A typical yoga asana class winds down with forward bends and twists, because they are calming. Both support the down-regulation of the autonomic nervous system that eases us into the full relaxation of Savasana. However, if we approach forward bends with an attitude of “must touch the toes”, we are unlikely to derive the benefits that they are designed to [...]
How do you know whether you are working too hard or not hard enough in yoga? How much should you push yourself when practicing yoga? What is the difference between intensity and pain? What is perfect intensity, anyway? And why does it matter? Most people who practice yoga have experienced creating too much intensity, at least occasionally. So how do you [...]
When my dad was visiting Chiang Mai from Germany years ago, he was astonished how well the traffic flows there despite the huge number of vehicles on the road. Thai traffic has taught me an important life lesson that has not only made me a better driver, but a better person. True, traffic in Thailand is chaotic and there are [...]
There really isn’t much more to say than the title: Do less, feel more. It’s not about the difficulty or impressiveness of the poses you do. Nor is it about how long you can hold them without hating them or collapsing into a heap of muscle spasms. It’s about how deeply you can get your whole being involved in each [...]
“There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle; or you can live as if everything is a miracle.” –Albert Einstein Making this distinction may seem at first like a contrived intellectual exercise. However, living life from the perspective that everything is a miracle can profoundly change your attitude. It can change your attitude [...]
Do you like speed bumps? (Or speed humps, judder bars, lomos de burro, or sleeping policemen, depending on where you are from.) I didn't think you did. Who does? I used to dislike them like everyone, but then I received a lesson from a 2-year-old: a lesson in acceptance. Not that my son is (or was) a buddha-like creature in [...]
Why practice difficult asanas, if the practice of yoga is to be something other than an ego-driven endeavor? Because in the act of doing something challenging, we are compelled to become more present in the moment. In doing something new, we gain an opportunity to break out of our habitual and unconscious patterns. We create an opportunity to learn how [...]
Yoga and meditation teachers often use the words 'attention' and 'awareness' interchangeably. To me they are fundamentally different, as they create two fundamentally different experiences of reality. Attention means being focused on one thing. Awareness means taking in multiple things at once. Focusing on one thing gives us a distorted view of reality, especially when we (as we often do) [...]
As your awareness of your body grows more subtle, you may notice that your head is not really where you thought it was, namely balancing on top of your spine. This postural misalignment is called hyperkyphosis/head forward position. To address this problem, you need to focus on opening the front of the chest and strengthening the upper back. Equally [...]
What does it mean to think of yoga as a gift? Plenty of people practice yoga because they sense that it has the power to transform their life. They sense that it can create a shift away from the ego-centric, achievement-oriented model that the modern world incessantly celebrates. But it is all too common to see yogis unconsciously applying the [...]
