Yoga for the tall

August 2, 2009

I am still under the influence of Arianne Cohen’s The Tall Book. In keeping with the tall theme, I am mulling over her notes on body differences. In one section, she noted a few differences in tempo (just takes longer to sweep my hands from my sides to above my head given my hands travel [...]

My cat, chanting, purring, and my experience at my meditation center

June 18, 2009

I shared this story about my cat and my own experience chanting and becoming more joyful through chanting and meditation when I hosted a program earlier this month at the Siddha Yoga Meditation Center in Ann Arbor.
My cat’s name is Floyd, and the reason I want to tell you about him is that my experience [...]

Considering Commitment – How to Choose?

November 5, 2008

I must confess, I have been an exercise dilletante. I am following my whims and switching between my Iyengar-based Yoga for Scoliosis DVD, cycling outdoors or spinning at Vie, and then rope yoga at the Ann Arbor RussaYog studio. I’ve been attempting balance – the scoliosis yoga once a week, and something else (Russa Yog [...]

Rope Yoga at RussaYog in Ann Arbor (gratitude #33)

August 7, 2008

After my first experience of Rope Yoga at Vie on S. Ashley Street in Ann Arbor, I’ve been going to the RussaYog studio on S. State Street. There are only a few blocks in between them, but I thought that I would experience the classes taught by the founders, Jasprit and Teresa Singh.
I’ve really enjoyed [...]

Wise words on meditation

August 1, 2008

I was trying to explain meditation to a friend the other day, and I found myself struggling. She asked how I quiet my mind in meditation, and I said, well, I am not always successful, but that meditation gives me a set time to practice. She asked what it was like, I said it varied. [...]

The Happiness Hypothesis

July 21, 2008

I first heard about The Happiness Hypothesis from twitter, from @zappos tweet on having finished it, to be exact. I was especially interested in the premise of this book–a look at ancient wisdom and modern psychological research. Jonathan Haidt carefully reviews 10 ideas that have been threads in ancient wisdom and have been addressed in [...]

A decade in my meditation community (gratitude #23)

May 19, 2008

I just realized that this is my 10th year in the local Siddha Yoga Meditation community. At the time I first went, it was about a block and half from my apartment, but it took me several months to get there. I don’t know the date of my first visit, though it would have been [...]

Rope Yoga at Vie in Ann Arbor

May 14, 2008

Rope yoga, or Russa yog, started here in Ann Arbor. I have seen the studio on S. State Street (between Washington and Liberty) and the Ann Arbor Observer recently profiled the studio/founders. For some reason I never made it to the State Street studio, it’s one of many Ann Arbor yoga studios I have on [...]

The value of downtime: a restorative meditation retreat (gratitude, week 10)

March 10, 2008

My meditation center had a 1-day meditation retreat on Saturday. This is probably the most private thing I do, and in the past I’ve hesitated sharing about it. For instance, several acquaintances and colleagues asked me what I was doing this weekend, and I replied “not much” to most of them. I’m not sure where [...]

Breathing well (gratitude, week 9)

March 2, 2008

neti pot demo 2, originally uploaded by mybloodyself.
A few years ago, I had a subscription to a yoga magazine, Yoga + Joyful Living, which included articles about yoga asanas, living your yoga off the mat, explanations of yoga scriptures like Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, and recipes. I liked the magazine. Interspersed with stuff I liked were a few ads [...]