Stretch by Neal Pollack

I confess: I’m a little burnt out on yoga books. There are a lot of really good instructional books about yoga available at your local bookstore, usually showing photos of key poses and ideas on how to arrange them into sequences. Yet more and more books following this model continue to be published and aggressively […]

Downward-Facing Death by Neal Pollack

I always appreciate an unconventional yoga book and Neal Pollack’s yoga mystery Downward-Facing Death fits the bill. Pollack created his protagonist, Los Angeles cop turned yoga detective Matt Bolster, in response to an offer to write a genre novel for Amazon Publishing’s Kindle Serials. The book originally appeared in monthly installments by subscription and is […]

Inversions Sequence

By Ann Pizer, About.com Guide Updated August 12, 2012 About.com Health’s Disease and Condition content is reviewed by our Medical Review Board Bring the legs out into a wide straddle position. Try to keep your feet in the same plane as your hips, being aware of the tendency to stick your butt out in this […]

Wheel Pose

Type of pose: Backbend Benefits: Improves spinal flexibility. Stretches the shoulders and chest. Strengthens the arms. Instructions: 1. Come to lie on the back 2. Bend the knees, bringing the soles of the feet parallel on the mat close to the buttocks. 4. Bend the elbows and bring the palms of your hands underneath your […]

Parivrtta Janu Sirsasana

Type of Pose: Seated twist Benefits: Stretches the hamstrings, opens the shoulders and spine Instructions: 1. Begin in a seated wide-legged straddle (upavistha konasana). 2. Bend your right knee and bring the sole of your right foot to the inner left thigh. 3. Lean your torso over to the left, bringing the back of your […]

Lion's Breath

Lion’s Breath relieves tension in the face by stretching the jaw and tongue. It can be done in almost any pose. 1. Come to kneel with your seat resting in your feet. 2. Place your hands on your knees. 3. Inhale through the nose. 4. Exhale through the mouth, making a “ha” sound. As you […]

Yoga Chitta Vritti Nirodha

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali is an ancient philosophical text. Sutras are short aphorisms addressing a particular topic, in this case yoga. The second sutra provides a definition of yoga: “yoga chitta vritti nirodha.” Though there are variations on how this statement is translated from the Sanskrit, one common interpretation is “yoga is the cessation […]

Standing Yoga Poses Sequence

By Ann Pizer, About.com Guide Updated December 24, 2012 About.com Health’s Disease and Condition content is reviewed by our Medical Review Board Inhale. Bring the right foot forward next to the right hand as you come into a lunge position. Make sure the toes on your right foot line up with the fingertips on your […]

Useful Yoga Poses

By Ann Pizer, About.com Guide Updated December 07, 2011 About.com Health’s Disease and Condition content is reviewed by our Medical Review Board I use the half lotus variation of tree pose almost daily. It’s the exact position you end up in when you are standing in the shower sloughing the soles of your feet with […]

The First Lady of Yoga

Gordon M. Grant for The New York Times Colleen Saidman Yee at her home in Sag Harbor, N.Y., where she has a yoga studio. Her discovery of yoga was “like everything was clearer and crisper and I could hear better.” Vaguely indicating the lower torso, the word “core” has been rippling (as it were) through […]