On a walk with a girlfriend at a nearby nature preserve I suggested that we slow our walk down and practice the Buddhist meditation walk. A mindfully slow, careful walk. My friend is a full bodied woman. She is a doer. A doer for others more then herself. Her walk reflects this. Part of her is moving fast forward and part of…
WARRIOR POSE: STRONG AND CENTERED
Standing poses will bring a strong and confident attitude that will emanate within you for your entire day. Inspired beauty with balance through harmonizing strength, flexibility, and stability bringing grace and confidence to each step of the rest of your day is the fruit that standing asanas bring into your life.. The warrior is disciplined, fearless, strong, and flexible. To stand firmly and breathe softly…
ANOTHER POINT OF VIEW
Another point of view to assist better breathing is side bending postures. I consider these side stretches along with twists essentials for supporting deeper breathing. This is such a well rounded asana (parivrttaikapada upavistha konasana) that spreads, twists, turns and churns from the inside out. What a wonderful way to change your point of view. When we are just too…
MARRIAGEASANA: my new advanced yoga practice
When I took my first yoga class I was just eighteen. When people ask me why I love yoga I think back to that first class. For the first time I was filled with a feeling of calm and peace as though I was finally home. I wasn’t in need of anyone or anything. At eighteen my identity was undoubtedly…
YOGA RECIPE FOR TRAVEL
While traveling I never worry about keeping my normal routine. I let it go and find a new routine that fits the freedom that I enjoy while keeping in the rhythm of spontaneity while traveling. Because on holiday I hike and walk a lot, my first consideration is how to keep my upper body strong and my hips…
IT’S ALL YOGA TO ME
being a yoga teacher and student, everything to me translates into yoga. Either what to teach, a theme, or the discovery of a whole new way to say something. I can be inspired by anything. it could be how my dog lets out a big exhale and then relaxes into the couch or a walk on the beach listening…
IF YOU BELIEVE IN WHAT YOU DO. DO WHAT YOU BELIEVE IN.
I spend some of my study time reading a series of books of interviews with BKS Iyengar. whether it’s a sentence, a paragraph, or a chapter, it is an instant source of inspiration for me. His medical successes, his approache (against all odds) in the medical world, his constant faith in his study of yoga in therapeutic ways. As one who has…
BREATHE AWAY PAIN
After suffering for 3 weeks with a sharp pain in my right lower back and for over a month from a pinched nerve in my upper back due to a fall, causing classic symptoms of pins and needles down my right arm into my little and middle finger, I felt possessed by pain. I am not one to take patiently or…
LOST IN TRANSLATION: ADHO MUKHA SVANSANA
by Shelley Piser Teaching yoga for 35 years, I am always excited to discover new clarity in conveying movement (sometimes very abstract movement) to my students so they get it! Teachers can get stuck in how they express poses and students can get stuck in how they translate directions into their own postures. For a beginning student, yoga is a new…
Pull up a chair: Utkatasana
I am always learning from my students. I am always amazed and surprised by my own discoveries of a Posture that I have practiced for years and suddenly I am introduced to again as though it was the very first time. I have finally grown into it in a completely new way. Chair Pose (Utkatasana) is one of those “simple”…