My friend Weena and her 11 month-old Ori visited me last week.  The last time I saw Ori he wasn’t even crawling, so it was amazing to see him standing, holding onto the table next to himself to find balance.  He was on the brink of walking.  What was amazing was that with each sway [...]

I am at the airpot in Myrtle Beach, SC after an amazing week with my family at the beach and I am stranded at the airport because of bad weather in NY.  It is completely out of my control. My muscles tighten and my breathing gets shallow.  I am bracing for bad news, either another [...]

In the past few months I have begun to meditate again.  I say “again” because I used to and stopped because I started to put expectations on it, and was inevitably let down.  Kind of defeats the purpose.  I offer this entry because it is the most elusive part of the yogic practice for me. [...]

Yesterday I got stuck in an elevator for an hour during which yoga unfolded around me left and right.

I had just left a group meeting that I attend every Sunday and got into the elevator to leave by myself.  On the way down, the elevator did a few jerks and then stopped completely. I pushed [...]

The advantage of teaching in a number of different settings is that my idea of what constitutes “yoga” is constantly expanded.  Yoga on a mountaintop or at a beach resort or ashram can be inspiring.  But most of us don’t live in that world, so the challenge becomes using the yoga to create this experience [...]

There are a number of different styles of yoga in contemporary culture as well as in the historical chronology of what has become yoga today.  Each one prescribes a specific practice and philosophical perspective for how to live.  Naturally there is a lot of disagreement as to what is actually “yoga”.

Now back up a few [...]

In the New Year, I have been focusing on the myth of Nataraja to inspire how I want  to engage the practice of yoga.  The crudely abbreviated gist of the story goes something like this….

The sages of the pine forest have become complacent in their offerings.  They are very adept at their rituals, having done [...]

I was headed to the studio to teach yesterday, and had to take the Lexington line up to Grand Central to transfer cross-town.  The train pulled in, and as the door to the car in front of me opened it was filled with Santas.  My jaw dropped, this is not what I was expecting.  I [...]

Over Thanksgiving I tried to name the things I am thankful for.  It was actually quite easy.  I can point to friends, happenings and events, processes that I have chosen for myself.  Or things that I haven’t necessarily chosen, but that have been created, like the recent birth of two babies that I get to [...]

It has been months since I’ve written on this blog.  There’s no good reason other than I let it get away from me.  Ironic that the yoga instructor, who is constantly championing his students to create consistent practice, fell out of his own practice.

Restarting the engines is very hard.  I have a friend who is [...]

My friend and colleague Jen invited me to attend a workshop she was giving on stress reduction.  During a discussion about various techniques to cope, she described a scene in which you are waiting in line at the bank and there is a loud person chatting away on the phone causing a disruption to everyone [...]

A colleague of mine recently took my class.  He is dealing with a particular injury, in this case a tighter right hip due to the presence of scar tissue from some previous trauma. Not a big deal, we all have idiosyncrasies, and I would dare to say that none of us are perfectly even on [...]

Memories make us feel.  Depending on the feeling, we label the memory good or bad.  Memory exists only in the imagination.  It is not real in the moment you experience it, even if it refers to an actual event from the past.  But it feels real.  This is where it can get sticky.

Our memories can [...]

I am frequently asked, “How do you connect your yoga to the rest of your life?” Good question.

Even if you do asana for 2 hours every day, there are still 22 other hours in the day.  Those 22 hours constitute your real practice!  Whatever you do the most is your practice, whether it’s acts of loving-kindness [...]

I have a hard time with New Year’s resolutions.  Resolve is a tricky thing.  It’s too absolute and firm for my liking.  It doesn’t allow for my Libra tendencies towards indecision.  Come on.  I need something more forgiving.

Most of us choose something that is challenging and has been pressing to us for some time.  “This [...]

Nike coined the phrase “Just do it” and has made a mint off of the idea of “No excuses, get off your ass and push ahead”.

We are an action-oriented culture.  There is pressure to be pro-active, to affect change at all times, keep growing, keep progressing.  The language of “pro” implies a positive.  Few would [...]

In September I took a trip to Italy and consumed so much mozzarella, basil, tomato, and wine that my clothes no longer fit.  It was heaven.  While I was feeding my eyes and aesthetic sense with amazing art and architecture, I was trashing my body.  And it tasted soooo good!  I loved every minute of [...]

My friend Emily died a couple of weeks ago.  I have hesitated to write about her, because it seems too personal, too heavy.  As I write this now, I feel it may be a mistake.  I don’t have all of the feelings sorted. No answers to some pretty heavy questions. But there is a pressing [...]

My upstairs neighbor went on vacation for a month and asked me to water the outside flowers at the entrance to our building.  I smiled at her, said “Of course”, and then secretly resented her for asking me.  I found it inconvenient for a number of reasons.  I didn’t have time.  We live in a [...]