Tag: Back
New! Core Strength for Real People: Tap Front and Back
Ready to keep your sense of humor as you play with a challenge to your balance? The latest episode of Core Strength for Real People is here to help! From standing and from tabletop, we’ll work abs, back muscles, and balance with contralateral movements to tap in front of and behind the body. Enjoy the…
New: Core Strength for Real People: Reset Your Hips and Spine
All the core exercises in the world are useless if you can’t balance your pelvis and spine. In these relaxing exercises, you’ll give the muscles that control movement of your hips and back a timeout. This brings them into harmony so your next core workout will be more productive! Enjoy the preview above, and buy or…
Reblog: Hunchback, Begone! Relief for Your Upper Back, Part 1
Here’s a piece I wrote for Yoga for Aging Athletes in reply to the Buzzfeed hunchback incident. Let’s talk about the hunch! It’s been on my mind both over time—I have a prominently rounded, or kyphotic upper back, and have since childhood (one doctor called it “front to back scoliosis,” not what you want to hear…
Wrong-seeing and Two Seconds of Buzzfeed Fame
When I woke up Sunday and glanced at the iPad, I saw that my colleague Sara sent me a link to the Buzzfeed article “27 Things That Are Too Real for People with Terrible Posture,” telling me to check out number 20 on the list. I scrolled down to see a picture of myself in cat pose, labeled…
Read: 12-Minute Core-Strength Yoga Sequence for Real People
Are you a real person? Me, too! I often feel pressed for time, and I certainly have a real body; that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t keep my core strong. I do that by taking and teaching Pilates classes and supplementing that with a home practice like this one I wrote up for Yoga Journal. Core strength is…
Watch: Yoga for Athletes Teachers’ Lounge: Backbends
Second in my Yoga Vibes series of ten practices filmed at my Teaching Yoga to Athletes intensive is an investigation of both passive and active backbends. These simple but powerful poses can improve posture, increase balance in the body, and prevent injury in athletes and everyone. Watch the preview or the full class here. Take…
Serious Recovery: Supported Child’s Pose
My latest entry for Serious Recovery describes one of my favorite unwinding poses: supported child’s pose. When your lower back is sore, your neck is tired, and your legs are shot, there’s little better than coming into supported child’s pose, a restorative version of a familiar yoga posture. You’ll receive a gentle stretch for your…
Slideshow: Yoga for Stress Relief
The first day back at work after a holiday can be especially stressful. When you get home tonight, pull a pillow or two off the bed and enjoy this slideshow I made for LiveStrong.com: Yoga for Stress Relief.
Reverse Vinyasa
This is a follow-up to my variations on vinyasa post, as well as the story of a lightbulb moment. During my fantastically fun intensive on teaching yoga to athletes (there’s still room for a few more in New York next month), I was bemoaning the monotony of the standard vinyasa from plank through chaturanga to…
Variations on Vinyasa
In my class this week (join me for a repeat Thursday night at 5:45), there are a lot of opportunities for the vinyasa from plank through chaturanga to cobra or upward-facing dog to downward-facing dog. This opportunity happens about forty times in the sequence, which begins with warm-up moves, builds to standing poses, and segues…
Hey, Bird Dog
To my delight, Runner’s World‘s Best of Running list contains a favorite yoga pose (which appears on page 2, just under Best Training Advice: Value Rest, on which I plan to write much more in 2010). To my surprise, that pose is Bird Dog, in which you’re on your hands and knees, with one arm…