Friday Q&A: Questions

Q: You have questions and answers on your blog almost every Friday. My question is about the questions: where do the questions that you answer on your blog come from?A: The questions come from you, our readers! We answer questions that we receive in person, via email (you can find our email address by clicking on the Contact Us tab at the top of the page) or through comments left on individual blog posts (click on the How to Comment tab at the top of the page to learn how to leave comments). Some of our reader's questions get answered on a Friday...

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Mr Putrajaya 2012 series–Riano

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Mr Putrajaya 2012 series–Nish Sairul

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Yoga Journal Conference and a Giveaway!

Good news, everyone! Baxter’s going to be teaching at the San Francisco Yoga Journal Conference, January 17 - 21, 2013. We hope to see some of you there. For the first time, Baxter will be presenting an all-day workshop on Yoga for Healthy Aging. And he’ll also be teaching a two-hour class on Yoga for Arthritis. Obviously, he was inspired by his writing for this blog, and by the feedback he gets from you, our readers. Speaking of which, he’s been...

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Ankle Sprains

by BaxterYesterday, I provided you with a basic overview of the anatomy of the ankle joint (see Getting to Know Your Ankles). Now let’s turn our attention to the most common injury to ankles, the ankle sprain. Suffering one sprain to an ankle, if mild, is usually no big deal. But many times, there will be several sprains over the course of time, often on the same ankle. This can lead to looser ligaments from repeated micro tears and stretching, resulting...

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Mr Putrajaya 2012 series–Asrul Rizal

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Mr Putrajaya 2012 series–Anuar Alias

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Getting to Know Your Ankles

by BaxterLike many joints and areas of your body, if your ankles are healthy and doing their job well, you don’t give the area way down there by your feet much thought. Yet, when an ankle is not healthy or functioning optimally, it can be hard to think of anything else! Once I began to practice yoga asana regularly, I noticed that my teachers would often have us do ankle rolls as a preparation for Thread the Needle pose (a nice hip opener), and I...

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Mr Putrajaya 2012 series–Ahmad Faiz

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The Effect of Yoga Poses on Your Mood

by Nina“To sit in Lotus Pose and gaze at one’s nose is said to be a spiritual practice; to do Lotus Pose and concentrate on the coccyx or elsewhere is said to be a physical practice. Where is the difference? How can Hatha Yoga be only physical and Raja Yoga only spiritual?” —BKS IyengarIyengar sounds a bit cranky in that quote, doesn’t he? I think that’s because back in the 60s he was getting tired of explaining his somewhat radical point of view...

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Mr Putrajaya 2012 Official Result

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Friday Q&A: Sleeping on an Airplane

Q: Wait, what is "good sleeping alignment" on an airplane? If I could figure that one out, I'd be golden! A: Well, I'd be happy to share this with you! I believe I was first introduced to this idea from Washington state based teacher Aadil Palkhivala some years back. And I have taken what I learned from him and maybe modified it a bit.  I use this sleeping alignment when I plan on trying to sleep on a plane. Ideally, you should try to get a window seat, so you will be less likely to be disturbed by your neighbors, and make sure to bring along...

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Mr KL 2012 photo albums

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Featured Pose: Ankle Circles

by Baxter and NinaThis office yoga pose is a very versatile ankle exercise that enables you to address a typically neglected joint. Many of us have stiff, swollen, or weak ankles, or tend toward ankle sprains. Depending on how you practice this simple pose, you can focus either on loosening and releasing tension from your ankles or increasing the strength of the muscles around your ankles. You could also use this pose to improve circulation in your...

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Summer Solstice

by Nina“Life is an ever-rolling wheel
And every day is the right one.” —Mumon GensenFor us in the northern hemisphere, today is the summer solstice. I don’t know about you, but I always have mixed feelings on this day. On one hand, the solstice heralds the beginning of summer, and summer in Northern California, with its cool foggy mornings and bright, warm afternoons, its sprawling vegetable gardens and blooming roses, jasmine and herbs, is my favorite...

