Cat-Cow Stretch – Chakravakasana

On an inhale: 1. Curl your toes under. 2. Drop your belly, but keep your abdominal muscles hugging your spine. 3. Take your gaze up toward the ceiling. 4. Let the movement in the spine start from your tailbone, so that your neck is the last part to move.

2014 Winter Olympians Do Yoga

“Yoga has really become a big part of my life and is a great ritual to incorporate into my life on the road.” Gretchen Bleiler, 32, won a silver medal in halfpipe competition at the 2006 Olympics in Torino, Italy, in addition to four career golds in the Winter X Games. She also competed in the […]

2014 Winter Olympians Do Yoga

Many of the world’s elite athletes practice yoga as part of their training for both its mental and physical benefits. A few of Team U.S.A.’s finest shared their love of yoga with us as they prepare for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, which kick off February 6th. Some of the final Olympic qualification […]

Yoga Festivals 2014

The yoga festival trend has really taken off since Wanderlust launched in summer, 2009 with a single festival in Squaw Valley, California. Wanderlust alone has plans for multiple festivals worldwide in 2014 and many other organizations are also planning events in the United States and abroad. A yoga festival is usually a mix of asana classes and musical acts […]

Mountain Pose – Tadasana

Type of pose: Standing Benefits: Improves posture, strengthens thighs, can help relieve back pain Instructions: 1. Come to stand with the big toes touching. 2. Lift up all your toes and let them fan out, then drop them down creating a wide solid base. You can separate your heels slightly if your ankles are knocking […]

Prenatal Yoga – The Third Trimester

As the third trimester progresses, prenatal yoga may become more difficult (just like walking up the stairs, tying your own shoes, and turning over in bed). Your belly becomes a real factor, as do general tiredness and feeling cumbersome. If you were able to practice yoga with some vigor in the second trimester, give yourself […]

Yoga Classics: Light on Yoga by B.K.S. Iyengar

First published in 1966, B.K.S. Iyengar’s Light on Yoga: Yoga Dipika has become a yoga classic and a reference stable for modern hatha yoga. Light on Yoga, a must-have for any yoga practitioner’s library, remains the gold standard for its illustration and explanation of hundreds of yoga poses. An Encyclopedia of Poses In the introduction, […]

Eons Before the Yoga Mat Became Trendy

Mehrangarh Museum Trust A yogini from early 11th-century India. WASHINGTON — Pain is a problem. So is pleasure, which causes pain — discontent, confusion, depression — when it ends, as it always does. Escape from this cycle has been a goal of spiritual disciplines universally. And one of those disciplines is the subject of an […]