Today is the shortest day of the year, which means the longest night. The winter solstice is a time of darkness, where we must work to encourage the Sun back to his Mother, the Sky. We also welcome the light back into our lives and our practice. When the dark of night falls this evening, honour it in class. Meditate with your community, and honour yourself. We will give a farewell to the long nights of autumn and work through the negative aspects that we wish to rid ourselves of. We will use our breath work to settle us

"Yoga Gives me the Presence of Mind to be at Peace with Chocolate" That was the heading on a note pad my aunt gave me one year. Simple, humorous, silly, yet it resonated with me! As I see it, the meaning is two fold. First off, a yoga practice strives to provide balance; achieving balance in your asanas, or poses, and achieving a sense of balance within your self. The goal of a complete yoga practice is to unite the mind, body, and spirit. During class, the mind is a little more settled thanks to structured breathing and focus,

You are able to increase you Happiness level by standing in power pose for 2 minutes every day. This power pose position is that which super heroes take, wide stance, open chest, arms are flexed pointing towards the sky or placed firmly on the hips. This pose is scientifically proven to decrease the amount of circulating cortisol, a stress hormone, in the blood stream, AND increases the level of testosterone in circulation. Low cortisol levels make it easier to manage and adapt to stress and increased testosterone for men and women are linked with increased assertiveness and confidence. These

Simone helped me to understand the difference using below image. Basically what distinguishes these two types of yoga is the Suryanamaskar A and B. Both Iyengar and Vinyasa follow the 8 limbs of the ashtanga path; yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana and Samadhi. While Vinyasa incorporates sun salutation in between standing, seating and finishing poses, Iyengar focuses mostly on the body alignment using props. Iyengar is also widely known for its therapeutic effect on nervous system, cardio vascular and respiratory systems. Recent studies showed that practicing Iyengar yoga resulted in an overall improvement in mobility of patient

Don't let your ego guide you: That is what I always say to my students. There is no place for comparative thinking in yoga studio. No one is going to judge you and there is no gold medal for "Best Pose". Always listen to your body—don't push or overextend your threshold to keep up with the rest of the class. The strongest one in the room is the person who understands and respects their limits. If it gets to be too much, spend time in childs pose until you are ready to jump back in.