Yoga & Tai Chi

Illustration of a bird flying.

Category: Teacher Talk

  • Circularity

    Circularity

    Curves, arcs, circles, spirals: these are the geometric forms that make up the architecture of nature. When we practice tai chi we try to simulate the forms in nature. This means that we move gracefully without locking out the joints. To do this we must first open the joints and we can do this by…

  • A Face in the Crowd

    A Face in the Crowd

    Ever stop and watch people? It is especially fascinating if you are in a crowd. A Face in the Crowd was a photography assignment that turned out to be more enjoyable than I had anticipated. I love street photography but I find it intimidating so I have to work up my courage to get out…

  • Looking at Life from different Angles

    Looking at Life from different Angles

    Nature by itself does not have too many angles.  It has curves.  Humans have used the angle to create and have placed it everywhere. The greatest cities in the world are replete with angles.  Most great architecture is composed of angles.  There is an element of the divine when you look up and the eye…

  • The texture of memories

    The texture of memories

    One of the recent wordpress.com weekly photography challenges was “texture.” I like the idea of texture in a photo so I gathered the photos that I thought exhibited texture. There were several dozen of them but I kept coming back to half a dozen of them. They were far from being the best ones for…

  • What to say when guiding students in yoga poses

    What to say when guiding students in yoga poses

    The last post discussed how to move into a pose using simple clear language as a guide.  Today I would like to talk about what you say after you have guided your students into a pose.  This is the phase that I think about as carving your way into the pose.  The choice of words…

  • Yoga Movement Formula

    Yoga Movement Formula

    Back to Yoga Teacher Talk Yoga movements occur at different levels. On one level the poses transition from from one position in space to another, For example, we can move from a supine (on the back) position to table position or from a seated position to a belly down orientation.  Mountain Pose (tadasana), table pose (bharmanasana), sphinx…

  • Moving Gracefully from Position to Position During a Yoga Session

    Moving Gracefully from Position to Position During a Yoga Session

    Have you ever been in a yoga class where you are instructed to move from supine to standing, standing to kneeling, kneeling to prone, prone to standing, then down again to your knees.  You get the gist. You are bobbing up and down like a yoyo.  You begin to forget where you are or what…

  • My thoughts on teaching mixed physical challenges in a chair yoga class

    My thoughts on teaching mixed physical challenges in a chair yoga class

    I often participate in seminars, workshops and online webinars that address how to teach mixed level yoga classes. What I have not seen or heard much about is how to teach mixed needs yoga classes. I teach chair yoga and chair yoga by its very nature attracts people who are older or those who for…