Serving others, practicing generosity, volunteering your time: these are all well-known (if somewhat counter-intuitive) paths to our own happiness. But the truth is, if we don’t take care of ourselves first, we will have little to give to others. And if we can’t extend ourselves from a place of emotional, mental, and physical stability, we […]
yoga
If My Yoga Mat Could Speak…
If my yoga mat could speak, it would articulate both the indescribable joy and deep sorrow I’ve felt through the thousands of hours we’ve shared. Every morning, I bring this aging body to my practice, grateful for the ways I am still flexible and not-so-flexible. I listen to the sounds my body makes – sounds […]
Keys for Keeping a Peaceful Mind in a Complicated World
Most people know yoga as a physical practice, but that’s only a tiny part of what it has to offer. More importantly, yoga offers us a way to cultivate a peaceful mind and to lessen the suffering that is part of human existence. The Yoga Sutras present a systematic process to work towards that noble […]
Why Take a Mind/Body Approach to Health? It Works.
It’s widely known that the US spends far more on health care per person than any other country in the world. If we’re at all serious about reducing those costs, we could do far worse than adopt a mind/body approach to health. Consider this: Anywhere from 80 to 90% of all visits to doctors are […]
A Gentler, Non-Weight Bearing Sun Salutation
For the past several months, quite a few clients have asked about an alternative to the weight-bearing poses typically found in Sun Salutation. Due to injuries or surgeries, they had been wisely advised to avoid poses like downward facing dog and plank until they healed. One client was bereft that she was unable to do […]
Yoga for Arthritis: How It Helps
I was deeply moved by a panel of students at the Yoga for Arthritis training I recently attended – people who powerfully shared their experience of yoga’s ability to profoundly change lives. One woman spoke of attending her first weekly class at NYC’s Integral Yoga Institute, coming in with fingers so misshapen and curled in […]