Month: January 2015

The Quest for the Perfect Mat

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Some girls obsess over finding the perfect shoe. It’s been ingrained in women since the dawn of time…or the telling of Cinderella at very least! But for the average yoga practitioner, finding the perfect yoga mat is like a search for the Holy Grail. We research, discuss, evaluate, analyze and generally lust over any and all mats that seem like they can help our journey onward. And trust, when it comes to our mats, Goldilocks has nothing on how picky we are. It must be slip free, grip tight, cushy but not too comfy, and of course relatively easy to carry around. There’s good reason for our mat love. In yoga we believe all the energy from our sessions gets stored into our mats. Whether or not that’s true, any yoga practitioner will swear by our personal mats and our attachment issues we develop for them. Finding the right mat can truly help your practice, so I’m taking the guesswork out of finding the right fit for you by reviewing different yoga mats I’ve tried …

Alignment Focus: Extended Triangle Pose

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I’m truly thankful for my teachers who have taken the time to show me proper alignment. It’s something I still work on, because it’s a lifetime endeavor to be sure. As an ICU nurse, I firmly believe in protecting our bodies—we only have one and we put it through a lot! As a yoga teacher in training, I believe alignment brings incredible power to each pose. When people ask me which form of yoga is best, I quickly reply, “I’m realizing all of them, actually!” They each bring something to the table that the other practices do not, and we can have a well-rounded practice when we learn from each practice. While Ashtanga yoga is my jam and I love the athleticism it requires (think Kino MacGregor’s crazy arm balances and inversions—swoon!), I am learning to embrace to spiritual flow of Prana, the healing elements of Tantra, and the safe alignment of Iyengar yoga. The side triangle is a staple pose in most yoga flows, and so here are a few tips and tricks to …

New Leaves & Trees (and Other Thoughts)

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New Years in the time when we set lovely intentions (we mean to live by), resolutions (we often break) and lofty goals (we can’t always achieve). Change can come. Sometimes, all we have to do is turn over a new leaf, but other times we must plant a whole new tree. Prana yoga honors the seasons as a powerful influence on our lives, and I actually was in a Prana class on New Year’s Day and found it truly inspiring. My teacher said the New Year is a time of cold and dark, and it’s easy to hybernate both physically and mentally. But, she added, this is an amazing time to start planting seeds of potential. We will reap the harvest later. We must set our goals and intentions now, and if we’re faithful to tend them, we’ll see incredible results. It’s not impossible to teach an old dog new tricks, and I am learning one of the most empowering ways to truly reach and keep our goals is to frequently ask ourselves: how, what, …