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Tools of the Art
Every art form has its own special tools. A painter has special brushes, paints, canvases; a sculptor has their own collection of knives and material from which they carve a piece; a writer their own individual pens, paper, software; a musician their own favorite instrument; a photographer their personal brand of camera and multiple lenses…
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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…
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A Balancing Act
Yoga like Tai Chi can challenge your balance. Here is a simple routine that deliberately tests your balance and also strives to strengthen the mobility of your hips. This is a sequence that comes from one that Olga Kabel put together. To see more about her work visit her website. Do this routine every day…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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Ganesha’s Inspiration
India has 2,000,000 gods, and worships them all. In religion all other countries are paupers; India is the only millionaire.” ~Mark Twain In most western yoga classes (and I teach in a western class) the concern and emphasis is placed mostly on teaching the physical poses and in many venues this is all that is expected…
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Caesura – What is it and why is it important in Yoga and Tai Chi
The Merriam Webster word of the day for July 16 was “caesura” pronounced sih-ZYUR-uh. Caesura means a break or interruption. Caesuras are those slight pauses one makes as one reads verse. We often need these little stops to set the cadence and phrasing of natural speech into the metrical scheme. This word intrigued me because I…
Yoga & Tai Chi 