If you have gone to a yoga class, you have probably heard the teacher say some words such as “Namaste” or Namaskar”, and “Om”. You may have even heard some of the teachers use Sanskrit words to refer to the different poses or asanas in your classes. If you are fairly new to yoga, it […]

“Tis the season to be jolly”, so the song goes. Well, as children perhaps we certainly enjoyed looking forward to presents at this time of year. As adults though, sometimes the end of year holidays can bring a lot of stress. We can get overloaded with advertisements on our televisions and computers for all the […]

Just returned from an incredible month in Bali, adding to my yoga teacher tools. Imagine if you will, spending all day for a month practicing and absorbing teachings of yoga – it was incredible. Plus being in the spiritual center of Bali, Ubud, where each day the sights and sounds of their deep honoring of […]

There are probably a number of my avid readers who have already turned the page to see what shenanagins Jesse is up to this month. So many of us have tight hamstrings or low backs that even the thought of forward bends is distressing. Yet without ever stretching the muscles that are tight, they will […]

Do you remember playing when you were a kid, and doing things like cartwheels, somersaults, and handstands? It seems as though I wasn’t nearly as concerned about falling over backward then! Doing handstands is a fun way to bring back the playfulness we had as children and there are ways to work towards this energizing […]

You go to yoga classes for a number of reasons, one being that the teacher will give you feedback and support in how to do the various postures in the best way for your body. A wall can also be another way to gain some feedback, support, and alignment in various poses. In a lot […]

Any of you like to have the “6 pack abs” featured on the covers of fitness magazines? Of course, we’ve all been sold on how beautiful and attractive that washboard is. Yet, in a recent article in Yoga Journal, Fernando Pagés Ruiz writes that obtaining that rock hard look can sacrifice the health and flexibility […]

Most of the first years of your yoga practice will be about learning how to do the basic postures or asanas. Starting with Mountain pose (Tadasana) and progressing onward into standing and sitting poses, twists, forward and backward bends, inversions, balancing poses, etc. At some point, one of your teachers is then going to tell […]

In yogic philosophy, it is believed that all of the universe is made of three complimentary qualities, called gunas. The three are Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas. These three qualities are in all things and they create what are the essential aspects of nature: matter, energy, and consciousness. We humans have these three aspects as we […]

This past August, one of the most influential yoga teachers of our time, B.K.S. Iyengar passed away at the age of 95. Although I never studied with Guruji personally, my teacher was a certified teacher in his lineage, and had studied with him in India and on his trips to the US. His work has […]