Teaching Yoga: Keeping a Beginner’s Mind Last weekend I guest taught for a local yoga teacher training. In the 300-hour training, I gave a talk on Iyengar Yoga and offered thoughts and...
What is Normal Range of Motion? Range of Motion is Different For Everyone Have you ever wanted to get into an intermediate or advanced yoga class and been told that you had...
Beware the Yoga Voice What is a Yoga Voice and How is it Different From Your Authentic Voice? For almost three decades, the outgoing message on my home voice mail...
Yoga Teaching: Beginner’s Mind One of the most frequent questions students ask in my classes is, “What should I be feeling in this position?” I always give a non-answer to...
How Do You Find a Yoga Mentor? Until the 20th century, yoga—the whole system—was always taught one on one. An aspiring yogi studied with their yoga mentor often for decades. Over the years,...
Teaching Yoga: Ahimsa Ahimsa (non-harming) is the cornerstone of the Yamas (the ethical principles of yoga). As the first principle of the first of yoga’s Eight Limbs, ahimsa can...
Honoring Our Yoga Teachers Are you a yoga teacher? What inspired you to share yoga with others? Who have been your most influential yoga teachers? Teaching yoga is an honor....
Teaching Yoga: It’s a Two-Way Street “Listen to your body” has become a widely disseminated instruction in the yoga world. It’s an important one, a skill that reaches out into life off...
Mindful Yoga: Trusting Your Experience I’ve only injured myself once in 38 years of yoga practice. It happened when a teaching colleague told me my Headstand (Sirsasana) was incorrect because I...
How Do You Deal with Yoga Gossip? Yoga gossip. No matter how big our small our yoga community is, it seems there’s always some sort of buzz. We are competitive beings, after all....
Silent Time: Individual Inquiry Occasionally I’m invited to team teach a class that will benefit a local charity. I always accept these invitations, as I feel that this is a...
Optimize Your Zoom Yoga Classes Six months ago, who would have thought we’d find ourselves quarantined? The times are challenging us all, one way or another. My yoga studio, Mindful Yoga...
Ways to Navigate Teaching a Mixed-Level Yoga Class How do you keep everyone safe and happy in a mixed-level yoga class? There’s no easy answer. In a recent teacher training, I asked trainees to...
Manual Adjustments: The Dos and Don’ts Years ago, one of my former students took a yoga class at a local health club. My student had been practicing for several years and was...
Satya: Truthfulness on the Mat When most people think of yoga, they think of physical poses. While they may understand that there’s more to it than just poses, do most people...
Peak Pose: Hasta Padangusthasana Decades ago, a student came to my class wanting to learn how to practice Padmasana (Lotus Pose). At the time, I had long since ditched my...
Yoga and Respect: Nothing is Trivial I lived on the Big Island of Hawaii in 1990. During that year Aadil Palkhivala frequented the Big Island to teach workshops. I was fortunate to...
Introducing Yoga Props to Your Students You’d think it would be easy. Yoga props, such as yoga blocks and straps, increase the ease in so many poses. Yet, in this competitive...