Breathe Easy

Breathing is a natural part of life. It’s necessary for survival. Breathing in oxygen helps keep your blood circulating, allows your organs to work properly, and eliminates toxins and waste. No one will argue the importance of breathing. While breathing came to us automatically at birth, it can be difficult to perform “breathing exercises.” If you don’t […]

Happy International Yoga Day!

With June 21st being recognized as the first International Yoga Day, I reflect on my relationship with yoga and everything it has taught me. I get a little nostalgic reminiscing about how yoga has brought me where I am today through memories of my first classes at Casa de Luz with my first teacher. Practicing yoga since 2000, I find it difficult to answer […]

Yoga Therapy: The Power to Heal Yourself

After attending IAYT’s Symposium on Yoga Therapy and Research (SYTAR) last week in Austin, Texas, I am in awe of the impressive amount of research and health programs dedicated to helping people through yoga. The conference illustrated the positive impact yoga has on healing physical and mental conditions. Throughout the inspiring and insightful presentations, there was a common theme that […]

Yoga Offers Many Benefits for Men

“Oh yeah, I definitely could benefit from yoga… but I’m not very flexible,” non-practitioners often say during conversations about trying a yoga class. Men seem to feel this even more acutely than women and sometimes it keeps them away from the practice. Most yoga classes held in studios all over the country have a number […]

Bo Forbes on Yoga, Mindfulness, and Neuroscience

This post is part of a series about my experience at the SF Yoga Journal Conference in January 2014. Bo Forbes’ 2 hour session was packed with insightful research findings, tiny two minute tools (we’ll get to these in a second), and a new way of looking at yoga for healing. She shared the same sentiment as […]

Yoga for the Face, Eyes, Ears, and Jaw with Tias Little

This post is part of a series about my experience at the SF Yoga Journal Conference in January 2014. The title of this session was by itself enough to get me through the door. Rarely do the head and neck region get the attention they deserve in yoga classes, much less a savasana (corpse pose) that truly relaxes […]

One-Day Yoga Retreat with Rodney Yee and Colleen Saidman Yee

This post is part of a series about my experience at the SF Yoga Journal Conference in January 2014. Rodney Yee holds a special place in my yoga heart. When I barely knew anything about yoga, I remember watching his yoga videos and feeding my practice with his signature style – metaphorical, yet eloquent language, […]

Notes from the Yoga Journal Conference

I’ve always dreamed of attending one of the Yoga Journal conferences, and this year I received the best Christmas gift ever: a 4 day pass to the one in San Francisco! Super stoked, I perused through the course descriptions and started highlighting all my favorite yoga teachers’ classes. So many influential teachers and interesting workshops […]

Review of Enlighten Up! Yoga Documentary

A friend suggested I watch Enlighten Up!, a documentary on yoga and how it transforms your life. In essence, filmmaker Kate Churchill created a documentary that takes place all over the world in famous yoga studios following a yoga skeptic, Nick Rosen, and cataloging his experiences with enlightenment and spirituality. Seeing how I have practiced […]