Sadhana Sundays with Baxter and Timothy

by NinaJust a quick announcement that Yoga U will be hosting an interview with Baxter Bell called “Yoga And Healthy Aging: The Evidence And The Promise” this coming Sunday, December 29, 2013 as part of their Sadhana Sundays series. Timothy is also participating in the series with his talk “Yoga And Healing: Building The Body's Innate Ability To Heal,” along with many other well-known yoga teachers. If you’re interested, head on over to http://yogauonline.com/yogaspirit/sadhana-Sundays...[Readmore]

Building Unity Farm - A White Christmas on the Farm

It's Christmas at Unity Farm and the temperature outside is 12F.   All 100 animals are fed, watered, and their living quarters are cleaned.The orchard and cider house have been put to bed.   I racked the last 60 liters of our fermented cider into three 20 liter Spiedel tanks and inoculated two of them with malolactic bacteria (Oenococcus oenii) to soften the acids and round out the flavor.   We'll bottle still and sparking cider in...[Readmore]

To the Ears of Babes

by BaxterLelu by Melina MezaSometimes the sweetest things can happen during a yoga class. Recently, one of my students sent a description of something that happened when I was leading a Thanksgiving Day class in Montclair community of Oakland to a local reporter. Now it has showed up on the Montclarion website recently. Enjoy!“Email bag: Reader Brad Newsham shares a story that may give you new faith in humanity. He says a full house at Montclair’s...[Readmore]

Meditation: Effects on Gene Expression

by RamYoga for Healthy Aging authors have written extensively on the power of meditation (dhyana) and its beneficial effects on so many aspects of life, including, but not limited to, disease and pain, sleep management, control of emotions, stress reduction, depression and weight-reduction goals. In all the above cases it seemed that meditation changed behavioral patterns and enhanced emotional stability. Articles by Baxter (How to Meditate, Thoughts...[Readmore]

Friday QA: Bronchitis and Yoga

Q: Every year I seem to get a couple of months of chronic bronchitis.  I have a regular gentle yoga practice, am 63, and am frustrated that when I get a winter cold it seems to settle into my lungs. I am wondering if you have any thoughts on what yoga to practice to strengthen and help heal my lungs.  I looked at your list of topics, but did not see anything that addressed this specific issue. Any thoughts would be appreciated.A: I happen...[Readmore]

In Praise of Gomukhasana (Cow-Face Pose)

by NinaBecause this is turning out to be the almost all-Nina week (don’t worry, all the other regulars will be back soon), I thought today I’d just share with you some more of the beautiful artwork from the current exhibit Yoga: The Art of Transformation at the Smithsonian Museum.As I was looking through the book, I noticed something surprising to me. While most of the yoga poses we currently do in our yoga classes and in our home practices were...[Readmore]

The December HIT Standards Committee

The December HIT Standards Committee focused on patient generated data, image sharing, patient matching, and the 2014 work plan, ensuring we select the necessary standards to support Meaningful Use stage 3 policy goals.We began the meeting with a discussion by Leslie Kelly-Hall of patient generated healthcare data - structured and unstructured questionnaires plus patient provided medical history such as medications, allergies, and problems.  ...[Readmore]

Doing Yoga Without

by NinaYesterday I wrote Cheating at Yoga? about props and how we here at YFHA staff feel it is wise to use them to adapt poses to your body type and/or physical condition. But there are some physical conditions where a prop won’t help. In this case, you can simply modify your poses in certain ways to make them accessible to you.I was thinking about this because recently a friend told me that she “can’t do yoga” anymore because shoulder injury...[Readmore]

Become a Mountain

When I was 16 years old I wrote a short collection of poems.   The cover page listed a few youthful notions that would become my life long guiding principles:"Be wary of artificial limits and self-compromiseIf the world praises mediocrity, don't seek praiseBe true to yourselfYou make your own destiny"Some of these ideas were written in response to high school teachers who told me that my goals were unachievable - I should not ask "will I" but...[Readmore]

Cheating at Yoga?

by NinaAs I wrote in my post Practicing With Pain, sometimes we get a question from a reader that leaves me feeling sad. This one, from a reader who was accused by a teacher of “cheating,” came in just recently:Am I a cheater if I use Props?
Cheat/Cheater: (Oxford dictionary): deceive, fraud, deception, a person who behaves dishonestly, a liar

Dear esteemed Writers /Teachers of this blog, I have been practicing yoga for nearly 20 years and have...[Readmore]