Teaching Yoga

For several years now, I’ve been hearing of a popular yoga teaching technique. I’ve heard about it directly from friends and have read it online. It’s...

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 culture,...

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...

Chances are, if you’re reading this, you practice yoga. And chances are, you practice because it feels good. If you teach yoga, you probably do so...

In 1989 I went to India for a three-week intensive with B.K.S. Iyengar and his daughter, Geeta. Mr. Iyengar had just turned 70, and Geeta was...

I was not born with a lot of hubris. When I started teaching yoga, I knew there was lots more to learn. But I felt that...

I remember the first time I was able to hold myself up in Chaturanga Dandasana (Four-Limbed Staff Pose). After spending a year struggling with lifting my...

What does a yoga community look like? If you go by photos on social media, you’re likely to picture endless sea of yoga mats, their occupants...

Years ago, I attended a yoga teacher training with a well-known teacher. The teacher shared lots of helpful information about alignment and adjustments. Early in the...

For my first 10 years of yoga teaching, I followed popular alignment orthodoxy. In standing poses such as Trikonasana (Triangle Pose) and Virabhadrasana II (Warrior II...

A few years ago there was yoga culture controversy over a teacher who was fired from a corporate yoga class for discouraging cell phone use in...

In 1988, I attended my first silent Insight Meditation retreat. I noticed one thing right off—how incredibly out-of-control my mind is. But as my mind began...

Betsy was tall, lanky and tanned. She loved to swim and take beach vacations with her family. Betsy loved a good joke, and knew how to...

In the past two weeks the pile of unopened mail in my kitchen has grown taller and more unruly. Every so often I try to neaten...

Most of my students have been attending my classes for many years—some for decades. When a newbie comes to class, they often remark that their fellow...

Decades ago the film, Annie Hall, embellished a famous quote about the art of teaching. In the film the quote went like this: “Those who can’t...

Some years ago, a yoga teaching colleague related a story about a student at her studio who suffers from a rare neurological condition that causes tremors....

Utthita Parsvakonasana (Side Angle Pose) is a pillar among standing poses. It combines strong grounding with expansion and spinal rotation. It looks like a lateral stretch,...