Filed under: Yoga Tunes
Anoushka Shankar is the daughter of the famous sitar player Ravi Shankar. I picked up her album Rise (2005) for $2 at a Goodwill store in Santa Monica, and since then, various songs off this CD have repeatedly made their way into my yoga mixes. Shankar’s music is a blend of traditional Indian music with some more modern flair (apparently, Anoushka is a big fan of electronic music). This is, at least for me, the perfect sort of music for the yoga classes that I teach, which tend to be a blend of traditional Ashtanga poses with a more modern and perhaps distinctly American twist on the yoga practice. (more…)
I recently worked my way though a difficult and probably all too common yoga injury: very sore, achy wrists, sometimes accompanied by mild shooting pain-like sensations all the way up my forearms. Clearly, something was not right in my practice or in my body, so I made some serious modifications to my practice and started paying a lot more attention to alignment in certain poses.
Filed under: Yoga Stuff
This photography book, by Linda Sparrowe and Yoga Journal, is an absolute must-have. Simply titled Yoga, this book hasn’t been in print nearly as long as, say, Dharma Mittra’s 608 Yoga Poses, but it is quickly becoming a classic among yogis worldwide. It comes in a large, hardcover version, and a smaller paperback version. As far as I can tell, the content of the hardcover and paperback versions is identical. (more…)
Visvamitrasana is, as my friend puts it, a “bear” of a pose. Like a lot of advanced poses, this one requires balance, strength, flexibility, and strength within flexibility.
Filed under: Digital Asana Project
A few months ago, I posted an advanced sequence on the blog but never got around to posting a video. A video (with bad lighting…sorry) is now finally uploaded. You can see the original posting here. Please keep in mind that I rushed trough the sequence a bit in order to keep the length of the video under 4 minutes. If you do actually attempt this sequence, or some variation of it, I recommend holding the poses for a bit longer than I do in the video.
Filed under: Uncategorized
Below are some pictures from my Costa Rica yoga trip. I’ll put some more up in a week or so that are actually pictures of yoga. But, for now, here are some images to set the tone for what it was like to be at the Samasati yoga retreat.
I just returned from Costa Rica and am gearing up to start posting again on the blog. The first posting, of course, will be a review of the retreat center where I stayed for 10 days. The name of the place is Samasati, and it is located on the Carribean side of Costa Rica, a few kilometers inland from a small town called Puerto Viejo. To get there, you need to hire a private van or take the public bus from San Jose. The ride takes about 4 hours, unless your driver gets lost (like mine did), and then you’re looking at close to 6 hours. (more…)
Filed under: Yoga News
I’m off to Costa Rica tomorrow for 12 days of yoga and sun. During that time, I may or may not have access to the internet. If I do, I will continue to post on the blog. If I do not, I’ll have to take a blogging hiatus until March 20th or so.
Filed under: Yoga Poses
One of my yoga teachers says frequently that weightlifting and yoga are wholly incompatible. He believes that weightlifting works against everything we are trying to accomplish in yoga. I think he is right that excessive weightlifting/body-building can tighten up your body so much that it’ll take years just to get your arms straight in Down-Dog. But is it true that any and all weightlifting is incompatible with yoga? (more…)
