Tag: yoga teacher
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With Movement, It’s Matter Over Mind
If exercise is so good for us, why haven’t we evolved to want it? Study after study confirms the benefits of all types of exercise. Until a couple hundred years ago, humans walked, hunted and gathered. These tasks, while essential to survival, have also kept our bodies healthy. However, evolution has favored the efficient use […]
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Enjoy the Nonsense
The first memory I have of a mystery has to do with traffic lights. I was in the car a fair amount, usually buckled up in the front seat (Gen-Xers didn’t need car seats apparently). Whenever we were stopped at an intersection, I stared at the light because, to my mind, it didn’t always act […]
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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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Sympathy for the Unembodied
When I first encountered yoga in 2003, I took as many classes as I could. The movement, the people and the challenge got me hooked. I distinctly remember being confused by any cue that referenced my thighs or hips. The reason is shocking to me now: I didn’t understand the difference between the two. ‘Thigh’ […]
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A Student Finally Found Me Out
I teach meditation classes. I don’t call it meditation, because we are moving around, standing up, standing on our heads, and breathing a ton. But we are meditating. I thought I would always get away with teaching meditation without anybody knowing. However, one of my students figured me out, and now the jig is up. […]
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You Can’t Teach Both Alignment and Accessible Yoga
Every yoga class I teach is an accessible one. My students will never be subjected to my preconceived notions about what is correct. Tias Little calls his practice a ‘styleless-style,’ and I’ve adopted that term for my own teaching. The yoga should fit the student. When a student is required to fit the yoga, they […]
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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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Can you be too blissed? In a car, yes.
I started practicing yoga in 2003, with my heart set on figuring out what bliss felt like. Bliss is one translation of samadhi, the last limb listed in the Yoga Sutras. It’s also translated as absorption, boundlessness, or integration. Whatever you call it, it’s elusive. At the beginning of my teaching career I tried to […]
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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, […]
Richard Gartner | Frameworks Yoga 