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Neck Muscle Strain and Spasm (Part 2 on Neck Pain)

by BaxterAs promised last time (see A Literal Pain in the Neck), I want to look at a more specific cause of neck pain today and talk about ways to approach it with your yoga practice. And as in “life imitates art,” I was on a red-eye flight last week, and despite my use of the neck pillow and good sleeping alignment, my four-hour plane nap left me with a very stiff and sore neck. In all likelihood, the source of my discomfort was my neck muscles...

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The Way Home: Yoga for Grief

by NinaView of Jade Green Pond by Nina ZolotowBonnie Maeda is one of the teachers I trained with when I was in the Advanced Studies program at the Yoga Room in Berkeley, CA, and lately I've been taking a series of classes from her and Shari Ser on yoga therapeutics. I've known for some time that Bonnie was a hospice nurse as well as a yoga teacher, and that one of her specialties was teaching yoga for grief. Intrigued by the compelling possibilities...

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Friday Q&A: Ganglion Cysts

Q: I get a ganglian cyst at the top side of my wrist and sometimes the top of my hand from doing poses that put pressure in those areas. Plank positions, Upward-Facing Dog, etc. Any recommendations?A: Dear Ganglion Cyst,Thanks for writing in about this. I, too, have had a cyst in my wrist area many years ago that was of the ganglion cyst variety. These cysts are considered benign, and may grow up out of the tendons of the wrist and hand bones. Scientists...

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A Pathway in the Mind

by NinaBetween Two Rocks by Nina ZolotowYesterday Timothy posted the following quote from Thoreau on his Facebook page (you can find him there at Dr. Timothy McCall Yoga), and it got me thinking: As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish...

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A (Literal) Pain in the Neck

by Baxter Brad’s post Probability, Aging and a Pain in the Neck got me thinking about the very common complaint of neck pain that my students often share with me. Neck pain can arise from a myriad of circumstances and causes, from something as commonplace as sleeping the wrong way on your neck to traumatic events such as car accidents. It can be a result of longstanding postural changes, such as sitting with your head forward in front of the computer...

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Zainal Arif studio shots by Meor.

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Dr. Timothy McCall Joins Yoga for Healthy Aging!

by Timothy Chives in Flower by Michele Macartney-FilgateI am happy to be joining my friends Nina, Baxter, and Brad on the Yoga for Healthy Aging blog! They’ve been doing fantastic work, and it’s great to become part of it. Since many of you may not know me or know me well, they’ve asked me to write a brief introduction with some information about my background and what I’m interested in.Like Baxter I’m an M.D. who practices and teaches yoga. The...

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Reclined Cobbler's Pose: The Video!

When we first envisioned this blog, we had the idea we could include videos that demonstrated the yoga poses we were recommending. But first we had to buy the camera and learn how to use it, clear out a room where we could shoot the video, figure out how to use youtube, and, well, you get the picture. In the meantime, we decided to go ahead and start the blog without the videos, but we never gave up on our original vision.So now at long last, we've made our first video, which you can view here. It's Baxter demonstrating how to set up for, practice,...

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Friday Q&A: When to Change Classes

Q: I have been in one yoga class for a long time. I am not finding myself having more difficulty with poses as the years go on, but I’ve started thinking about when that might happen. If at some point I can no longer do most of the poses in class, I would of course know it’s time to move to an easier class. Do you have other thoughts on when/why to change classes? I’m not talking about responding to a sudden change in physical status, such as having broken or strained something, but rather thinking about longer term changes that are likely (?)...

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Featured Pose: Reclined Cobbler's Pose (Restorative Version)

by Baxter and NinaOne of our favorite restorative poses, the supported version of Reclined Cobbler’s pose is a deeply relaxing pose for both body and mind. Because your head is higher than your heart in this pose, for most of you, the pose allows you to relax without falling asleep, thereby reaping the benefits of conscious relaxation (see Conscious Relaxation vs. Sleep for information about the benefits). The rest and relaxation the pose provides...

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