From the Kay Erdwinn’s Post Teaching Yoga for Round Bodies Here’s another asana in which the abdomen gets in the way. A partial solution is to practice the variation with legs wide apart. One still has to turn the torso before bending over the knee, so some compression is inevitable. It’s easier than the standard, legforward version, however. A word … Read More
Yoga for Multiple Sclerosis
Yoga Practices Help Manage the Effects of MS Ananda Yoga® for Multiple Sclerosis, A Research Study Completed in May 2008 With approximately 400,000 people in the US affected by Multiple Sclerosis, it is little wonder that many of us find our lives being touched by this disease of the nervous system through personal experience, family or friends. In early 2008, … Read More
Insights Into Truthfulness
Teaching yoga is such a wonderful way to deepen the understanding that we are all divine. One way I’ve come to see this more and more is through teaching three sections of a 15-week, three-credit yoga class at Frederick Community College in Frederick, Maryland. I’d like to share with you some of the inspiration that I’ve felt in doing this. … Read More
Trikonasana – The Triangle Pose
From the Kay Erdwinn’s Post Teaching Yoga for Round Bodies I don’t think this asana should be done any differently by fat people. Fat students need to pay special attention to not collapsing the underside of the rib cage because just the bending alone will restrict breathing somewhat. Also, since the torso of the fat person weighs more, s/he may be … Read More
Vajrasana – The Firm Pose (or Thunderbolt Pose, Diamond Pose)
From the Kay Erdwinn’s Post Teaching Yoga for Round Bodies As with Balasana, the thigh fat just doesn’t know where to go in this asana! Therefore, the fat student may not be able to sit on the heels at all. For some, however, especially midsized people, the trick I described for Balasana — rolling the muscle and fat on the calves and … Read More
Sarvangasana – The Shoulder-Stand
From the Kay Erdwinn’s Post Teaching Yoga for Round Bodies I don’t teach this asana for the same reason as I don’t teach Halasana. However, the primary difficulty for a fat person in this asana comes in placing the hands on the back and the elbows close enough to the body to provide proper leverage. The strap-around- the-elbows strategy mentioned for Halasana … Read More
Nuclear Yoga
Recently I was asked to do a four-hour seminar for stress reduction at the Savannah River Site (SRS), a nuclear facility near my home in South Carolina. I was very surprised and excited to have this opportunity. I’ve done short presentations before for the U.S. Department of Energy, Westinghouse, and Wackenhut at SRS, but never a seminar. This was new … Read More
Parvatasana – The Seated Mountain Pose
From the Kay Erdwinn’s Post Teaching Yoga for Round Bodies Most fat people find it difficlut to draw the legs into a close cross-legged position, although many can do a loose version. Almost all fat people will need cushions under the knees, and it is unlikely that any will attempt anything more than Sukhasana (the simple cross-legged position) unless they’ve been … Read More
Relax and Feel
Getting “The Feeling” The thing that kept me coming back to Hatha Yoga during my eight years of on-again-off-again practice was “the feeling.” I felt something when I practiced, and I didn’t feel it when I didn’t. But what was I feeling? It felt like a summer breeze. It felt like getting out of the shower after having been in … Read More
Getting the Point
Have you ever reached a point with your sadhana — or in your teaching, or in anything else from which you seek fulfillment — where it just wasn’t giving you what you wanted? Did you think, “What’s wrong; why isn’t there more joy”? Of course you have. Everyone has. But what can we do about it? I’d like to share with you … Read More