Many of you have asked about structuring your practice around trips to Mysore—or more importantly, how to create sustainable training cycles when annual trips to India aren’t part of your reality. Let me share how I’ve applied basic athletic training principles to organize my own practice year, and how you might think about doing the…
There’s a moment in every yoga practitioner’s life—usually somewhere between your third attempt at Marichyasana D and your first truly calm Savasana—when something clicks. It’s not a stretch, not a pose, not even a breath. It’s a flash of understanding that doesn’t come from reading or reasoning but from seeing. That’s what we call insight.
Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and the glymphatic system are central to how the brain clears metabolic waste. Emerging research links efficient CSF circulation and glymphatic clearance to better cognitive health, and shows that sleep, cardiovascular rhythms, posture, movement and certain breathing patterns influence those flows. For teachers and experienced practitioners, understanding these mechanisms helps you design…
Many teachers and committed practitioners report subtle but powerful somatic effects when practicing bandhas, kumbhaka, and slow deep breathing. Recent imaging work suggests these practices can also change measurable cerebrospinal fluid motion. This summary reviews the relevant physiology, the current evidence, and safety-first guidance for classroom use. Links to Ashtanga Tech resources support follow-up study….
Metaphor Meets Mechanism Kundalini imagery—an ascending current of life force rising the length of the spine—has long been a central motif in classical yoga. For teachers and senior practitioners who work with breath, bandhas, and spinal mobilization, a compelling modern question arises: can some aspects of the kundalini narrative be read as a metaphor for…
Below is a focused, safe, evidence-informed 25‑minute session you can do twice a week to build the mobility, end‑range control, and tissue resilience needed for Padmāsana (Lotus). Before you start: check for any knee or hip pain (especially inside the knee). If you have prior knee/hip surgery or current pain, get clearance from a clinician…
The first sound I hear most mornings isn’t my breath or the hush of the Mysore room — it’s the wail of an ambulance racing down 14th Street. Living in Logan Circle places me at the center of a city that never fully quiets, and those sirens have a way of threading themselves into the…
Just Because Two Things Happen Together Doesn’t Mean They’re Connected (Or: Why Sarah’s New Shoes Aren’t a Scientific Discovery) In systems thinking, causal independence means: if one thing doesn’t cause another, they’re not truly connected—no matter how often they happen together. Like Sarah. She grew taller and started school at the same time. That doesn’t…
Grasping DNA and its Influence on Wellness Let’s get this straight: the simplistic notion of biological determinism—the outdated belief that our genes are puppeteers pulling the strings of our health—has been thrown out the window. In the old days, genes were seen as tyrannical blueprints ruling over biological function. But after the Human Genome Project…
Sunday Sadhana, our new class, starts this Sunday. Don’t forget to register by clicking the link in this email Sunday Sadhana runs 9:30-11:30. Think of it as Integrative Ashtanga 🙂 What else? My new book Self Practice: Advanced Yoga for Beginners is ready for y’all. It’s a quick read designed to help you build and…