Category: Start Your Yoga Practice

Day 1: Sweat Yoga

Margaret Kruszewska
MS_Bikram_day1.jpgI've signed up for that ultimate marketing savvy yoga class offer -Bikram's 10 classes for $10 for 10 days. In case you haven't heard what Bikram yoga classes are about; room temperature is kept at 105 degrees and it's all about the sweating. Now I'm not a big fan (no pun intended!) of a lot of hot air (pun intended!). I can barely withstand a couple of minutes in a sauna cause it...
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Learning to Breathe in Yoga

Margaret Kruszewska
Everyone alive knows how to breathe. But our breath also changes according to our emotions and environment. I frequently notice students holding their breath (not breathing) when they are trying to get into a difficult yoga pose. Nothing shuts down the physical body faster. Muscles don't move, your brain and heart receive a message to stop. (more…)
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Yoga for Every Day Life!

Margaret Kruszewska
I miss yoga. It may be difficult to believe, but I haven't done a full yoga session in a couple of weeks. It's been a month of erratic schedules, new projects, mercury-retrograde, writing deadlines and rainy weather. I'm not complaining. I like my life unpredictable. Love my out of town visitors and the irresistible invites to parties and dance concerts. Loved sleeping in this month more than usual cause I was up till 3am!...
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Yoga as Meditation

Margaret Kruszewska
Yoga and MeditationSomething 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...
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Yoga Poses To Infinity

Margaret Kruszewska
Yoga Poses to InfinityDuring my travels in India I learned an important life lesson while riding buses and trains: there's always room for one more! I've often repeated this idea while teaching near-capacity classes because it applies to the attitude and state of mind a yoga student cultivates that eventually becomes more important than learning which foot to place where in asana. Truth be told, conditions are rarely just right, usually you don't have the time,...
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Your Yoga Journal

Margaret Kruszewska
Yoga and Journal WritingKeeping a journal is a common enough practice these days. Artists often use journals as a way to remember inspirations and reflect on what they are experiencing. Similarly, starting a yoga journal can help you record and notice how your daily life is changing because of your yoga practice. (more…)
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Solo Yoga

Margaret Kruszewska
It's a very different feeling creating your own yoga session than it is showing up for a yoga class. In my 20 years of yoga practice, I've gone through periods of knowing that I needed the structure and guidance of another yoga teacher and other times when I was able to go much deeper into my own yoga practice by going solo. (more…)
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