How chanting OM affects your physiology

When my son was little, I used to sing lullabies to him. Unfortunately, most of…

Vagus nerve and sound: Can you “tone up” the whole body?

You don’t need to be a scientist to know that sound (music and singing) has…

Yoga’s secret ingredient for a busy mind

Students come to yoga classes for all kinds of reasons. In addition to the most…

How to take your yoga practice to the next level

When we think about taking our yoga practice “to the next level,” it often conjures…

Eight steps to design a breath-centered practice

According to viniyoga tradition, our aging process is represented by the movement of the sun…

What’s in your toolbox? Yoga breathing techniques

I signed up for a yoga class in the past titled Yoga for the changing…

How to organize a practice around yoga breathing

One of my guilty pleasures used to be watching Project Runway. Intense interpersonal drama aside,…

Five currents of prana and how they organize your physiology (5 Vayus )

I heard a theory (and I don’t know whether or not it’s true) that Western…

Yogis ahead of science: One nostril breathing determines how you feel

Have you ever heard of the “honeymoon nose”? The proper name for it is honeymoon…

How to use yoga to energize or unwind

I am not a morning person. In my early days as a yoga practitioner, I…

A breathing trick: how to calm down before bed

A few weeks ago, a student complained of trouble falling asleep. You know how it…

Why bother with breath in yoga?

Recently, a new student asked me, “Why do we care about breathing in yoga?” This…

Yogic breathing: chest to belly or belly to chest; what is the proper breathing technique?

There is an ongoing discussion in the yoga community about the directionality of the breath—do…