Yoga Blog
In our Yoga Blog we will report on yoga news, trends and happenings throughout the world.

Tuesday, May 21, 2013
by Kathleen Bryant
The Myth of Multitasking
As Ferris Bueller observed, “Life moves pretty fast.” Isn’t this why we multi-task, to get more done in a day, despite an ever-mounting number of distractions? On average, each of us handles 100+ emails daily, with another 5,000 cramming our inboxes. Add phone calls, IMs, tweets, paper memos, meetings—it’s no wonder that U.S. citizens take fewer vacations than nearly every industrialized nation in the world. But evidence is growing that all this “productivity” is actually counterproductive—a sleep-stealing, concentration-scattering myth. And yogis aren’t exempt.
 
Friday, May 17, 2013
by Ivey DeJesus
Handstand: Turning My World Upside
I toiled for the better part of a year to conquer the handstand. Long into my yoga practice, I committed to landing Adho Mukha Vrksasana, admittedly partly seduced by photos of yogis suspended against the force of gravity by powerful arms and backs.
 
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
by Shari Read
Yoga and Trauma: The Power of Release
We all have emotional trauma, and it seems the more my trauma releases and quietens, the more I can hear the pain of others. My body, breath and mind hold the memory of the patterns of trauma, not yet fully released. This residual energy primes me to the feelings and patterns of others. I can hear them more clearly. I can feel the energy of consciousness moving through the world.
 
Wednesday, May 08, 2013
by Kathleen Bryant
Liberate Your Soles On No Socks Day
After a chilly spring, aren’t your feet itching to walk across the grass and bask in the sun? Here’s a good reason to liberate your soles: Today, Wednesday, May 8, is National No Socks Day. Yogis know it’s good to go bare, but on this day we have equal footing with everybody. Here are four extra incentives to toss your socks and love your tootsies:
 
Friday, May 03, 2013
by Kathleen Bryant
Finding OM Away From Home
Have you ever traipsed around an airport terminal in search of a discreet corner for Sun Salutations between flights? Do you shudder at the thought of coming face-to-face with hotel carpeting during Down Dog? Then take heart, because it’s easier than ever to plan a summer getaway without getting too far away from your daily practice. Hotels and airports, recognizing that what’s good for you is also good for business, are rolling out the yoga mat to welcome enlightened travelers.
 
Wednesday, May 01, 2013
by Kathleen Bryant
The Fourth Sutra: Identifying With Ego
How do you see yourself? Are you a human being having a spiritual experience … or pure spirit playing at being human? One way to regard the Yoga Sutras, Patanjali’s 2,000-year-old compilation of aphorisms about yoga, is as a travel guide for the yogic journey. In Sutras 1:2 and 1:3, Patanjali tells us that the essence and purpose of yoga is to calm the turbulence of the mind so that we can see our true nature. Sutra 1:4, Vritti svarupyam itaratra, reminds us that when the mind isn’t still, we are identifying with the mind waves or ego. 
 
Friday, April 26, 2013
by Kathleen Bryant
Bring Nature Indoors With Vastu Shastra
Is spring fever making you yearn to take your asana outdoors? If blustery weather is keeping you inside, consider adding nature to your indoor environment with the ancient science of vastu. Consultant Kathleen Cox, one of the first to introduce vastu to the West, calls it “yoga for your home.”
 
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
by Kathleen Bryant
Letting the Child (Pose) Be the Teacher
If someone handed out awards for “most unappreciated asana,” the winner might be Balasana (Child’s Pose). In many yoga classes, this basic pose is used only for transition or rest. Often dismissed as “babyish” by asana enthusiasts, Balasana almost never gets the spotlight. And yet, it’s one of the most powerful poses in the yogi’s tool kit. Here’s why:
 
Friday, April 19, 2013
by Kathleen Bryant
4 Ways To Connect With Nature On Earth Day
The first Earth Day was observed in the U.S. on April 22, 1970. Today, more than four decades later, a billion people worldwide mark the day with environmental activism and community events. If you’re looking for a yogic way to observe Earth Day, it doesn’t get much bigger than the Tadasana Festival, a weekend of yoga, music, and consciousness-raising in Santa Monica, CA. No travel plans? Check around for local events like yoga in the park and earth salutations. Or set aside some time to root your home practice in the imagery and energy of Earth:
 
