Being a Big Baby
Why is it a good idea to let babies play with blocks? It’s a mostly neurological one. Stacking blocks, creating new shapes, seeing how gravity works; this all adds variety […]
“Acknowledgements” from the Frameworks 300 manual
Too often I had assumed that others knew the intensity of my appreciation for them, only to discover otherwise. —Marshall Rosenberg, Nonviolent Communication My journey as a yoga teacher was […]
Life Half-Dead: A Valentine’s Day Post
I turned 40 last year. Even if I’m lucky and try to keep myself in good health, I’m halfway done. This Valentine’s Day post begins with the Pali Canon, the […]
Teach Yoga Effectively; Avoid these Seven Phrases in Class
As yoga teachers, we want to make the practice as clear as we can. But there are several common ways of speaking in a yoga class that make the instructions […]
Is your yoga teacher a wanna-be cult leader? Ask this question.
It’s reasonable to assume there are no simple answers when it comes to self-inquiry. Each of us has our own unique experience. Teaching and sharing our experiences in a yoga […]
Empathy on World Kindness Day
Today is World Kindness Day, which for 19 years has been suggesting we explore the question “What does kindness mean to us?” It comes in many forms. For me, the […]
Fall Sequence for Warmth and Grounding
Autumn: It’s hot, cold, windy, calm, clear, and rainy all in one season. It’s a time where the fiery summer gives way to dry, airy elements. In Ayurvedic terms, Autumn […]
108 Sun Salutations Wednesday, June 21, 9am in Highland Park
What are we doing? 108 salutations with breathing timed with a metronome. I set an alarm for 79 minutes, which means we’re on our last salutation. We’re done at 10:40 […]
Yoga Teachers Should Stop Assaulting Students
My wife was assaulted by a yoga instructor at her former yoga studio. She’s cried over it, has lost sleep, and still has dreams about what happened months later. She spoke with a lawyer who confirmed that what happened is the definition of assault.
4 Fantastic Yoga Sutra Books
“The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali” by Alistair Shearer Stats at a glance Sanskrit text: No Transliterated text: No Translation of individual Sanskrit words: No Translation of Sutras: Yes Ability to […]
Why Move, Why Live, Why Focus?
Camus wasn’t being funny when, in ‘The Myth of Sisyphus’, he grappled with suicide. Is there a reason why we shouldn’t just end it? In coming to his conclusions, Camus […]
Mastery is Just the Beginning
“Ten thousand hours of practice is required to achieve the level of mastery associated with being a world-class expert—in anything,” This is the 10,000 Hour Rule in a nutshell, as […]
We’re all biased and we can do something about it
I’m a straight white male, and I’m biased. I can’t help it. You’re biased too, and you can’t help it either. Even The Reverend Jesse Jackson, a black civil rights […]
Meditate and learn in color: Two anatomy coloring books reviewed
Why is everyone coloring? Like more and more people, I spent the winter coloring. According to recent research, coloring helps relieve stress by replacing negative images with positive ones, which […]
3 Tools for Your 2016 New Year’s Resolutions
The Predicament This time of year has the makings for lofty ambitions. December interrupts our exercise routines, and cookie and cake trays lurk everywhere. Many of us are stuck in […]
Were yoga’s ancient sages insane?
“Essentially, all models are wrong, but some are useful.” —George Box Our “reptilian brain” is the deepest and most fundamental part of the brain used by all animals from reptiles […]
