Withdraw your eyes, quiet your mind: Five-Minute Yoga Challenge
As a species, we humans are always on the lookout. Sight dominates all of our other senses and is largely responsible for the way we perceive the world – that aggregate of impressions which we tellingly call our “point of view. As long as we’re gathering visual information, our brains are busy. So it stands […]
Five-Minute Yoga Challenge: step forward from downward dog
In the world of yoga, I think of myself as a civilian. When I started taking classes, I was not a dancer, a gymnast, a figure skater, a personal trainer or an aerobics instructor. As a child I tried cartwheels, but I never stood on my hands. I had no speed and not much strength. […]
Fame! and the next set of Bite-Sized Random Acts of Yoga
The Yoga on 7th Studio, from an article in Granville Magazine online. Photo by Eyeye.Oh lovely! Yoga on 7th was featured yesterday in a Granville Online magazine article, “Choosing the Right Yoga for You,” by Insiya Rasiwalla-Finn. We make her list of the top two Iyengar studios in Vancouver, and she also singles out my […]
Bite-Sized Random Acts of Yoga, Day 1
The first day of Bite-Sized Random Acts of Yoga. (Yes, I know there’s a missing “a” at the end of Svanasana.)Sometimes we all need a gimmick, and I think I’ve found mine. In the third week of January next year, I’m going to sit my Junior Intermediate I assessment. Part of the assignment is to […]
Five-Minute Yoga Challenge: lie down and stretch your outer hips
Tight hips have a lot to answer for, and it isn’t just that they keep you from sitting cross-legged in comfort. Tight outer hips in particular lead us to stand with our toes rotated outward, putting strain on our knees and lower back. In our intricately connected bodies, they can even contribute to shoulder pain. […]
Arm balance, a love story
I first saw someone do full arm balance in a vacant lot in East Vancouver in 1962 when I was earning a Girl Guide badge that required me to build a fire and boil water in a billycan to make tea. Mrs. Jones, the troop leader, was there to witness the fire building and water […]