Who Are You?

Yoga poses are the means for us to transform. Our minds and hearts change from the beginning of practice to end. When is the end? When we leave a class or our home practice, what happens? There are many different poses and we can become different shapes, animals, and forms. In our lives we transition …

Relief

Yoga can  bring  you  relief from the upheavals of embodied living.  Yoga can relieve  your stress, reduce your pain, and provide you with a better night’s sleep.  However, you must act and deliberately choose yoga practice. It will not happen all by itself. Isn’t time you  broke through  your reservations about attending class.  There is …

Chill

Yoga practice can help us chill out or take a “chill pill”. However, we do not need to take a pill or any other substance other than our own willpower to become calm. Some of us are so accustomed to being tense that relaxation seems like a foreign and even uncomfortable state. Quieting down the …

Wide

The first wide standing yoga pose introduced in B.K.S. Iyengar’s Light on Yoga is Utthita Hasta Padasana, Extended Hand Foot Pose. We stand wide in this yoga pose. The inner feet are kept parallel to each other like railroad tracks like in Tadasana, mountain pose. The knee caps lift up and the backs of the …

Goal

What is the goal of yoga? Some say it is to quiet the mind. Others suggest it is to reach the ultimate and final stage of yoga named Samadhi. This 8th stage is the complete absorption of the body, mind, and spirit.  What is your yogic goal? Do you practice for health reasons? Do you …

Palms

When we work with our hands in yoga, the instruction to spread the skin on the palms is often given. Hands are usually addressed with the air element. We reach them up into space. Spreading the finger webbing helps us to feel our hands become aware of the skin on the palms. We learn where …

First Poses

The first poses beginners typically learn in Iyengar Yoga are Tadasana (mountain pose) and Vrksasana (tree pose).  We achieve steadiness and firmness in Tadasana and we want to keep that stability in Vrksasana. Due to being a one legged standing pose Vrksasana offers a balance challenge. Both poses are narrow standing poses and often taught …