Beyond Asana Blog
My weekly blog is a forum for contemplative inquiry into the intersection of yoga practice, traditional teachings, and real life.
Here's last week's part 1 on the topic of yoga-related injuries that addresses common causes of yoga-related injuries and tips to avoid them.
Thanks to research and investigation, not to mention the woefully infamous 2012 New York Times headline, Can Yoga Wreck Your Body?, the conversation around yoga-related injuries has greatly expanded over the past several years. Notably, through Matthew Remski’s WAWADIA project, many long time practitioners are now sharing stories that document and explore the multi-layered and often nuanced psychosocial and cultural dynamics at play in both acute and chronic yoga-related injuries.
What to do if you get injured during...
A recent New York Times article pointed out how convenience has become a major driving force in our consumer economy. Our choices in the marketplace consistently demonstrate this. We’d rather use something easy and simple (Netflix) over something cheap (network television).
Furthermore, because of economies of scale and the power of our buying habits, convenience begets greater convenience. The more we buy from Amazon, the more powerful it becomes, and therefore it can make itself even more efficient and easier to use, which leads us to value it even more.
I believe a similar dynamic is at work in yoga, though its about benefit and importance, rather than...
The starting point is ALWAYS, EXACTLY where you are.
Many of the people who are joining my new online program are seasoned yogis with years of experience and a long-term dedication to yoga practice. They're telling me that this program is coming along at the perfect time for them because their personal practice has declined. They want a kick-start, a way to rekindle it and find the juice again.
I get it.
As someone who’s maintained a personal practice for over 25 years, in various forms, with varying levels of frequency and intensity, believe me when I say “I get it.”
I know it’s hard (and only getting harder), to be alone...
The smell of the earth this morning brought me right back to the Catskills, to the ashram where I lived in the early 2000’s.
It brought me back to the many, many mornings I walked from my dorm room to the early-morning chant at 4:30 am in the dark, wrapped in a shawl.
It brought me back to the feelings of devotion, one-pointedness, and community. But most palpably, it brought me back to the LONGING I experienced during those years.
It was there, in the darkness of the early mornings, first in India and then Upstate New York over the course of 7 years, that my longing took root. What began as a desire to be happy with myself and content with my life blossomed into a...
TO EVOLVE: to gradually become clearer or more detailed, to develop, elaborate, unfold, advance, progress, blossom, grow, mature, ripen, emerge
I first fell in love with this word as an Anthropology major in college. Tracing the emergence and adaptation of the human race over time was fascinating to me. But, honestly, the concept of evolving, adapting, and UNFOLDING has become even more thrilling and juicy as I’ve begun to see my yoga practice in this light, as not just as something I “do” but as something I grow and ripen, something that continually EMERGES.
It’s an ever-unfolding process that’s POWERED and INSPIRED by the very nature of life ITSELF...
THERE ARE A FEW THINGS THAT FRUSTRATE, AND FRANKLY BAFFLE ME ABOUT MAINSTREAM WESTERN YOGA CULTURE
You know, little things like how teachers who repeatedly mistreat students and cross ethical boundaries continue to be welcomed to teach places, even when their transgressions are well known. And, how little actual recourse there is for students who have been targets of these transgressions.
Oh, and also the hypocrisy of an industry that continues to perpetuate unrealistic, and even unhealthy physical ideals for a practice that is essentially about self-honoring and self-acceptance.
I must say, there are days when all this really gets to me.
But here’s what keeps...
I got stuck this morning. My 10-year old, bless her heart, missed her bus and I had to drive her to school. Granted, this was the first time this year that this has happened. And, driving her to school is not really a big deal because my schedule today is pretty flexible and the school is only about a 10-minute drive. Yet, I found myself critical, annoyed, frustrated. I could see that holding onto this episode was neither necessary nor useful. Stuckness.
After I dropped her off, I took the opportunity of being out earlier than usual to take a walk. After all, we are at balmy 15 Celsius and its a beautiful sunny day here. The snow is melting and the rivers are rushing. My lesson was right...
A studio owner once told me that she wanted her space to be like a bubble, a place where students could temporarily escape their worries and be surrounded by an atmosphere of love, acceptance, and good vibes.
I really like and respect this person, and actually, I love what she’s created. Yet, something didn’t fully resonate with the bubble idea. It got me thinking about how I approach practice and teaching.
I completely agree that we all need healthy ways to escape, regularly. Time alone, self-care appointments, things that give us relief from the stresses of daily life are rejuvenating and VERY necessary. I love those...
When I teach at conferences and festivals, I always find that the exact right people show up for my session. This weekend at Expo Yoga in Montreal was no different. As usual, I was delighted to be with a group of curious, engaged students interested in taking their yoga a little bit deeper, getting some input on refining their practice and exploring how to integrate the lessons of the postural practice into their lives.
And, as usual, I’m the teacher without the awesome playlist, without the elaborate ritual, without the bells and whistles.
Don’t get me wrong; I have nothing against a great playlist. I LOVE to groove out in my practice from time to time. And, I...
I almost skipped (or at least postponed) my morning meditation today in favor of being “productive.”
As my coffee was brewing, I glanced at my Facebook feed and saw:
- an account from someone in Montecito, CA about the devastation happening there.
- a crowd-funding campaign for a friend who was recently diagnosed with stage 4 cancer
- A tribute to an old friend who recently passed away.
- A blog post from a colleague about her experience of grieving a recent miscarriage.
- Many, many messages of support and good wishes from friends all around the world for what all these people are going through
Struck by the intensity of all this (especially at 6:30 am, and especially before...