Sports such as basketball, football, baseball, cheerleading and dance are fun and challenging disciplines that encourage focus. But sports can also be brutal and unforgiving to young bodies. Because youth are resilient, they can often be unaware of the strain and stress the body endures during practices and games. After an intense practice or competition, [...]
Pregnancy and Practice I hated being pregnant. By the end, I could no longer fit into my maternity pants and had to wear an old pair of drawstring sweatpants every day. My arms were swollen and pink. They flapped back and forth, like the belly of a pig, when I washed the dishes. My butt [...]
A simple sentence grabbed our attention: “Sometimes our most profound, life-changing experiences happen far away from home.” This was the introduction for Billy and Patti Asad’s YogaWorks Couples Retreat at Sycamore Mineral Springs Resort. Under the Couple’s empathetic guidance, the program offered four yoga sessions interspersed with socializing, hiking, cycling and hot-tubbing. Sycamore [...]
Playing With Flight. Making the Sacred Fun When Brett and I arrived at Sycamore Mineral Springs Resort after four days camping in Yosemite, we were covered in dust and nursing tired, cold bodies from miles of hiking. I was not only excited about my first yoga retreat, but also having a decent shower. [...]
Remembering To Breathe. Two hurdles prevent my giving yoga the consideration it deserves: time and my brain. In juggling work and deadlines, my personal time often suffers. As a result, the Wednesday night and Saturday morning yoga sessions my friend teaches never quite eventuate. So my LA YOGA editor and partner Natalie joined forces to [...]
Ayurveda has been practiced in the U.S. for only about 30 years, yet it is a 5,000 year old Indian system of medicine and yoga’s sister science. Readers are invited to submit questions for “Ayurveda Q & A” to ayurveda@layogamagazine.com. Q: My interconnected issues involve extensive skin problems and inability to maintain a healthy weight. While doctors [...]
The Generation Trap I’m a third-generation American, a second-generation control freak, and I now realize, a first-generation yogi. The other day, I was reading a teacher’s bio. Her first teacher? Her mom. She’s been practicing since she was two. “I’ll never catch up,” I thought, which just put me farther behind. If I’d been practicing [...]
Ayurveda has been practiced in the U.S. for only about 30 years, yet it is a 5,000 year old Indian system of medicine and yoga’s sister science. Readers are invited to submit questions for “Ayurveda Q & A” to ayurveda@layogamagazine.com. Q: My interconnected issues involve extensive skin problems and inability to maintain a healthy weight. While doctors [...]
Speaking with Mother Maya about spiritual practice, mothers, food and Mother Earth The life of Swamini Mayatitananda (formerly known as Bri Maya Tiwari), and often referred to respectfully as Mother Maya, is a testament to the role of nourishment, and of sustained sadhana (spiritual practice). She embarked on the path of Ayurveda with an Earth-centered [...]
Spiritual practice to nourish the self for emotional health and grief relief I was truly good friends with my mother, and when she died of a stroke at 54 (I was 20), I was certainly not prepared for life without her. For two-and-a-half years, I lived in a state of denial, completely disconnected from my [...]