10 yoga poses for shoulders, and three tips to make them even more powerful
The thing about the shoulder exercises gathered on this page is that they all work, in the sense that a good cookbook works if you actually open it and cook. But just as cooking has principles that extend through every recipe, yoga has certain principles of movement that work in almost most every pose. Correct […]
Five-Minute Yoga Challenge: clasp your hands to open your shoulders
Want to transform your shoulders without help from a magic frog? Read on. “It is no over-statement to say that if a person regularly practices Sarvangasana he will feel new vigour and strength and will be happy and confident. New life will flow into him, his mind will be at peace and he will feel […]
Sadhana: the practice for day six
One of the interesting things about this lotus is that it was photographed in New Jersey.Day five, Friday, was a day for experimental standing poses. In this case, what happens if you create a shoulder brace out of a long strap, hold the ends of the strap, and do your standing poses without taking weight […]
Supported Bridge Pose: cross over into quiet
As quiet as a yoga practice may be, the mat is a busy construction site. We make triangles, bound angles, side angles, plows, boats, half-boats, gates, bows, and yes, bridges. And you can’t make a bridge without raising the idea of crossing it. If you see the pose as the bridge, then Setu Bandha Sarvangasana […]
Five-Minute Yoga Challenge: build your inner strength in half arm balance
Photographer Alan Turkis calls this “Joy in the Cascades” Full arm balance holds a special place in the great yogic enterprise of becoming and remaining conscious in our bodies. In part, that’s because standing on your hands opens your armpits like almost nothing else, and as B.K.S. Iyengar has famously said: “If you keep your […]
Five-minute yoga challenge: extend, don’t grip in headstand
“You are old, Father William,” the young man said, “And your hair has become very white; “And yet you incessantly stand on your head – “Do you think, at your age, it is right?” Who can blame the inquisitive young man for asking? Anywhere outside yoga culture, headstand is an odd thing to do. Certainly […]