Monday, October 27, 2008

Old Fat Naked Women for Peace

Generally I prefer to stay out of the political arena, but I couldn't resist this one! It is fabulous!

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

How I Began Yoga


Recently, Karen at Inspirasana asked me why I began yoga, so I thought I would reminisce a bit. Interestingly, yoga found me more than me finding yoga. (Coincidence, right?) I was eighteen years old when I had my first yoga class. I was in college and using it to fulfill my freshman PE requirement, not the most auspicious beginning! ☺ It wasn’t love at first sight. I was involved in western physiology, aerobics and weight-lifting, and yoga was way too slow for me. (Yep, I cringe at those words now!)

The summer after I graduated from college, I was working in an athletic club. There was a teacher there who taught a “stretch” class. (It was yoga, but back then you couldn’t call it that because people thought it was a cult or a religion. No, I was not in a small town. I was in DC! Which means, yep, I have been doing yoga that long!) She was going on vacation and needed a sub while she was gone. I realized yoga was something I didn’t teach yet and thought it might be something that would grow (prophetic, eh?) so being a yoga teacher might make me more marketable (I had no idea!). I agreed to apprentice with her. Truly, at this point, I could say the rest is history. She was my first teacher and I studied with her for many years. I ended up running her yoga studio and helping her design her first teacher training. Over the years of studying with her, I slowly moved away from my western style of exercise (yoga and weight training) to more and more yoga.

I know do yoga because it feeds me in more ways than I can count, truly. It inspires me and through it, I inspire others. I often tell my students that people begin yoga for one or two reasons and continue for a thousand. Why did you start yoga? Why do you continue yoga?

Related Posts:
What Brought You to Yoga?

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Help for Your Psoas

The Psoas is a fascinating muscle. (You may have heard it called “illiopsoas” which is what it is called when it is combined with another muscles the “iliacus”.) It is the only muscle that runs from the torso to the legs (all others go from torso to pelvis and pelvis to legs) so it is essential to the connection between the torso and the legs both physically and energetically. It runs from the front of the spine in the lower back, through the pelvis, to attach to the upper inner thigh bone (femur). Its make up is also a bit different than other muscles so you need to treat it differently. It needs to be relaxed, lengthened and strengthened. Here are some podcasts for you to enjoy to help you with yours! You can also link here to a Squidoo lense with all sorts of information!

Top 100 Yoga and Meditation Sites

Thank you X-Ray Technician Schools! They compiled the 100 best yoga and meditation sites for us. They have a brief description of each so you can find what fits you. Enjoy!