Sadhana Sundays with Baxter and Timothy

by NinaJust a quick announcement that Yoga U will be hosting an interview with Baxter Bell called “Yoga And Healthy Aging: The Evidence And The Promise” this coming Sunday, December 29, 2013 as part of their Sadhana Sundays series. Timothy is also participating in the series with his talk “Yoga And Healing: Building The Body's Innate Ability To Heal,” along with many other well-known yoga teachers. If you’re interested, head on over to http://yogauonline.com/yogaspirit/sadhana-Sundays...

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To the Ears of Babes

by BaxterLelu by Melina MezaSometimes the sweetest things can happen during a yoga class. Recently, one of my students sent a description of something that happened when I was leading a Thanksgiving Day class in Montclair community of Oakland to a local reporter. Now it has showed up on the Montclarion website recently. Enjoy!“Email bag: Reader Brad Newsham shares a story that may give you new faith in humanity. He says a full house at Montclair’s...

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Meditation: Effects on Gene Expression

by RamYoga for Healthy Aging authors have written extensively on the power of meditation (dhyana) and its beneficial effects on so many aspects of life, including, but not limited to, disease and pain, sleep management, control of emotions, stress reduction, depression and weight-reduction goals. In all the above cases it seemed that meditation changed behavioral patterns and enhanced emotional stability. Articles by Baxter (How to Meditate, Thoughts...

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Friday Q&A: Bronchitis and Yoga

Q: Every year I seem to get a couple of months of chronic bronchitis.  I have a regular gentle yoga practice, am 63, and am frustrated that when I get a winter cold it seems to settle into my lungs. I am wondering if you have any thoughts on what yoga to practice to strengthen and help heal my lungs.  I looked at your list of topics, but did not see anything that addressed this specific issue. Any thoughts would be appreciated.A: I happen...

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In Praise of Gomukhasana (Cow-Face Pose)

by Nina Because this is turning out to be the almost all-Nina week (don’t worry, all the other regulars will be back soon), I thought today I’d just share with you some more of the beautiful artwork from the current exhibit Yoga: The Art of Transformation at the Smithsonian Museum. As I was looking through the book, I noticed something surprising to me. While most of the yoga poses we currently do in our yoga classes and in our home practices...

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Doing Yoga Without

by NinaYesterday I wrote Cheating at Yoga? about props and how we here at YFHA staff feel it is wise to use them to adapt poses to your body type and/or physical condition. But there are some physical conditions where a prop won’t help. In this case, you can simply modify your poses in certain ways to make them accessible to you.I was thinking about this because recently a friend told me that she “can’t do yoga” anymore because shoulder injury...

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Cheating at Yoga?

by NinaAs I wrote in my post Practicing With Pain, sometimes we get a question from a reader that leaves me feeling sad. This one, from a reader who was accused by a teacher of “cheating,” came in just recently:Am I a cheater if I use Props?
Cheat/Cheater: (Oxford dictionary): deceive, fraud, deception, a person who behaves dishonestly, a liar

Dear esteemed Writers /Teachers of this blog, I have been practicing yoga for nearly 20 years and have...

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Taking Back the "Yoga Body"!

by Nina Are you familiar with the term “yoga body?” What does it mean to you? Unfortunately, for many people, this term connotes a young, slender, super-bendy woman posing on the cover of a magazine along with promises that doing certain yoga poses will result in a “fierce and fabulous” body, worthy of a photo shoot. Recently, a book cover by yoga teacher Sadie Nardini seems to capitalize on this concept: Here, a young, attractive and very...

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Friday Q&A: Yoga for Swelling in the Legs (Edema)

Q: I teach a gentle/restorative class on Wednesday evenings and a couple of weeks ago I had a lady come to class who has edema only in her right leg. She had done yoga off and on and was interested in starting back up with yoga. She had limitations of course, but told me that she has had this edema for 4 years and after observing her in that first class, she knew her body well...in what she could do and not do.  Well... she came back for the...

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Yoga for Heart Conditions

by ShariOne of the workshops I teach regularly with my colleague Bonnie Maeda is Yoga for Heart Conditions. Bonnie and I believe that yoga can be so effective for the management of heart disease because it is a holistic health approach that takes into account all of the varied systems of the body —in yoga, the body is part of a greater whole. Yoga is also accessible to all who want to practice, no matter what their physical ability may be. And...

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Depression Accelerates Unhealthy Aging

by Ramby Melina MezaIn the Sadhana Pada of the Yoga Sutras by Patanjali we are introduced to the eight rungs/limbs/steps of yoga, whose practice helps us develop attention as a tool for discriminating between ignorance and awareness and truth from illusion as the means for liberation or enlightenment. The second limb/step contains five niyamas or observances/practices of self-training and deals with how we relate to ourselves inwardly. One of the...

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Free Download of the book “Yoga: The Art of Transformation” -- NO LONGER AVAILABLE

by Nina I received an early holiday gift today that I’d like to pass on to you! Some of you may have already heard about the fascinating exhibit at the Smithsonian’s Sackler Gallery of Asian art called “Yoga: The Art of Transformation,” which explores the visual art of yoga. Although I do know a few people who have been able to see that exhibit in person (and I may get to when it comes to San Franciso), many of you I’m sure won’t be able to...

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Regaining Stability—for Free!

by Nina (with Shari) Many of our readers are already practicing yoga and are taking regular yoga classes. Last week’s Friday Q&A: Ostepenia of the Spine and Headstand is a good example: someone with regular teachers wanted to know if she should continue to practice Headstand after being diagnosed with osteopenia of the spine. But what about people out there who are not already doing yoga? Do we have anything important to say to them? Shouldn’t...

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