Beyond Asana Blog

When in doubt, put your head down. That's my go-to strategy on days when nothing seems to be going right. 

Whether I rest my head on a block in a standing forward fold, settle Child's Pose on floor, or simply lean forward at my desk, the gentle pressure to the forehead works quickly - almost magically - to create a sense of spaciousness that quiets agitation and bring near-instant calm. 

Eckhart Tolle describes the dual nature of our awareness in terms of foreground and background. The foreground is our thinking mind, where most of us spend our time. It correlates with the prefrontal cortex, the brain region responsible for executive functioning - the rational part that makes decisio...

The heart that breaks open can contain the whole universe.

- Joanna Macy

In yoga, we’re often encouraged to bring all parts of ourselves to our practice—our strength and vulnerability, our joy and sorrow. But what happens when the world's pain feels too heavy to carry? What do we do with the heartbreak we feel for the suffering we see around us?

Joanna Macy—Buddhist eco-philosopher, activist, and root teacher of the Work That Reconnects—revolutionized my understanding of what it means to show up authentically in yoga. Now nearing the end of her life, her extraordinary body of work continues to illuminate the path forward.

Like many of us, I'd spent years cultivating the ability to ret...

To be alive in this beautiful, self-organizing universe - to participate in the dance of life with senses to perceive it, lungs that breathe it, organs that draw nourishment from it – is a wonder beyond words. – Joanna Macy

I first read these words more than 30 years ago posted outside the changing room at the World Yoga Center. I remember thinking, Wow! What a way to live!  New to yoga and to spiritual life altogether, Joanna’s words sparked something revelatory within me: a thrilling vision of what it could mean to be truly alive - and the possibility that simply my existence was cause for wonder and reverence.

In the years that followed, yoga became my path to awakening this vision. ...

When the world feels like it’s crumbling and uncertainty seems to flood every corner of our lives, we need tools that help steady us. Here are two powerful approaches you can cultivate through your yoga practice to create space for peace and perspective: getting bigger and getting smaller.

Sometimes we need to step back - way back - and remember that in the grand sweep of time, each of us is a fleeting spark in an infinite cosmos. Even when everything feels like it’s falling apart (and maybe it is), life continues its ancient and unceasing dance. Nothing can stop time from moving forward or life from expressing itself. This realization of our place in a vast, ever-unfolding universe can ...

Sometimes, the most profound benefits of yoga show up not in our strongest moments - but in our most vulnerable ones.

A student recently shared a story with me that powerfully illustrates this. She had practiced yoga for decades, valuing what she always considered the main benefits: increased strength, improved flexibility, and better stress management. These were meaningful, of course - but as she would come to realize, they were just the surface of how yoga would support her.

When tragedy struck and she lost her son unexpectedly, her practice became her lifeline. She was amazed - and deeply grateful - to discover that her daily practice had become a welcoming sanctuary. A place to anc...

As the light reaches its annual peak, we’re invited into a rare and powerful moment of stillness. Here's how yoga can help you meet that pause with presence.

Though we usually think of time as moving forward in a straight line, we can also see it as cyclical. The rhythms of day and night, the changing seasons, and the passage of years all circle back to a point of culmination before beginning anew.

In the cycle of the seasons, the Summer Solstice marks such a turning point - the moment when light reaches its peak, before the days begin to gradually shorten. It’s a pause, a pivot, the still point in the swing of the pendulum.

These moments of pause—those tiny spaces where momentum comes...

When I started yoga in my twenties, I could "do" all the poses. With a naturally flexible body and a background in dance and gymnastics, even some of the most advanced asanas came easily to me.

Yet despite my physical abilities, my inner dialogue was anything but yogic. Long-standing patterns of perfectionism and self-judgment dominated my mental chatter. It wasn't until I learned about yoga's deeper vision of the human being that this began to shift.

The nondual philosophies of yoga view each of us as expressions of a singular, unified, and divine consciousness.

While all paths of yoga recognize an essence within each person that is fundamentally good and noble, it’s only the nondual ...

The best teachers are those who show you where to look, but don't tell you what to see.

- Alexandra Trenfor

Years ago, a student approached me at the end of class to thank me for a suggestion I’d given her months earlier - one that had significantly improved her Side Plank pose.

“I don’t remember what you said.” she told me, “But I remember how it felt, and the difference it made.” She described how my guidance had enabled her to practice the pose without the shoulder pain that had plagued her for years.

Her words delighted me because they captured something essential about learning in yoga, and yogic knowledge itself.

Unlike academic subjects, yogic knowledge - jnana in Sanskrit – i...

​

The first yogic teaching to bring tears to my eyes as a new seeker went something like this: Once you see with the eyes of true knowledge, you will understand why the true religion is to welcome another human being.

This vision of equality – of our essential oneness and sanctity - pierced beyond intellectual understanding and spoke directly my heart. This is yoga’s ultimate aim: to cultivate this elevated way of seeing ourselves and the world. 

Early yogic texts like the Upanishads recognized a sacred essence within each person, known as the atman. This indwelling, unchanging Self is understood to be a universal source power, linking us to all life. 

Later, nondual Tantric traditions d...

Writing is like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.

― E.L. Doctorow

In yoga—as in writing, and life—you can’t always see the full path ahead. Often, you’re just following the next cue, breath by breath. And while that uncertainty can be uncomfortable, it can also be liberating.

I learned this years ago in a workshop with a teacher known for her unconventional approach to arm balances. I had been working toward Eka Pada Koundinyasana (One-legged Side Crow) for months, with little success and plenty of face plants. 

Rather than beginning with the usual drills and prep work, she led us through a completely ...