Back to Basics: Real Yoga Doesn’t Hurt

OK, I confess.  I’ve created a sensational title for a simple blog about our January class focus, “Back to Basics.” “How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body” was the sensational headline for a recent New York Times article (link below) that tells a simple story.  That headline – and the article’s content – generated more media…

The Happy Heart Project: Days 1-31

I’ve read that we replace 1% of our cells daily. Every 100 days we have a new body. What that new body consists of is the food we eat, air we breathe, water we drink, exercise we take and thoughts we think.  – A friend Three-plus boxes of incense and 31 days ago, I launched…

Be A Yogi

When I graduated from my Yoga Teacher Training at the Integral Yoga Academy, I heard a lot of advice. Make a list of all the potential places you could teach – not just studios, but other spaces. Market your classes in this way or that way. Remember that not all yoga instructors can make a…

The Yoga of Being Mugged

Last weekend I was mugged. Sorry to alarm you.  Rest assured, I am fine – with the exception of some anxiety around the ‘hood, a maxed-out adrenal system from the stress, a sore shoulder from wrestling with the mugger, a cut and bruised finger (see photo of fingers) from my purse being yanked out of my…

March Focus: The Eight Limbs of Yoga – Intro & Yama

As I’ve said before, I wouldn’t dare try teaching the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali to my classes.  First, my knowledge of this ancient text is based on my four-week Teacher Training, during which we primarily studied the 1st two books; since then, my study has been on my own.  Second, there are some great Raja…

Focus Wrap Up: The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

“If I wasn’t making some people uncomfortable, I wouldn’t be doing anything important.” – Justine Siegel, 1st woman to throw batting practice for Major League Baseball and founder of “Baseball for All” I didn’t plan to write this today.  I have cleaning to do, laundry to fold, breakfast to cook.  But I feel compelled.  Plus,…

Focus Wrap Up: Back to Basics

Over the weekend I taught the final classes in our January Back to Basics focus. To complement our fine-tuning of alignment, review of three-part breathing and return to proper resting, these last sessions invited students to deepen their commitment to setting an intention. Personally, I can’t imagine getting on the mat without exploring some kind…

January Focus: Back to Basics

Luscious. That’s how I would describe, in one word, the yoga class I just took with veteran Asana teacher Sandy Kavalier up the street from my apartment at Yoga Chai (http://www.yogachai.com/).  Breathing emphasis and mechanical cues.  Nothing more, nothing less.   My hips feel heavenly, my arms stronger, my shoulders intact, my lungs larger.  My entire…

Focus: Abundance – Love & Light

I have long believed that people are beautiful beings, inside and out. Our humanness, our perfect imperfection, our state of constant growth gives me faith in the beauty of life as a whole. Tonight a street drunk and I watched a meteor fireball together. I was walking to yoga class when a huge white comet-looking…

Monthly Focus: November – Gratitude

Today I feel really, really lucky. The amount of joy that I get to experience throughout the days is beyond what I might have imagined years ago, when I was stuck in shadows and pain. I dare say, life IS a bowl of cherries – sweet fruit, crunchy pits and all! And because of this…