Yoga
Asana, meditation and philosophy.
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What Alternate Nostril Breathing Does For Your Brain And Body
This post contains affiliate links, for more info read disclaimer Alternate nostril breathing, or Nadi Shodhana, is a Pranayama breath technique practiced in yoga. Pranayama is the art of breath retention and is a practice passed down from teacher to student when the student’s body and mind are ready. The technique of Nadi Shodhana is usually done before or after practicing the asana, or yoga postures. The Pranayama technique can also be practiced on its own as a form of meditation and cleansing. Traditionally, Pranayama is taught after a practitioner has learned the philosophies of the yoga practice. Having a preestablished asana routine is also a prerequisite to learning Pranayama. This is because…
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Essential Oil Blends To Liven Your Yoga Practice And Lift Your Mood
This Post Contains Affiliate links read disclaimer for more info I absolutely love using essential oils, which probably isn’t shocking news for most of you. I usually stick to using oils on my yoga mat to promote concentration and relaxation. However, essential oils have many amazing therapeutic qualities, I can almost always find an excuse to utilize them. I’ll stick with the basics today though, and talk about five different uplifting essentail oils and blends. How to Use Essential Oils When I use essential oils in my Yoga practice, I usually use a few small drops on my skin. I like to first drop the oil into my palm, and then rub my hands…
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Five Yoga Poses To Help Energize Your Morning And Prepare You For The Day
Moving your body in the morning can be one of the best ways to wake up and prepare yourself for your day! Not too long ago I posted a short 10 minute morning yoga routine and it was a huge hit. The best part about this routine was that you could do it all from the comforts of your bed. However, if you’re looking for something a little more active to practice, throw these energizing yoga poses into your morning routine! What I love about these postures is that they’re all beginner friendly, and offer myriad variations to suit everyone’s practice. This also means that it’s hard to get bored of these postures…
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108 Sun Salutations: Tips and Tricks for Students and Teachers.
Cover photo taken by Marissa Phillips (@marissaphillipsphoto) partnered with Lululemon Honolulu For the new year, I was asked to teach 108 sun salutations. I was excited and honored, but also a little nervous. While I’ve attended 108 salutation classes, I have never taught one myself. There are so many ways to approach teaching and practicing sun salutations and even more ways people weave them into a full practice of 108. While this post is directed more towards teachers, there are multiple tips that carry over to students as well, especially if you are planning on practicing 108 salutations at home. For Teachers Keep in mind that 108 sun salutations are intended to be…
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10 Minute Morning Yoga Routine You Can Do From Your Bed
Morning yoga does not have to be super intense in order to boost our energy. By simply opening up our body through gentle seated postures, we clear a path for energy to travel more efficiently. Additionally, all we need is ten minutes, the length of a full snooze, in order to move our spine and awaken our own prana, or vital life energy. Here’s a gentle morning flow that you can do in bed for ten minutes instead of hitting snooze! Feel free to hold the poses for however long you would like. As always, modifications, additions, and subtractions are always welcome. Ten Minute Morning Flow Sukasana, easy pose Start in a comfortable…
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Shakti and Buti Yoga; Types of Yoga Part 4
There are seriously so many types of Yoga! I could probably write ten more posts…but for now, I’ll let this be the last one. If you’ve been following along with this mini-series then you should have a pretty extensive knowledge of the different styles of yoga. If not, I recommend you start from the beginning because these last two styles are a little less conventional than the rest. Not that it’s a bad thing, I just don’t want to scare you off quite yet! The last two styles I will be diving into, are Shakti Yoga and Buti Yoga. Super fun styles to practice! Just make sure you bring an open mind and…
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Yin and Restorative: Types of Yoga Part 3
Six styles of practice in the books! Are you taking notes…? We have four more styles to go, and from here on out, I will group them in pairs. Of course, there are many, many more styles of Yoga than just the ones I’m talking about. However, I chose these styles out of all the rest because of their increasing popularity in the West. So today, we’re talking about Yin Yoga and Restorative Yoga. Yin Yoga and Restorative Yoga are often confused for the same style of practice. While there are similarities, such as the use of props and longer holds, Yin and Restorative are vastly different. While they are two separate practices, the asana…
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Bikram, Iyengar, and Kundalini: Types of Yoga Part 2
This post contains affiliate links for more information read disclaimer Last post I talked about Hatha, Ashtanga and Vinyasa Yoga. This post is dedicated to Bikram, Iyengar, and Yin Yoga. Of course, each style still maintains similar philosophies, but the main difference is how we practice the Yoga postures or Yoga Asana. So, without further ado, here we go! Bikram Yoga Bikram Yoga is a heated Yoga class, created by Bikram Choudhury. In Bikram Yoga, students practice a set sequence of 26 poses on the right and left, and practice each pose two times. There is no flowing in a Bikram class, as the poses are taught in the traditional Hatha style. If…
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Hatha, Ashtanga and Vinyasa: Types of Yoga Part 1
Photo taken by Eric Rosso affiliated with Hawaii Yoga Magazine This post contains affiliate links for details check the disclaimer There are so many different styles of Yoga in our modern world today. While most Yoga styles maintain similar philosophies, the way we practice these styles is totally different. I was going to write one large post including all of the major styles of Yoga. However, after writing about just one style, I realized there’s too much information for one post. So instead I am going to break up this topic into a series of posts so we can get to the nitty-gritty details of every style. For this first post I’ll be breaking…
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The Heart of the Yoga Practice and the Purpose of the Asana
Yoga was created thousands of years ago as a form of meditation and liberation. Traditionally, there are eight limbs to the Yoga practice and the asana, or Yoga postures, are just one of those eight limbs. With the commercialization of Yoga and the modern emphasis on the physical aspect, the origional intention and the philosophies of the practice have been overshadowed. Consequently, many modern practitioners enter the yoga practice from a physical standpoint. That is why, as students and teachers of the practice, it is important for us to share every aspect of yoga, and how they physical practice aids us both on and off our mat. What are the Yoga Asanas? The…
