There are two new entries up at my blog Drishtis. In them I talk about I have adapted my my practice from being primarily yoga based to having a much greater emphasis on Chinese Qigong in response to the needs of my back and overall health. I also contemplate how I am doing at keeping my New Year's Resolution to better integrate a spiritual aspect ( Read more... )

While reading one of my favorite yoga blogs during lunch, I discovered there is a mudra (hand position) that's supposed to nourish the spine and help with back pain. I'm not big into mudras myself, but as I'm up for just about anything that will help my back, I think I'll try out this back mudra.

I finally did it! Drishtis, my yoga blog, is now officially open for business! :-D The inaugural post is on how and why I started a home practice. Take a lookMy sense is that there is not enough interest among my LJ readers for me to cross-post to LJ (I don't want to spam those who aren't interested), but someone with a paid LJ account could set up ( Read more... )

I picked up my new custom fit orthitics last Saturday. They provide crazy arch support: much higher than any I have ever worn before, because my arches are so damn high. The orthitics raise my feet up and out from their normal, pronated, position. Theoretically they place my feet in an anatomically neutral position than I normally walk/stand in. ( Read more... )

I was really tired at work yesterday, made worse by having really tedious work to do. When I got home, rfunk was working late with some server issues, so I had some time to myself. I did 45 minutes of active yoga, followed by 45 minutes of tension-reducing restorative poses. So luxurious ( Read more... )

I've been thinking about doing my yoga practice outside for a little while now, and this morning I finally did it. I was a little nervous about practicing without the DVD to tell me what to do next. Silly, maybe, to feel the need the training wheels, but that's part of the reason I wanted to do it ( Read more... )

It has been almost two months since I updated on my yoga practice, so I thought I should do that. I am still using the DVD Yoga For Every Body as the cornerstone of my practice. For the past two or three weeks I have been dipping into the "Intermediate" level sessions. These sessions are a little longer than the beginning level workouts (around 40- ( Read more... )

In early March I purchased the Yoga For Every Body DVD. My plan was to try using it for a few weeks and then post a review. Since then, this DVD has become my default go-to for my daily practice. It contains yoga practice sessions at progressive levels of difficulty: Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced; some 35 workouts in all. At each difficulty ( Read more... )

The good news is that I have felt well enough to get back to my normal yoga schedule of practicing 5 days a week. The bad news is that I over did it a little. But it felt so good to stretch! I found myself pushing the poses, extending to my limit instead of being easy with them. Exactly what I am hoping not to do these days. And I have paid for ( Read more... )

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Here's the first thing you need to know about the current state of your destiny: "Everything is blooming most recklessly; if it were voices instead of colors, there would be an unbelievable shrieking into the heart of the night." That message comes to you from poet Rainer Maria Rilke. Here's the second piece of wisdom ( Read more... )