Inside Yoga 48 (4/2/2012) It’s a simple message and one that is repeated frequently in yoga’s teaching, yet it can be one of the hardest skills to learn and equally hard to maintain – I am speaking of breathing! We breathe every day; so why can it be so difficult to learn if it’s actually [...]
Category Archives: Asanas (Postures)
Can yoga wreck your body?
Inside Yoga 47 (21/1/2012) On January 5, this year, the New York Times Magazine published an article titled “How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body”, which caused such a backlash within the yoga community that last weekend the Observer carried an article (“Health warning: from the plough to the lotus, yoga can damage your body” January [...]
Remember to breathe!
Inside Yoga 35 (29/4/2011) In TKV Desikachar’s book Heart of Yoga he states that “yoga is as much a practice involving breath as it is involving the body. The quality of our breath is extremely important because it expresses our inner feelings… The breath is the link between the inner and outer body. It is [...]
Inside Yoga 28
(First published 20/1/10) During some of my recent classes I asked you to perform some exercises called bandhas. These were used to control the flow of your breath and also hold the breath in a particular posture. So below you will find an explanation of bandhas. The literal translation of Bandha means: joining together, fettering [...]
Inside Yoga 26
(First published 27/10/09) “A major part of the art and skill in yoga lies in sensing just how far to move into a stretch,” writes American yoga teacher, Erich Schiffmann, in his book, Yoga: The Spirit and Practice of Moving into Stillness. The skill comes in knowing the middle path, the line that falls between [...]
Inside Yoga 23
(First published 6/9/09) “The practice of asanas and pranayama is not only the most effective, but also the most natural therapy for stress,” says yoga master BKS Iyengar. Stress has been with us since the beginning of civilisation. Our ancestors might have had different pressures and worries to deal with, but the inner turmoil they [...]
Inside Yoga 20
(First posted 9/4/2009) Do you know your tadasana from your gomukhasana? All yoga postures have a name which is written in Sanskrit, the ancient language from India, so to help you know your paschimottanasana from your marichyasana, this chapter of Inside Yoga translates a host of yoga asanas for you. Sanskrit words are often written [...]
Inside Yoga 17
(First posted 17/1/09) One of the most important principles of a yoga practice, and specifically, asana yoga practice, is the teaching of “sthira” and “sukha”. In the foremost yoga text, Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, he describes an asana (yoga posture) as having two important qualities: sthira and sukha. Sthira is steadiness and alertness. Sukha refers to [...]
Inside Yoga 14
(First published 10/11/2008) The body is mentioned frequently in yoga, in relation to the breath, and in relation to the mind. There is a vast selection of postures available in yoga, from gentle resting positions to complicated athletic positions that seem impossible to get into. But is it all about the body? It is possibly [...]
Inside Yoga 13
(First published 4/10/2008) At times our lives can be busy and even chaotic, while at other times, a sense of quiet and peace can envelop us – albeit it briefly. Yoga teaches us how to tap into that sense of stillness and peace on command and to switch off the chaos. This might not be [...]
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