Dangers of Yoga Asanas

I love practicing yoga postures, but if practiced incorrectly or without awareness they can be dangerous.  This recent article in the New York Times “How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body” illustrates this point.  Yoga is a system for raising awareness in and of one’s body, mind and soul.  With awareness, the practice naturally unfolds.  One needs always to be focused and carefully exploring what is happening in the body every moment of a posture.    May we all observe ahimsa (non-violence) and practice and teach safely with ever increasing awareness.

Fascia – fabric and glue of the body

Fascia is the biological fabric and glue that holds our bodies together.  It covers us from head to toe in a 3D spider web of callogen fibers, connecting everything.  In bodywork such as massage therapy, physical therapy, pilates and hatha yoga much focus is put on optimal bone alignment and muscle health.  Fascia, long overlooked, seems to be getting it’s due as an important part of spatial functioning and health.  For more info on this topic check out the Anatomy Trains website.    There are many great audio recordings on this page explaining the importance of fascia including one titled Fascia and Yoga.  Anatomy Trains and KMI (Kinesis Myofascial Integration) was developed by Tom Myers and is an extension of the work of Ida Rolf, Moshe Feldenkrais and Buckminster Fuller.

How Yoga Won the West

Article from the NY times about Swami Vivekenanda’s arrival in America in the 1893.

Incredibly detailed asana instructions – Iyengar

I came across this site recently, Brad’s Iyengar Yoga Notebook.  Incredibly detailed instructions for many basic asanas from an Iyengar student.  If you’re not sure of what next to explore in an asana, this guide will help you deepen your awareness of the subtleties. Thank you Brad Priddy!

The Gold Ring

This incredible and fascinating story aired on NPR. Writer Jeff Greenwald meets the Buddha.

Listen here.

Sunday class time change at Yoga Bent studio

There has been a time change for the Sunday hatha and meditation class at Yoga Bent .  The time for the class has been permanently changed to 4:30-6pm starting this Sunday.  Happy Mother’s Day!

Researchers find that meditation changes your brain

Interesting New York Times article regarding meditation.  It seems there have been quite a few scientific studies documenting the benefits of meditation in recent years.  In one of the studies mentioned in this article, it is demonstrated that there are physical changes in the gray matter of meditators’ brains.  The interest in meditation and yoga by allopathic doctors and researchers is very encouraging to me.  Perhaps this kali yuga (dark age) is truly ending