Friday Q&A: Yoga Tricks for Better Sleep (Rerun)

The Dreaming by Paul GauguinNina: At the end of my post Yoga You Can Do In Bed, I asked for additional suggestions from our readers. Caryn Dickman, a yoga teacher at Piedmont Yoga Studio (see here), wrote in with such good suggestions, I decided, with her permission, to post them here. What I love about her suggestions is that she obviously listened to her body and used her creativity to come up with "yoga tricks" that worked for her.  Caryn:...

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Thinking about the Wisdom of Yoga (Rerun)

by Nina Gaudi Stairway by Brad Gibson“You have taught the essence of yoga is equanimity, Krishna;
but since the mind is so restless,
how can that be achieved?
The mind is restless, unsteady,
turbulent, wild, stubborn;
truly, it seems to meas hard to master as the wind.”—The Bhagavad GitaIn my post What is Healthy Aging? I added “wisdom” to the list of tools yoga provides for healthy aging. But since then, I’ve been thinking about how reading...

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Men and Yoga: A Yogi Views Interview with Baxter!

by BaxterTalking with Antonio SuasysFor the first time in about a year, it happened again. Last Wednesday—although I had not exactly noticed myself—one of my long time students, Mara, leaned over to me as class at Berkeley Ironworks Climbing Gym was about to start and said, with surprise, “There are more men than women in class today!” Indeed, of the 16 lunchtime students in attendance, 9 were men. Here, our surprise is not that surprising when you...

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What is an Advanced Yoga Practice? (Rerun)

by NinaYear-Old Snow and New Snow by Philip AmdalA number of years ago, I encouraged a close friend of mine, M, to join me in taking Rodney Yee’s advanced class. Even though she had a muscular, athletic, and stiff body that made doing super bendy poses difficult, if not impossible, I knew that she understood how to take care of herself in class, that she would adapt the poses for her particular body type and keep herself safe, so I wasn’t worried...

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Friday Q&A: Breath Practices that Stimulate or Invigorate

Ladders Cross the Blue Sky in a Wheel of Fire by Joan Miro*One of our readers left a question on my post How Your Breath Affects Your Nervous System.Q: I am teaching a Pranayama workshop and linking it to Brain Physiology. I checked this article and I am confused. According to your article, inhalation stimulates the SNS (sympathetic nervous system) and exhalation triggers PNS (parasympathetic nervous system). Is this your personal experience...

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The Fountain of Youth is Free

by NinaThe Fountain of Youth by Lucas Cranach the Elder“Researchers are optimistic about recent efforts to delay the effects of aging and, perhaps, extend life spans. "But at the same time, the scientific community is wary of how quickly these findings are packaged and resold by companies promising a fountain of youth. “It’s probably worse today than it’s ever been,” said Dr. S. Jay Olshansky, a professor in the School of Public Health at the...

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More on Side Plank Pose and Scoliosis: Double Curves, Explanations, Cautions

by BaxterStanding Female Nude Seen from the Back by Vincent van GoghSince I wrote about the new study on using Side Plank pose (Vasishtansana) to improve scoliosis in my post Friday Q&A: How to Practice Side Plank Pose for Scoliosis, Nina has launched the Side Plank Pose Challenge, encouraging those with simple, one-sided scoliosis to join her in doing Side Plank pose every day, twice on the convex side of the curve (for example, if the scoliosis...

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Do You Really Need Knee Replacement Surgery? Maybe Yoga Can Help Instead

by NinaNude Woman on Her Knees by Michelangelo“If you do not have bone-on-bone arthritis, in which all of the cushioning cartilage in the knee is gone, think about consulting a physical therapist about exercise programs that could strengthen the joint, reducing pain and disability, Riddle says.” —New York TimesI’m sure that by now we all know someone who has had a knee replacement due to arthritis of the knees (see Arthritis and the Knee and Yoga...

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Take the Side Plank Pose for Scoliosis Challenge!

by NinaAfter reading Baxter’s post on Friday (see Friday Q&A: How to Practice Side Plank Pose for Scoliosis?) and talking with my chiropractor, who is also a yoga teacher, I decided to practice Side Plank pose (Vasithasana) every day for six or more weeks. My chiropractor strongly agreed with Baxter that for the long term, practicing Side Plank pose on just one side was not a good idea and said that to maintain the benefits, a person would need...

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Friday Q&A: How to Practice Side Plank Pose (Vashithasana) for Scoliosis

A reader left the following question as a comment on Nina’s post Side Plank Pose Could Reduce Spinal Curves in People with Scoliosis, which described a study in which Side Plank pose was practiced to help improve scoliosis:Q: I'm wondering if the pose should be done on only one side to correct the imbalance. If so, advise on how to determine which side would be useful to me.A: The yoga world is all a buzz about the newest study for Loren Fishman,...

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Yogis in Nature: Photography Series by Melina Meza

by NinaBaxter Bell in Nature by Melina MezaIf you’ve been reading our blog for any length of time, you've surely noticed the beautiful photographs by Melina Meza that we often use in our posts. Melina is both a long-time yoga teacher and a photographer (find out more about her melinameza.com). Recently, these two passions have come together in a new series of photographs she has done called “Yogis in Nature.” “Yogis in Nature” is a unique collection...

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Forgiveness (Kshama)

by RamTree of Forgiveness by Edward Burne-JonesYears ago, my wife and I faced a couple of traumatic experiences that could have severely disrupted our lives had we chosen to let them. When, where and how the emotions attached to the negative experience will surface depends on each individual. In our case, we were faced with several situations on an ongoing basis that constantly brought back those negative events. Like many others who face traumatic...

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An MD's View of Yoga: A Yogi Views Interview with Baxter Bell

by BaxterMe on TVMany of you, our readers, are well aware of my roles as physician, yoga teacher and educator, as well as the work I do as a medical acupuncturist. I even came clean on how I made the transition from full-time family doc to yoga teacher in my post True Confessions: My Yoga Story. But when I finally came to meet a Bay Area yoga teacher and yoga enthusiast Antonio Suasys from Marin County, my work took on a whole new dimension!You...

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