Featured Pose: Simple Chair Twist (Rerun)

by Baxter and NinaThe Simple Chair Twist is one of our five essential office yoga poses. It releases back muscles that are stiff or sore from sitting at a desk or from traveling, or from everyday activities that stress the back and increase the rotational mobility in your spine, such as gardening and painting. Twisting also helps nourish the spine—movement of the spine helps maintain the health of the discs—and it strengthens the bones...

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Featured Sequence: Brain Health Practice

by BaxterHere's our new Brain Health sequence, which combines physical exercise and stress management to promote health of the organ in general with "brain aerobics" to challenge you mentally. If you want to practice this sequence on a regular basis, you'll need to change it up periodically (see Yoga Sequences Are Brain Aerobics for information).1. Checking-In: Start by sitting and checking in with your mind: is your mind busy or quiet...

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Yoga Sequences Are Brain Aerobics

by BaxterDo you like my brain? by Niki de Saint Phalle*Brain Health is a topic we here at YFHA have addressed on numerous occasions. Research clearly points out that your mind like your body needs to be exercised regularly. I recently grabbed a flyer from my family doctor’s office that caught my eye. It was titled “The Power of Brain Aerobics: Maximize Your Memory.” As I read through it, I could not help but recall (good sign, eh?) the two excellent...

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Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Yoga to the Rescue

by RamTokugawa with help from the Jodo monks of the Daijuji temple in Okizaki, defeats the Ikkō ikki at the battle of Azukizaka by YoshitoshiPost-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an anxiety disorder that develops after a person is exposed to a traumatic event. The individual could be either experiencing or witnessing the event.  Generally, people who are exposed to a traumatic event have difficulty adjusting and coping for a while but the...

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Saturday Bug Report

by NinaPineapple and Cockroaches byMaria Sibylla MerianDid you happen to notice that there were three posts on Thursday, July 24, 2014? Yes, that happened. And I don't think I can fix it. Of course, it's not the worst thing in the world, but I thought you deserved a bit of an explanation. Only the post The Power of Svadhyaya (Self-Study), Part 2 was a new one, and this post is the one that was supposed to be published on Thursday....

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Friday Q&A: Forward Bends and Osteoporosis

Standing Forward Bend (Uttanasana)One of our readers left the following comment on our post Featured Sequence: Mini Sun Salutation:I am surprised you are including a deep forward bend. Research supports avoiding forward bends in osteoporosis and osteopenia and considering there are over 54 million people with osteoporosis and many don't know they are osteoporotic it seems safer not to teach forward bends for healthy aging. I think we have a higher...

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The Power of Svadhyaya (Self-Study), Part 2

by NinaAnatomical BodyIndia, Gujarat, 18th centuryWhile preparing to write this post, I discovered that I had, uh, completely forgotten about some of the things I’ve written for the blog. (Hey, I’ve been writing at least one post a week—and sometimes two or three—for almost three years.) Yes, I was quite surprised to find a post about how we could use the wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita to heal from an election so divisive that even Big Bird...

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Never go to bed angry

by NinaSanta Barbara Botanical Gardens: A Detail by Joan WebsterOn Tuesday I read a short little piece in the NY Times questioning the adage “Never go to bed angry” (see here). It was one of those bottom line pieces, and the bottom line was this:“Going to sleep upset or disturbed preserves the emotion, research suggests.”In the cited study in The Journal of Neuroscience, scientists exposed 106 men and women to images that elicited various emotions....

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Friday Q&A: When to Eat

The Bowl of Milk by Berthe MorisotQ: One thing that often has prevented me from having another 1/2 hr. session (at home) in the afternoon is the problem of eating. I seem to remember learning I need to wait at least 1 1/2 or 2 hrs. after I eat before doing my next asanas. Is this true? What is the shortest time one needs to wait before doing a workout - or a session (I hate calling it a workout, but hopefully you get it.) I do my a.m. yoga before...

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When Red Flags Should Be Raised: Yoga Snake Oil

by Jill SatterfieldOchre and Red on Red by Mark Rothko*As yoga grows in popularity, it also breeds abundant misconceptions and snake oil claims. The love and light aspect of many teachers and classes has gone increasingly haywire and has reached unfortunate proportions, leading many into despair and not for good reasons. After hearing so many promises of just three weeks to this or a weekend for that, anyone can think they’ve been pushed out of the...

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Featured Sequence: Inverted Heart Health Practice

by BaxterLast week, I shared with you a dynamic sequence for Cardiovascular Health. This week, I’d like to focus on the inverted yoga poses that can have some beneficial effects on overall heart health. Inverted poses come in different shapes and sizes; some are full inversions, such as supported Legs Up the Wall pose (Viparita Karani), while others are partial inversions, such as Downward-Facing Dog pose, in which your body is inverted from your...

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