I have been in a 30 year relationship with yoga. When I started at age 23, I was steeped in anxiety, perfectionism, and self-loathing. I was simultaneously too much and not enough, and struggled with depression on and off for many years. Yoga has been the one constant throughout my adult life that gave me
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I usually have a packed schedule. Over the years I’ve learned to create space and buffer zones in my day so that I don’t feel as frantic as I used to when I would rush from thing to thing without a moment to breathe. In my 20s, my day was scheduled to the minute. Thankfully
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And it doesn’t involve becoming a pretzel… 50 is about the age when your body begins to rebel. My body started to rebel at age 39, but I’ve always been an overachiever… Suddenly you have aches and pains that you never had before. You might be having trouble sleeping, and your anxiety is suddenly off the charts.
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Practicing yoga both on and off the mat If you’ve been reading my essays for any amount of time, you will know that yoga is much more than just poses on the mat. Many of us start with that, I know I did. There is so much to learn about yourself and your body by
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And what I release Practicing yoga has myriad benefits: building strength, improving balance, and increasing mobility. As you age, all of this becomes even more important for maintaining an active lifestyle. You can get all of the above by functional training in the gym. However, this is the tip of the iceberg in terms of
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The holidays are coming, can you feel it? Now that Halloween is over and we’re only a couple of weeks away from Thanksgiving in the United States, the Winter holiday decorations abound. No matter which holidays you celebrate (or don’t celebrate) this season, stress levels tend to rise this time of year. The energy of
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Also Legs Up the Wall pose/Viparita Karani and Fish pose/Matsyasana because they are all related Welcome to my monthly series Ask a Yoga Teacher, where you get your questions answered about different yoga poses, movement concepts, or anything else you have questions about. If you have a question you’d like me to answer, you can leave
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And that’s completely okay When you think about practicing yoga or meditation, you might have an ideal picture about what it “should” be like, or what you “should” feel like. You might think that you need to practice for a certain length of time for it to be “worth it.” The beauty of yoga and
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As an introvert who is also a “recovering perfectionist,” finding community can be challenging. For one, I like spending time alone. Now that I’m a separated empty nester, my time is no longer beholden to others and I can (finally) be by myself. Don’t get me wrong, I love my kids and love spending time
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My first real voyage into meditation as a practice separate from yoga asana, was during my first yoga teacher training in 1999. During the 10 day training we sat for meditation twice a day for 30 minutes. We usually started with guidance then were left in silence for the rest of the time. I found
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