Victoria Yoga Conference February 2-3rd, 2013.  Don’t miss this great opportunity to take advantage of her best insights from her years as a Teacher Trainer! Empower Your Boundaries – Saturday, February 2, 2013 – 8:00 to 9:15 am – Studio #1 Clear and strong boundaries give shape and discipline […]

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 […]

Lessons in patience. Or, what yoga has to do with flowers.

Okay, okay. So you’ve met a guy or gal.  You’re excited about them.  A connection has been made. Your eyes have gotten slightly glassy and you get a little breathless and a-flutter when they send you a text. You long to unwrap them (immediately) like a Christmas present and discover all their yummy secrets. However, […]

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 […]

Top Ten Life Lessons from my students

1. Practice. We all reach plateaus in our practice.   “I’ll never get handstand.”  “I’m afraid of bakasana.”  But with every class, their sun salutations get a little stronger, their bodies more integrated, and their feet a little lighter.  Then one day, we have the a-ha!  “I’ve never done that before!”  Watching my students inexorably progress […]

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 […]

Are we teaching yoga?

The Times recently wrote an article about the 2012 yoga competition held in New York City.  Yoga competition? As in prizes?  Seriously? Founded by Rajashree Choudary, the wife of the famous Bikram Choudary, the competition is open to all asana practitioners but is primarily attended by those who practice the Bikram style.  Competitions like this […]

Sit your ass down, already…and other thoughts on meditation

Today, or this morning rather, I was eating piece toast with cashew butter (homemade, even, dee-lightful). And I decided to make a little agreement with myself. To self: I will eat this toast with homemade cashew butter, and endeavor to do just that, and only that.  No checking email, no reading the paper.  Just simply […]

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 […]

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, […]

“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 […]