PRACTICING YOGA
Get the most out of your yoga practice
Heal your aches and take a deep dive into specific layers of your system
TEACHING YOGA
Sharpen your yoga-teaching skills
Design effective yoga practices for yourself and your students using stick-figure images
BECOMING A YOGA THERAPIST
Deepen your professional expertise
Get to know your student to create truly customized yoga practices
LATEST POSTS
Doctors perform balance assessments to evaluate a person’s overall health and functional ability. Balance tests are…
What do you enjoy doing? Hiking? Skiing? Dancing? Playing pickleball? Or maybe you just want…
The new year is upon us, and we don’t know what it will bring. This…
YOGA FOR YOUR BODY
“Sit up straight!” my dad would command every time he saw me lean over my…
YOGA FOR CHRONIC PAIN
Many years ago, I took an anatomy and physiology course in college. I went in…
According to Walter Freeman, one of the great neuroscientists, “All the brain can know it…
When it comes to dealing with chronic pain, we have to differentiate between pain and…
When you are in pain, the body gets stuck in a loop of emergency stress…
Some days, when I begin my yoga practice, I can feel the entire physical history…
Your brain interprets your bodily sensations based on context and experience. If you feel a…
There is a heated ongoing debate in the yoga community about the difference between a…
One of my clients is currently shopping for a doctor. She has been trying to…
In our digital world, technology experts continuously come up with solutions to make our everyday…
One of my clients has recurring knee issues. For her, there is always a low…
If you accomplish ten great things today and make one mistake, what will you more…
A former client of mine, let’s call him John, bent over to tie his shoes…
A few years ago, my family moved from one house to another. On the moving…
A recent article in the New York Times discussed the updated guidelines by the American…
TEACHING YOGA CLASSES
I was amused to discover that the word priority came into the English language in…
Sometimes, Yoga is for those who practice it…and for us, we know that familiar feeling…
When people think of the aspects of a great yoga teacher, they often conjure up…
PRACTICE VIDEOS
Last week, a blast of cold weather moved across the United States. Here in Portland,…
There is a particular group of poses within the side-bending category that is useful for…
Yoga poses are meant to be “prana pumps”, because the ultimate purpose of asana is…
Are you planning on lifting suitcases anytime soon? Shoveling snow? Hauling a Christmas tree? If…
Our contemporary sedentary lifestyles are not kind to our backs (weakening them) and our hamstrings…
The amount of twisting we do in our daily lives is minimal, yet spinal rotation…
To have a strong body, we need a supple spine, stable skeletal structure, supportive core,…
Would you like to feel a spring in your step? When our hips feel stiff,…
Oftentimes our bodies try to get our attention through physical pain and discomfort. The messages…
Oftentimes our bodies try to get our attention through physical pain and discomfort. The messages…
Your right and left brain hemispheres approach the tasks you do throughout your day a…
How do you feel when you are at peace with yourself? Inner peace (or peace of…
Your heart is small but mighty. For an organ that could fit into the palm…
According to the yoga tradition, there are three qualities, or three energetic forces, that are…
When did you last feel like a superhero: strong, confident, capable, and vibrant? Try this…
Do you ever feel so overwhelmed that you have to guard yourself with a stiff…
Are there certain qualities or character traits that you would like to strengthen within yourself?…
We get headaches for a variety of reasons. They can be related to muscular tension,…
Yoga is uniquely positioned to be very effective for dealing with anxiety because it addresses…
Your spine and all the surrounding structures function best when the spinal curves are stacked…
BENEFITS OF PRIVATE YOGA SESSIONS
When my son was little, he used to freak out every time he fell down…
When students arrive at our yoga classes and private yoga sessions, they usually have a…
Some months ago, I met with a new student who’s been recently diagnosed with osteoporosis.…
Sleep impacts every aspect of our physiology, so it is not surprising that we always…
Have you ever had this experience when you get worked up about something one day,…
About a month ago, one of my students had a knee replacement surgery. We planned…
A new client showed up to our first appointment a few years ago with a…
When a new student starts private yoga sessions, we usually ask many different questions about…
Since the beginning of the last century, reporters have been taught that the lede should…
A new student came to see me once for a private session. She was very…
In my yoga teacher training, we used to have Observation clinics, where we would observe…
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FEATURED AUTHORS
Maryam Ovissi
Accredited Trauma-Informed Clinical Yoga Therapist and Yoga Teacher.
Mary Hilliker
Registered Dietitian/Nutritionist, E-RYT500, IAYT-Certified Yoga Therapist
Alison Wesley
Faculty Franklin Method Educator and Registered Yoga Teacher/Therapist in Portland, OR.
Amanda Green
Yoga Teacher and Yoga Therapist
How to Create Yoga Student Profiles: A Simple Step-by-Step Guide to Keeping Records of Private Yoga Sessions
