Sweet Sorrow? A yoga fix for Christmas baking back pain
Cute mice, and very Christmasy, but making them can be a pain in the back. I love to make Christmas cookies, the more intricate the better. This means long periods of standing on a tile floor, leaning forward to perform the delicate, focused work of creating mushrooms out of meringue, painting chocolate eyes on sugar-cookie […]
Learn to do a full back bend, one step at a time
“The body is the bow, asana is the arrow, the soul is the target” – B.K.S. IyengarIn my first dance class, I clung to my mother’s knee, three years old and already deeply suspicious of group activities. Then Miss Goddard announced “London Bridges” – the full back bend that Iyengar yogis call “upward bow.” I […]
A 30-minute shoulder stand practice to reverse late afternoon slump
What’s the best time of day to do shoulder stand? The pat answer is that disciplined yogis always do their practice first thing in the morning, so the best time is toward the end of morning practice. The practical answer is: whenever you can. Perhaps you have to leave for work too early to make […]
Five-Minute Yoga Challenge: hang your head to free your neck.
Almost every time Wende, my first teacher, looked at my downward dog, she would say: “Eve, let go of your head.” Time after time, it came as a surprise. I was so used to gripping my neck that I no longer knew I was doing it. Head-forward posture, the kind we adopt when we stare […]
Cat Yoga, Chair News, and Yes, a new Five-Minute Yoga Challenge
In truth, the kitten in Cat Yoga isn’t doing yoga at all. Unlike Santra, the Finnish yoga bear, Shorty the cat is just being a kitten, and someone with a good grasp of yoga-speak, (and a less firm grip on Sanskrit spelling), has put his antics into a video. I pass it on in part […]
Five-Minute Yoga Challenge: move your spine in two directions at once
It’s March. In Vancouver, we expect cherry blossoms, rain and spring winds. For Iyengar students, that includes the friendly blast of fresh air called Gabriella Giubilaro. Gabriella is a senior Iyengar teacher based in Florence. Last weekend she taught her annual Vancouver workshop, ending with a four-hour teacher training on Monday. There were themes, of […]