Just before dusk on a drive through Los Angeles a fierce amber sun hung in the skies that had become overcast with soot and ash. All around us was a dry and thick aroma of settled embers that lay across the cities north and south of us. We drove towards it as it moved into the sea and each of us let out a gasp of reverence. (more…)

Sometimes it takes courage to laugh, to set aside our judgements, and doubts and to just allow ourselves to experience the humor in our lives.

According to Dr. Madan Kataria in Bombay, he has been able to merge the benefits of yoga and laughter into one practice. In an article by Alex Perry, Dr. Kataria was observed in central Bombay at sports area with a group of yoga students expelling rounds of laughter and yoga stretches. Although it may sound intrusive to the average yoga practioner, this movement, according to the article, has now become popular throughout the world in 700 locations with an overwhelming number of them (1,800) located in India. (more…)

The way I learned it, “maya” was the veil of illusions that keep us from the Real. “Real” meaning the knowledge that all is divine and therefore we are divine and because all the “stuff” of the physical, material world, like our houses, our relationships and even our dreams fluctuate, we become distracted away from this deeper knowing. (more…)

Since I had to return home before completing a full 10 days of Anusara thought I’d just complete my comments with some follow-up notes — about one of my favorite puzzles in yoga practice- the male authority body (as renown teacher “expert”) instructing female student bodies. (more…)

That’s what the yoga instructor said as he called my name in class, “puff your kidneys!” I am still capable of quipping back in a New York minute - “say WHAT?” (more…)

A yoga class can be a place where students, especially female students, may experience issues around authority, self-authority, and their bodies. Certainly I have, when stepping into a class and placing myself onto my yoga mat in front of a yoga teacher I do not know, whom, I hope, will know how to work with my limitations. (more…)

Yesterday I was having a casual conversation with a friend about the different schools of yoga. Well, as casual as any conversation can be on this topic with me right now! I started explaining the different approaches and what each school seems to emphasize in the physical postures and he asked, “How do they come up with this? Why would Bikram be all about building strong thighs and Anusara all about standing on your hands?” (more…)

So I get that there is no set yoga sequence in Anusara Yoga. Although they seem to favor the upper body balancers and rotating thighs - somehow - still not clear about which direction we’re spiraling.

The yoga teacher is then responsible for choosing the order of the yoga postures and deciding how long students hold the pose and when to allow rest breaks. So if the teacher has something on his mind, you will be the recipient of it. What to do but keep stretching your hamstrings while he begins class by chatting about his week. Nothing like unloading his burden by “sharing” it with the class: computer break-ins, sick relative, business is slow, time pressures. Ah well, glad the teacher felt better after that little intro! (more…)

It’s difficult to explain this, but what keeps me coming back to a particular yoga session or teacher is the overall “tone” of the class, comparable to describing the aftertaste of a good wine or dining experience. The ingredients may all be there but it’s in how it’s all put together and experienced by the students that makes it effective and memorable. And so far my experience with the Anusara classes is, well - a jerky kind of energy - where students don’t know what’s coming or how to get out of the yoga poses and so it’s stop - go - stop - next go… (more…)

Yoga has to be experienced to really understand what it is and what it does. So, convinced that a fun and educational way to begin to understand all the different yoga approaches is to immerse myself in these 10 day mini-training yoga sessions, I headed to a new yoga studio in the Los Angeles area whose teachers are Anusara schooled. (more…)