For the first time since last fall, I’m sitting next to an open window as I write. The spring air, with its occasional hints of blooming bulbs and trees, is so refreshing. While pranayama (yogic breathing practice) is appropriate during all seasons, the clean spring air seems to invite taking a nice deep breath. There are many pranayama practices that incorporate mudras—hand gestures meant to facilitate the movement of prana (the animating force in our bodies and minds). In particular, I enjoy practicing a simple pranayama mudra called Hasta Mudra. I don’t claim to be an expert on hand mudras ..read more

I’ve been writing for Hugger Mugger’s blog for 14 years—hard to believe. And it’s equally hard to believe that in all these years, spanning more than 900 posts, I’ve never written a basic blog on how to practice Bridge Pose (Setu Bandha Sarvangasana). In my defense, I have written two articles about practicing Bridge on a Standard Yoga Bolster, here and here. I’ve also written about practicing Setu Bandha with a Yoga Block. But for some reason, Setu Bandha Sarvangasana sans props escaped my mind. Bridge Pose Benefits Bridge Pose is a star among yoga poses, and it’s been a staple in my classes ..read more

Until the 20th century, yoga—the whole system—was always taught one on one. An aspiring yogi studied with their yoga mentor often for decades. Over the years, the teacher learned the student’s special talents and their blind spots. The yoga mentor then tailored the teaching to the student’s individual needs. Some students went on to become teachers when their mentor felt they were ready. Others remained lifelong practitioners, but never taught yoga. That’s not what the teacher-student relationship looks like these days. It’s not quite so easy for a teacher to know their students in the contex ..read more

I can’t claim to have made healthy choices in all areas of my life throughout my history on the planet. But I can claim relative intelligence about one aspect of being in a body: I’ve always worn sensible shoes. I’ve owned one pair of heels in my entire life, a pair of platform shoes I wore a few times in the mid-’70s, before chucking them after twisting my skinny ankles in them one too many times. The last time I wore heels was to a fabulous restaurant in Rome in 1979. I borrowed a pair from one of my roommates and ended up walking home barefoot because it was more comfortable than walking ..read more

A while back, I wrote a post on mindfulness of the body, centering the practice on breath awareness. In the Theravada tradition, breath awareness is the starting point, the foundation of beginning to stabilize the mind. Breath awareness gives us a continuous process on which to rest the mind. Of course, that doesn’t mean that the mind won’t wander off into its own worries, memories and reveries even as we intend to stabilize our minds on the breathing process. But it’s in the process of continually recognizing that the mind has wandered off, and redirecting it back to the breath, that we begi ..read more

Most of us would probably agree that our lives are filled to the brim. When we’re super busy, what often drops off our schedule are the very things we need most, like our yoga practice. Running through a few quick Sun Salutations (Surya Namaskara) is certainly better than no practice, but it won’t necessarily sustain and restore your energies. We also need rest to balance busyness. Standard Yoga Bolsters are one of the key tools for calming agitation and renewing our energies. B.K.S. Iyengar originally developed Restorative Yoga as a therapeutic practice to heal specific physical imbalances a ..read more

Whenever I ask my students to go get a Yoga Bolster, the happiness in the room is palpable. They know that yoga bolsters mean they’re going to get to lie down and practice Restorative Yoga. Hugger Mugger yoga bolsters make me happy because I know I can trust them to support students of all body types. I know that these bolsters won’t bend or collapse when we slant them on blocks. This is not the case with other brands. I sometimes teach workshops and teacher trainings around town. While most of studios stock some Hugger Mugger bolsters, they also have other types as well. If there aren’t eno ..read more

My original yoga “parentage” was in the Iyengar system. Known for its precision, and for inventing the yoga props we use today, the Iyengar system provides a fine foundation. In workshops, teachers—including BKS Iyengar and his daughter, Geeta, both of whom I studied with in 1989—offered alignment cues about as fast as you could process them, and sometimes faster. As a hypermobile person, I often flopped into flexibility-focused asanas without much thought as to how I was practicing them. Iyengar-based yoga cues helped me refine my practice, so that I wasn’t simply continuing my unhealthy al ..read more

Forward bends are some of yoga’s most common, and iconic, poses. You can practice forward bends from standing, sitting or even lying down. Forward bends promote lengthening in the muscles of the back, hips and hamstrings. Keeping muscles of the back, hips and hamstrings supple can also be healthy for your spine. Relaxed muscles in the hips and hamstrings help you maintain your spine’s natural “S” curves. Tight hamstrings can position the pelvis so that the tailbone is tucked under, a recipe for lumbar disc problems down the road. Practicing seated forward bends with a Yoga Bolster can help p ..read more

Some years ago, I led some yoga students through a rather lengthy series of leg-stretching asanas based on Supta Padanghustasana (Supine Big Toe Pose). At that time, I had always ended the series with a one-legged version of Yoganidrasana (ankles behind the head). Of course, most people in my classes feel pretty flexible if their foot ends up within a few inches of their faces. And honestly, that’s really quite flexible compared to the average person on the street. Some might even think that’s an indication of being an advanced yogi. The orientation and depth of many people’s hip sockets wil ..read more