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
When we move, our muscles, tendons, ligaments, nerves, and fascia must slide smoothly over one another. This gliding quality of connective tissue allows all structures to move with minimal friction, supporting efficient movement, reducing wear and tear, and helping prevent injury.
It is essential to resolve your day before going to bed because it helps calm the mind, reduce mental clutter, and prepare your nervous system for deep rest. Here are three simple strategies to help you resolve your day, so you can unwind, sleep better, and wake up refreshed.
Progressive relaxation uses a body-first approach to calm the mind. By consciously relaxing your body part by part, you signal safety to your nervous system, breaking the stress loop and promoting rest. With practice, it can help you fall asleep quickly and sleep more restfully.
YOGA FOR YOUR BODY
I must admit: before I started my viniyoga teacher training, I’d never heard of sacrum…
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
Human suffering is universal, but everyone’s experience of suffering is unique, even for those who…
There are many ideas out there about what a yoga practice should look like: some…
I heard that Sri Krishnamacharya liked to say that when you are doing asana,…
PRACTICE VIDEOS
When we move, our muscles, tendons, ligaments, nerves, and fascia must slide smoothly over one another. This gliding quality of connective tissue allows all structures to move with minimal friction, supporting efficient movement, reducing wear and tear, and helping prevent injury.
Your breath is a powerful bridge between your physical body, mind, and nervous system. These two practices offer two foundational techniques to help you access and strengthen this connection. The first helps maintain the strength and mobility of your diaphragm, the central muscle in respiration. The second offers a grounding technique rooted in yoga philosophy to help you release overwhelm and restore calm.
Many things in life can take our breath away. Sometimes it’s joy or awe that makes us feel overwhelmed. Other times, it’s acute pain, bad news, or stress that leaves us breathless and frozen. These strong experiences jolt the nervous system, throwing us into a heightened state of alert.
In a sedentary lifestyle, we often tighten the muscles in the front of the body,…
Traditionally, yoga practices for young adults were vinyasa-based and centered around a Sun Salutation. Sun…
Your vestibular system, working in tandem with your eyes, proprioception, and pressure sensors in your…
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…
BENEFITS OF PRIVATE YOGA SESSIONS
Have you ever had this experience when you get worked up about something one day,…
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…
A new client showed up to our first appointment a few years ago with a…
Some months ago, I met with a new student who’s been recently diagnosed with osteoporosis.…
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…
Sleep impacts every aspect of our physiology, so it is not surprising that we always…
About a month ago, one of my students had a knee replacement surgery. We planned…
When a new student starts private yoga sessions, we usually ask many different questions about…
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.
Lisa Sack
Certified Viniyoga® therapist, Āyurvedic Health Counselor, and Hanna Somatic Educator®.
Alison Wesley
Faculty Franklin Method Educator and Registered Yoga Teacher/Therapist in Portland, OR.
Mary Hilliker
Registered Dietitian/Nutritionist, E-RYT500, IAYT-Certified Yoga Therapist
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
