With the change in the season, night falling sooner and new reflections of the year closely coming to an end, I found myself in “poetic motion” and I was looking for some inspiration.

Perhaps a familiar language that also engages in this journey of taking yoga one day at a time? (more…)

While at the Global Mala Project in Los Angeles, our team had the great fortune to view the inspiring work of Jasper Johal.
Mr. Johal is a photographer of some of the most intimate, artful and beautifully nude views of yoga poses. In his series entitled The Body as Temple we are offered a spiritual and sensuous insight of the body as a sacred being. (more…)

Let the beauty of what you love be what you do. – Rumi

Another month comes upon us and perhaps you are once again, creating a list of what you need to or want to accomplish in this mere 31 days. How long is that list? Is it practical? Is it fanciful? Does it include your health and exercise goals?

How often do we assume that our exercise regime will just take care of itself? For myself, that may just be one too many days. (more…)

In the future we will be bringing you profiles on individuals or organizations that bring the arts and yoga together in the form of poetry, dance, theatre or painting.

While doing this research we came across the work of Leza Lowitz.  In a lovely collection of poems entitled Yoga Poems: Lines to Unfold By, Leza is combining her passion for poetry with her devotion to yoga. (more…)

To lift my spirits, I sing. And this month - with mercury in retrograde and the fire season in California and a summer of strange and wobbly changes that have affected my bank account, my health and my confidence - I’ve been singing a lot! (more…)

It takes me a while to get the hang of it — being on vacation — but slowly I let go of my daily routine and “let the good times roll” (yes, I am in New Orleans!). (more…)

I’m an April baby. Coming to life with the first blasts of green windy spring days. Anyone who knows me would probably describe me as truly possessing the energy of this season: quick-sprouting, excited by the wind, forever hopeful of what’s being created! (more…)

Every yoga pose (asana) can also be a meditation. These two functions of a yoga practice are often isolated. In fact, meditation can occur naturally while in one of the hundreds of asanas when you settle into the pose for an extended hold.

This does not mean hold your breath or hold till it hurts. The instruction to find a “comfortable, steady pose” is common in most schools of yoga. In this way each pose reveals itself to the practitioner. Experiencing a meditative quality while in sitting forward bend will feel very different from doing meditation while walking or sitting in lotus pose. (more…)

You are your own best yoga teacher. While it’s true that finding a good yoga teacher is like falling in love, ultimately that “teacher” is you. The trust and enthusiasm you experience with a teacher who has you coming back for more is just your own desire for that knowledge. (more…)

Something happens during a yoga class that is different from going to a gym or taking a nap (two activities that students will often try comparing with yoga).

I’ve already mentioned that the nature of coming into yoga poses, moving with breath, staying with the yoga poses for extended periods of time followed by a deep relaxation creates a type of whole body meditation. While many forms of meditation encourage a complete stillness of the physical body in a “lotus” sitting pose, yogic meditation can happen within each pose. So that you may experience a profound meditative state while in the head stand or the tree! (more…)