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Yoga Time Thieves (and what to do about them)

I was dripping with sweat and already feeling the sore creeping into my muscles from the class. Honestly, I felt more than weary… I was physically done.

“How long have we been at this?” I thought as I glanced at the clock.

Shockingly we’d been moving through this intense...

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Learning How to Fall

This weekend I was in the middle of a rigorous handstand practice when I had one of the worst falls I’ve ever had while on my yoga mat.

 It came out of nowhere, it seemed. One moment I was walking into handstand alignment, chest facing the wall, feet on the wall and walking one hand in...

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My Favorite Hip Stretch

It is a rare week as a yoga instructor when you don’t have a student point to the side of their butt and declare, “This hurts!” or “Why am I so sore, right here?” before or after class.

Ah, the piriformis muscle (which is what they were pointing to). It can get a...

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Unlocking Kali Mudra

“Interlace your fingers, release your index fingers, thumbs crossed." 

You’ve heard these words more times than you can count if you’ve had any kind of regular yoga practice. But, other than this being an effective way to grip your hands in a deep Crescent Lunge, or a super...

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It's Time to Stop Pushing

When I first arrived to yoga I will admit I had zero idea what I was getting into. And, I was in my twenties and… acted like someone in their twenties. Reckless. Out to prove something. Trying to figure out where I fit in this huge world.

So, when the instructor said, “Push, push,...

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10 Qualities of a Really Great Yoga Class

Last Thursday morning if you peered into my yoga space at around 9:30am, with its gray-brown walls and too many houseplants happily lining the windows, you would have caught me lying in Savasana with a goofy grin plastered to my face.

I had just completed my practice, an online class I had wanted...

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3 Yoga Drills to Improve Your Standing Head to Knee Pose

Standing Head to Knee. I can hear you sigh right now. Just from seeking those four letters strung together. It’s the posture you love. It’s the posture you hate. It’s kind of EVERYTHING and nothing all at once.

This posture is kind of big deal. I have heard three people - three...

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3 Ways to Improve Your Crescent Lunge

The first time I did this posture I fell over. The tenth time I did a Crescent Lunge… I fell over. By the hundredth time I did this posture I could stay in it, but holy cow I still had a ton of work to do to get the alignment right.

For pretty much all of my students, when I instruct to...

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“I’m not good enough at yoga to take your class.”

When I first truly committed to my yoga practice and was a regular fixture at the studio, I was invited to attend the Advanced Class on Saturday. 

Yes, I practiced six times a week. Yes, I had shorty short yoga shorts before they were even a thing in hot yoga. Yes, my practice was pretty...

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Online yoga? I didn’t think it was going to be any good either.

Three years ago, I would have vehemently said that online yoga classes were crap, a second-rate education, and not for people that were “serious” about their practice.

Looking back, it’s kind of funny now to think of the instructor that I was and who I’ve become over...

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What's Been Your Greatest Adventure?

This past weekend I had the absolute privilege of taking my nephew out on a little excursion to celebrate his seventh birthday. The plan was that Jeffrey and I would take him to the nearest book store, have him pick out all of the books he was super excited to read, and then have lunch.

After...

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Yoga: When you find your "why" you find your way

True confession time. I used to practice yoga to be good at yoga asana. I wanted to make the shapes. I was addicted to hitting the next goal and the next and then, the one after that.

That being said, please know that after all these years on the mat, I still believe realizing a new posture or...

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