The following is a piece is inspired by the work I'm exploring in both the Albuquerque Waking up to Whiteness course and Denver Iyengar Yoga Teacher Training. In contemplating my embodied experience of the definitions BKS Iyengar lays out in the introduction to Light on Yoga, I am inequal measures reflecting about the marga, or … Continue reading Bhakti Yoga, Karma Yoga, Decolonizing Yoga
In preparing for my upcoming workshop, "Yoga and the Pelvic Floor: Anatomy, Asana, and Energetics," I am once again in a place of digging deeper, and becoming amazed at our incredible, vital, tender, strong pelvic floors... how without certain care, our bodies do become problematic in numerous ways as a result of collapse, aging, repetitive … Continue reading Six Things I Love About the Pelvic Floor.
Organizing the femur in the hip socket is foundational to nearly every other action we explore in our yoga practice. Similar to “quieting the mind,” femur grounding is not an action we do, and then it is done, rather it is like a search for a holy grail in that it is a moment to … Continue reading Femur Grounding: Understanding More About This Key to Stability.
In preparation for my upcoming workshop, "Body-Mind Detox with Restorative Yoga," I am having a fun time exploring how to make some of the more traditional cleansing poses, such as marichayasana II, (pictured below) accessible to folks who don't have the hip organization that would allow these deep forward bends and twists, which utilize tonifying pressure to release the … Continue reading Koshas, Pratyahara, and Restorative Yoga for Detoxicification
Yummm.... Ready for 2014!!
In the next month or so two of my most beloved teachers are visiting Albuquerque. In my experience it is a rare and profound opportunity to study with truly great teachers, and even if the Iyengar method isn't your route into this work, I sense you'd get a lot from any amount with Francois, or … Continue reading Favorite Teachers
Delightful, today, to feel the upward rise, like the reach of a candle flame, so deep in my center. I was practicing Urdva Hastasana, or "Upward arms pose." Tadasana, with arms raised high, heads of the humerus (upper arm bones), outer heads of the femurs, or greater trochanters (top of the thigh bones) and center … Continue reading Urdva Hastasana Saves the Day
This weekend's workshop, Self Love Through Yoga, may seem like a nice thought... but what will this look like in terms of practice, and experience? When we perceive our thoughts, feelings and actions to be "good," it's easy to "love" ourselves, or at least feel capable of receiving love, appreciation, acceptance, or attention. These feelings build up a healthy … Continue reading Yoga for Self Love…?
Our human life expects so much of us. All these tender layers of self, moving through a vast, complex world. And especially now, when we have had little time to evolve to cope with the pace, technological stimulation, societal structures, expectations, and chemical environment of our modern world; when so much has changed in the last 100 … Continue reading Yoga as Survival
As we dive into the new year, I have been enjoying a return to the structure and routine of daily life, and the psychological stability that gives. Around the time of solstice my practice became more restorative, introspective, and a way to assimilate the flurry of holiday experiences. While I like to keep a thread of restoration … Continue reading Pincha Mayurasana Thoughts: Motivations for Stability
