I was raised in a intentional community. This particular variety of intention community was an authentic hippy commune, created in 1969 by a group of young people living in the San Francisco Bay Area of California who were looking to live an alternative, experimental lifestyle. It was founded on a philosophy that you are perfect the way you are – not broken, wrong, or needing to be fixed. This was, and still is, a radical idea that has been around for millennia and is also a key pillar yogic philosophies.
Classical Tantrism and Neo-Tantrism represent two distinct approaches to spiritual practice, with the former rooted in ancient traditions and the latter a modern interpretation. While both share some common elements, they differ significantly in their focus, methods, and ultimate goals.
In the realm of human connection, few elements are as potent and transformative as physical touch. From a gentle, therapeutic caress to a passionate embrace, touch serves as a fundamental language of intimacy, capable of conveying emotions that words often fail to express. This profound form of communication not only strengthens bonds between individuals but also plays a crucial role in maintaining both mental and physical well-being.
While both yoga therapy sessions and general yoga classes share roots in the ancient tradition of yoga, yoga therapy takes a more personalized and targeted approach to addressing specific health concerns and promoting overall well-being.
As a yoga therapist with years of experience in both traditional yoga and yoga therapeutic, I've witnessed firsthand the transformative power of yoga therapy and how it differs from personal training. While both practices aim to improve overall health and well-being, their approaches, methods, and goals are quite distinct. Let me share my insights on the key differences between yoga therapy and personal training.
Yoga therapy and physical therapy each have their own distinct approach to healing and wellness, though they often share the goal of enhancing physical function, reducing pain, and supporting overall well-being. When these two approaches are employed simultaneously they can work synergistically together to create better results, especially in the case of acute pain and physical trauma.
I am offering a meditation to connect us with the intelligence of nature and how it is a reflection of our own true nature. It is meant to be practiced outdoors so we can experience, first-hand, the support available to us in the natural world. The recording is 13 minutes, but please give yourself at least 15-20 minutes to complete the full practice.
Eco-therapy is a practice that involves engaging with nature to improve mental and physical well-being. It offers a range of benefits for mental, emotional, and physical well-being. Many principles and practices found in traditional yoga philosophy align closely with the ideas behind eco-therapy.
In the heart of the Nepalese Himalayas, where the air is thin and the peaks pierce the heavens, lies a trail less traveled, winding through pristine forests and towering cliffs. This is where our story begins.
While seemingly disparate disciplines—yoga and strength training—can converge to create a powerful synergy that combines the meditative grace of yoga with the empowering resistance of weight training. Let's embark on a journey to explore the fusion of yoga with weights and the myriad benefits it offers for physical, mental, and spiritual well-being.
In this video interview Gwen Miller discuss’s her background, inspirations and experiences with working with people in chronic pain. Topics we discuss include transcending suffering, the basics of neuroscience and chronic conditions and much more!
When you’ve got a tight budget or busy life attending regular yoga classes can be challenging. Even package rates at studios put a dent in your wallet, and isn’t it ironic when struggling to squeeze sessions into your busy schedule actually increases the stress you’re trying to reduce with your practice. Moving your yoga routine out of the studio and under your own roof alleviates these problems while opening new avenues for deepening your practice.
Just in time for Valentine’s Day, I am sharing with you some fun and effective ways to create more connection with yourself and with a partner through embodied practices of reverence for deeper intimacy. I’ll be giving ideas for how to use yoga, playful movement, eye gazing, massage, and dance to enliven your body, mind and spirit and open your heart to a partner. I've been a dancer, yoga therapists and massage therapist for many years and have seen how intentional connection exercises can help lovers, friends, family, and individuals to find their way to, or back to, connection.
It's normal to feel down once in a while, but if you're sad most of the time and it affects your daily life, you may have depression. There are many different types of depression. Events in your life cause some, and chemical changes in your brain cause others. Seasonal Affective Disorder, or S.A.D., which is a period of major depression that most often happens during these winter months, when the days grow short and we get less and less sunlight.
Navigating the healthcare landscape can often feel like an intricate maze, especially as we age and our medical needs become more complex. For older adults, who may be managing multiple health conditions or medications, active self-advocacy is no longer an option—it’s a requirement for maintaining optimal health. This guide zeroes in on six crucial strategies tailored to the unique healthcare challenges faced during your golden years.
Poses which relax and restore the mind, body and spirit are an essential part of a yoga practice that provide nourishment to support the many systems of the body that keep us healthy and happy throughout the year. Collectively, these practices are known as Restorative Yoga.
There are several misconceptions and limiting beliefs surrounding this practice that can hinder people from engaging in it and receiving it’s benefits.
Team-building exercises, like partner and group yoga, teaches people how to trust each other and work together to achieve common objectives, whether it is in a corporate, home, or social space. What communities are you a part of, including work, school and social circles, where group/partner yoga could help support the community to build bonds and grow together?
Many of my clients what to lose weight and are struggling to love their bodies, especially if they have recently gained weight. They come to me for weight loss, and even though exercise, like yoga can help with weight loss, what I really have to offer is much more profound. Outlined in this article is my approach to food from a yogic perspective. I am not a personal trainer, nutritionist or dietitian. These ideas are about our relationship to food as an extension of our relationships with ourselves.
As we enter the week of the summer solstice, when we receive the most daylight all year, we are called by nature to presence this moment on the planet as a time of intense heat, activity and growth. The season of summer relates to the element of fire in the indigenous medicine wheel of life. The warmth of the sun is not only helping us to grow food, but spurring activity. It is time when many of us are leveraging the good weather to come together more in community.
The five gross elements are parts of our consciousness that flow through us in physical ways. For example, fire shows up as anger and heat in our bodies. Water as tears. Earth is experienced in our bodies as heaviness and strength. This article explores the many ways to feel and experience the Earth element in our lives and bodies, through the various models yoga has given us.
