Tag: pittsburgh yoga
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You Can Overdo Literally Anything (How to not Burn Out)
It’s January, the time of year when many people throw themselves full force into a new routine, only to burn out on it by Valentine’s Day. This doesn’t just happen over the new year; we’ve all been so excited with something that we overdo it. Two weeks later we’re over it. Why is this? We […]
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On Soles and Souls: A Running Parable
To figure out if a running shoe works for me, I have one criterion: When my foot lands, I should be able to feel the ground, not the shoe. This feels better, as my feet can react to the slope and traction of the terrain. I’m in communion with the path I’m on. Severely padded […]
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I Don’t Even Want a Yoga Body
Several years ago, a violinist reached out to me for sessions. They were having headaches and chronic pain in their neck and left shoulder, which threatened to affect their symphony performances. We worked through several myofascial release practices and upper body stretches. A supine breathing practice further relaxed their left shoulder. They felt much better, […]
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Summer of Left
I am right-hand dominant. I catch myself thinking down the right side of my body. My right is more sensate, stronger, and more skilled with fine-tuned movements. As yogis and yoga teachers, we typically practice asymmetric postures starting on the right. This summer, I’m changing my practice and teaching with a focus on our left. […]
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Yoga on Lockdown: Teaching Students During an Active Shooter Emergency
I’m not sure how long I’ll teach yoga—it could be two months or 30 years—but I’m sure the class I taught in Squirrel Hill, Pittsburgh, on Saturday, October 27 will be the hardest class I ever lead. I’m okay. The students I’ve checked in with are okay. We will get better and be better, as people, […]
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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 to the baby’s world and fuels development of their interactions in it. Toys allow babies to develop their motor control. Playing with objects increases their […]
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“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 picked for me by a random series of fortuitous events. My first class was at the X Shadyside, which, back in 2003, had the foresight […]
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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 confusing. I’ve identified seven phrases we can toss out to make our teaching more effective. This list comes from the ‘Vocal Communication’ chapter in my […]
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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 most intriguing is empathy. It started with a conversation my wife and I had over the defintion. We realized we had different notions of what […]
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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 is vata, the air/ether quality. When in balance, vata tendencies include lightness and adaptability. Too much vata results in light-headedness, irritability and ungroundedness. I’ve designed […]
Richard Gartner | Frameworks Yoga 