Susan Brochin teaching yoga to her middle school students To bloom where one is planted has become a big lesson for me. Rather than going out to find and create the right dharmic path for teaching yoga, it was there all along, so close that I could not even see it. Without really having a plan, I began to share … Read More
I live and teach in a small rural town of about 5,000 people. So of necessity, my classes are very mixed: prior exposure to yoga ranges from zero to people who have pursued it with enthusiasm for many years. Spiritual backgrounds range from none to Christianity to New Age. While organizing my first class, I pondered a lot about how … Read More
From the Kay Erdwinn’s Post Teaching Yoga for Round Bodies The difficulty for fat people with this asana is the tendency for the legs to splay open when bringing the feet to the buttocks — another case of “the fat has to go somewhere.” Holding a strap around the feet, and fastening another one around the lower thighs (don’t suggest … Read More
In When Does Flexible Start to Mean Harmful?, Lorraine Kreahling asks, Does too much stretching cause injuries? Ten to twenty years ago, when I was teaching yoga in San Francisco, one rarely heard of people being injured from practicing yoga. During this time I worked both as a chiropractic assistant and in sports medicine research. To the extent that we saw yoga … Read More
Although written for Ananda Yoga teachers, this article will interest any serious practitioner of yoga. What do you say when someone asks, “What is Ananda Yoga?” Probably you give a brief and rather general answer, tailored to what you think he or she will best relate to. But what is Ananda Yoga, really? There’s no quick, definitive answer, but in this … Read More
Although written for Ananda Yoga teachers, this article will interest any serious practitioner of yoga. I’m sometimes asked, “Where does Ananda Yoga come from? Paramhansa Yogananda didn’t teach asanas, did he? Did he even do them himself? What’s the story?” I can certainly understand why there would be confusion, so I’d like to clear it up in this article. I … Read More
Last May, the University of Southern Indiana School of Nursing and Health Professions asked me to talk on “Yoga As A Healing Modality” to their Case Management Seminar. It was quite a new topic for the participants (nurses, nurse practitioners, physicians, and corporate health insurance managers), as evidenced by other Seminar topics such as: “The Future of Case Management,” “Prospective … Read More
Gyandev: How did all this begin? Süheyla: I worked out at the club, and they asked me to start teaching. I hesitated because I didn’t think I could use there what I have learned at Ananda. But my heart said, “Go for it. If it doesn’t work, you can always find another job.” Management was more interested in me teaching … Read More
From the Kay Erdwinn’s Post Teaching Yoga for Round Bodies I don’t think this asana has any problems exclusive to fat people — except that they have to hold up even more weight in the arms, so it’s hard to hold the pose for very long.
What is “therapeutic yoga”? Is it just the latest yoga marketing hype? After all, isn’t all yoga therapeutic by nature? I was asked to write about this for two reasons: First, many people want to know more about the Therapeutic Yoga and Therapeutic Yoga Teacher Training programs that I’m teaching at The Expanding Light. Second, the whole subject of yoga therapy has become a … Read More