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
by Kathleen Bryant
Coming Soon To A Theater Near You...
Mark your calendars, and get ready to pass the popcorn. On May 8, One Track Heart: The Story of Krishna Das, a documentary about chant master Krishna Das, is set to open in movie theaters across the U.S. Directed by Jeremy Frindel (cofounder of the Brooklyn Yoga School) and distributed by Zeitgeist Films, One Track Heart has already screened at a film festivals, earning a couple of awards for Best Documentary. Yogis are sure to flock to the film but, now that KD has rocked the Grammy Awards, it’s fun to imagine even larger audiences getting in line to see a movie about the yoga path.

 
Friday, April 12, 2013
by Kathleen Bryant
The Gayatri Mantra: Let Your Light Shine
What verse has been chanted daily for nearly 4,000 years? If you answered the Gayatri mantra, familiar to fans of Deva Premal and entered into pop culture by Cher, you’d be right. No doubt you’ve sung along, chanted it in an asana class, or even studied the Sanskrit words: Om bhuh, bhuvah, swaha/Tat savitur varenyam/Bhargo devasya dhimahi/Dhiyo yo nah prachodayat.
 
Tuesday, April 09, 2013
by Kathleen Bryant
Do You Need a Guru?
“Who needs a guru anyway?” It’s a question Western yoga students often ask. But in the wake of yet another guru scandal, maybe we need to change the question to “What is a guru anyway?”
 
Friday, April 05, 2013
by Tosca Braun
Learning To Listen: Embodied Wisdom
When most people think of the body, “divine” isn’t the first term to come to mind. Most major philosophies and religions, including Hinduism, Buddhism, and classical yoga, view embodiment as a distraction, requiring control and transcendence through spiritual practice. Yet, some forms of tantra posit the manifest world to be an expression of God. These lineages contend that each facet of the self, or kosha—body, breath, mind, intuition, soul—is qualitatively distinct, yet simultaneously reflective of the same vast diamond of God-consciousness.
 
Tuesday, April 02, 2013
by Tosca Braun
Intelligence and the Body-Mind
Does listening to your body facilitate addictive behaviors? Blogging last week in Part 1, we disputed yoga instructor Maya Georg’s contention to this effect. Some research actually suggests the body, left to its own devices, demonstrates a keen aptitude for self-regulation. Relatedly, yoga philosophy posits that addictive behavior emerges, not from listening to one’s body, but rather through samskara, ingrained habits or conditioned patterns that underlie thoughts, behaviors, and experience. These interweave the body-mind continuum and cannot be attributed mind or body in isolation.
 
Friday, March 29, 2013
by Tosca Braun
Is Your Body Untrustworthy?
What does it mean to “listen to your body?” Irritated by the perceived glut of platitudes spouted by yoga instructors, a recent blog by instructor Maya Georg targets this as her top “yoga cliché.” Noting we must “never, ever buy into them,” she shares “If I listened to my body I would smoke four packs of cigarettes a day, drink a fifth of vodka, and eat nothing but chocolate ice cream as I lay on my couch.” While I don’t argue with Georg’s experience, I do take issue with her conflation of “listening to one’s body” with over-indulgence and debauchery.
 
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
by Amber Baker
Bikram Choudhury: The Guru Wears No Clothes
Practicing yoga has taught me many things. This week, I finally realized that it is acceptable to behave like an ass, as long you don’t try to deny the fact that your behavior is undesirable. This long overdue realization is probably the one and only pearl of wisdom I have taken from the teachings of Bikram Choudhury.
 
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Yogic Wisdom
Only in the depth of the still heart can the liberating truth be found. For the heart is the seat of the Divine, the connecting point between the finite and the infinite.
Georg Feuerstein

Ahimsa, the yogic practice of non violence must be adhered to when engaging in the practice of hatha yoga. Respect your body's limitations and inner wisdom, if something feels wrong or dangerous, please do not do it.
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