The Top 5 Benefits of Yoga's Frog Pose (Mandukasana)
Sanskrit Name: Mandukasana English Name: Frog Pose Level: Intermediate Type: Hip Opener, Forward Bend Anatomy: Back, Hips. Knees Position: Prone Frog Pose, or Mandukasana in Sanskrit, is a powerful hip-opening yoga posture that offers a wide range of benefits for
Activate Your Core: Practice Yoga's Boat Pose at the Wall
Practicing Boat Pose (Navasana) with the support of a wall helps you strengthen your abdominal muscles and deep hip flexors. The wall absorbs some of the burdens as you activate your muscles and explore your balance. The wall also allows
Neuroplasticity: How to Rewire Your Resilience
According to Hebb’s law, what fires together, wires together. Whatever you repeatedly think, feel, and sense builds new or strengthens existing patterns of neural connections in the brain. The science of neuroplasticity teaches us that our brains are constantly learning
Healthy Backbending: How to Organize Backbends in a Yoga Sequence
A number of years ago, a friend of mine went to a new yoga class. At one point, they did Ustrasana (Camel Pose), and my friend couldn’t quite reach her heels. She was content keeping her hands on her back
Somatic Movement: A Gateway to Yoga's Body-Mind Wisdom
A somatic movement is made with a focus on the internal movement instead of on the external movement. Internal movement is very different from most physical or exercise training. Because his internal way of moving builds your interoception (self-sensing) it
Best Yoga Poses for High Blood Pressure and Poses to Avoid
Yoga can be a very beneficial therapy for controlling and lowering high blood pressure naturally. The gentle, soothing practice of yoga asanas settles both mind and body and reduces stress—a leading cause of hypertension. If you choose the right yoga
Arm-Free Yoga: Give Your Shoulders a Well-Deserved Break
Our arms are our instruments of doing. We use them to accomplish almost everything we do in our daily lives. We use them to chop veggies, to type on our keyboards, to eat, to drink, to lug objects from one
Try Yoga's Mindfulness for Maintaining Healthy Relationships During Menopause
The average age for women to divorce perfectly aligns with the average age of perimenopause starting in the early 40s. It’s no coincidence, and the research backs that up. In fact, this recent study found 7 out of 10 UK
Why We Need to Redefine Yoga Alignment in Asana
Yoga alignment cues very often seem to perpetuate throughout the yoga world, passed down from one teacher to another. Some are very useful and informative. Others may need to be reconsidered. So often, yoga teachers offer “universal alignment cues.” They
Give Your Feet A Little Love: 4 Postural Resets for Foot Pain
If the last two years have taught us anything, it has been that the once unimaginable Zoom conferences and virtual strategy meetings are now just another day “in the office.” With each day feeling a little like Groundhog Day, working
How to do Downward Facing Dog Pose
Introduction to Downward Facing Dog Pose Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward Facing Dog Pose) is one of the most commonly taught and practiced yoga poses. In Vinyasa (flow) classes, Downward Facing Dog is often used as a transition pose to move
How Yoga Can Help Cultivate Lower Back Health
Lower back health is a product of ALL the components of you. You might be thinking: okay, that means my lower back pain history, lower back mobility, flexibility, strength, my hip or hamstring mobility and flexibility, my core strength, and
Yoga and Intergenerational Trauma
Intergenerational trauma is part of the experience of being human, but embodiment practices like yoga allow us to heal and move toward resilience. Read on to explore how yoga for intergenerational trauma can help. What Is Intergenerational Trauma? According to
Mindful Twisting: Seated Spinal Twist Pose at the Wall
It takes time for lifelong patterns to be reversed. Our bodies acquire certain feelings and forms based on the repetitive movements we make—conscious or unconscious. How we sit, stand, sleep, eat, and walk all affect our posture and physical holding