Yoga sequence builder
assists yoga teachers and yoga therapists in creating yoga practices online using customizable stick figure images
TEACHING YOGA
Teaching yoga classes
The ability to hold the space for clients who have experienced trauma requires the ability…
Our connection with other human beings is essential to our health and happiness. Traumatic experiences…
The doorway into yoga for so many westerners is asana. In my last blog, I…
A painting is often a complex combination of the totality of it and the independent…
Human suffering is universal, but everyone’s experience of suffering is unique, even for those who…
“Become the warrior version of yourself,” my teacher used to say. At the time, I…
When people think of the aspects of a great yoga teacher, they often conjure up…
Osteoporosis is a chronic disease that is characterized by porous, weakened bones. It usually presents…
Yesterday morning, I was trying to do my pranayama practice, as my 9-year-old was bouncing…
A few years ago, I wrote a blog post about the similarities between a well-designed…
I was amused to discover that the word priority came into the English language in…
A couple of weeks ago, I went to get a massage at a wellness center…
Some years ago, I was invited to teach an introductory workshop on viniyoga at a…
When my son was about five years old, I made a point of finding some…
When I go to a yoga class, and the teacher asks students to set an…
When I started teaching yoga many years ago, I remember spending a lot of time…
Our brains store huge amounts of information that needs to be kept organized and ready…
Any yoga teacher knows that it feels very different to teach regular students who have…
Over the years, I’ve discovered that as teachers we have to make a choice of…
Most yoga teachers I know spend a lot of time perfecting their craft – they…
Choosing appropriate poses
Am I the only one who finds that sometimes detailed instructions on how to get…
I remember reading an article a couple of years ago by a yoga teacher who…
At first glance, it might seem that axial extension poses are easy – what’s so…
There are two distinctive ways of lengthening the spine while performing axial extension postures: one…
Technically, the term “spinal extension” refers to the spine returning into the neutral position from…
From my observations around my gym, it looks like abdominal crunches are on their way…
One thing that I often hear from my new clients is: “I was told by…
The last time I went to see my hairstylist and settled in the chair, she…
As yoga teachers, we know that the way we move in and out of the…
There is this interesting thing that I observed during my years of teaching yoga –…
One of the revelatory experiences I had in my viniyoga teacher training came after a…
Have you heard the term superfood? It is usually used to describe a nutrient-rich food…
Do you know how tsunamis get started? One of the most common reasons is an…
The best image that seems to help students get the hang of twisting postures is…
A number of years ago, a friend of mine went to a new yoga class.…
When I was little, I did gymnastics, and deep back bends like this one were…
If you follow any famous yogis on Instagram, you will inevitably see many beautiful, glamorous…
A few months ago, one of the teachers in my yoga teacher Facebook group asked…
Most yoga teachers are aware of the idea of compensation (pratikriya, which literally means counteracting).…
Designing yoga practices
There are already plenty of products/services on the market that promise great benefits from integrating AI into yoga. Should we join the hype?
My son has been getting tutoring in Spanish for almost two years now. He gets…
A mudra can play a leading or a supportive role in a yoga practice. In…
Since most mudras are simple hand gestures, they are pretty easy to integrate into one’s…
There are many ways to control breath in our yoga practice. I put them into…
I’ve been reading an interesting book called Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg…
My teacher Gary Kraftsow often says: “You can’t teach what you don’t have.” This means…
Recently I’ve been very fond of this 24-year-old singer from Kazakhstan whose name is Dimash.…
There is an interesting and complex connection between your physiology and your emotions. We tend…
When you want to change the way you think or feel at any given moment,…
Short targeted yoga practice for energetic boost if you are feeling depleted, disconnected, or jaded
How do you feel when you wake up in the morning? Do you feel energized…
When we design a short yoga practice to manage our energy, breathing needs to be…
Every time I have a yoga video shoot with my videographer, I feel slightly guilty.…
My sister had recently gone to see Tony Robbins – you know, the self-help guru?…
When I first moved to Michigan about five years ago, I experienced a bit of…
Our students choose to do yoga for all sorts of reasons, but in my personal…
I remember one of my first Yoga classes – I had raced to the studio…
You know how after some yoga classes, you feel more balanced and centered, and after…
At first glance, it might seem that axial extension poses are easy – what’s so…
Teaching chair yoga
Magic Three yoga poses are simple, foundational poses that most students would benefit from. They…
I have experienced a full-blown panic attack once in my life about 10 years ago.…
Once you begin to think of chair yoga poses in terms of directional movement of…
If you teach chair yoga to a group or individual student for a while, at…
One of my older yoga students gets mildly irritated every time she hears a yoga…
One of the readers commented on the last post on chair yoga: “Chair yoga is…
Yogic frameworks
Whenever we try to understand what’s going on inside ourselves or our students, we can…
For a long time, I’ve been wondering: Where do emotions belong in the Panchamaya model?…
Over the years, I’ve discovered that as teachers we have to make a choice of…
The other day, I was cooking dinner as my son was watching a kid’s movie…
Some Sanskrit words had successfully made it into our pop culture. When a lady in…
I heard a theory (and I don’t know whether or not it’s true) that Western…
Have you ever heard of the “honeymoon nose”? The proper name for it is honeymoon…
I am not a morning person. In my early days as a yoga practitioner, I…
What differentiates a living, breathing human body from a cadaver? After all, the hardware is…
My yoga teacher likes to ask: what is more important – your hamstrings or your…
Yoga teaching options
Recently, we discussed offering your yoga services via video conferencing and live streaming. Another way…
As much as we want this uncertainty brought on by COVID-19 to end quickly, we…
Heraclitus famously said “The only thing that is constant is change.” This applies to everything…
There are many ways of teaching yoga to your students. Today, let’s have an overview…
About twelve years ago, my most reliable and consistent yoga client decided to move to…
Over the holidays, I got hooked on the NPR podcast called “How I Built This,”…
Yoga teacher’s toolbox
Whenever you plan to work with hands, wrists and forearms in your yoga class or…
Whenever you plan to work with legs, knees and ankles in your yoga class or…
Whenever you plan to work with hip adductors, abductors and rotators in your yoga class…
Whenever you design a class or a private yoga session to address tension in hip flexors,…
Whenever you plan to work with lower back and sacrum in your yoga class or…
Whenever you design a yoga class to strengthen the core or tone the pelvic floor…
Whenever you plan to work with shoulders in your yoga class or private yoga session,…
Whenever you design a yoga class aimed at releasing tension in the neck and upper…
Marketing your yoga services
For the last several weeks, my neighborhood has been having Happy Hour get-togethers on Thursday…
What is your favorite TV show right now? What is at stake for the main…
Have you ever seen one of those late-night infomercials with the host screaming at the…
A few years ago, I received an email from an avid blog reader who was…
Several years ago, I went to an ophthalmologist’s office for a vision check. At one…
How’s your transition to teaching yoga online going? Do you have enough students to keep…
I don’t know a single yoga teacher who chose to teach yoga to make money.…
