Throughout my yoga journey, I have come to realize that certain movement cues are plagued with polarity. Take squaring your hips (e.g., Warrior 1; Janu Sirsasana, pyramid) or contracting your glutes (e.g., upward facing dog, bridge). And while I have become accustomed to understanding which cues work in my body and which cues I can … Continue reading Posterior Pelvic Tilt Part 1: The Tail-Tuck Cue
The Sacroiliac Joint (SIJ) — Movement and Misconceptions
I recently read a great article on Jenni Rawlings’ awesome and informative blog titled “5 Things We Didn’t Learn About the SI Joint in Yoga Teacher Training”. In her post, Jenni details some misconceptions surrounding this joint. She reveals how the yoga community unnecessarily promotes the idea that the SIJ is unstable and requires active … Continue reading The Sacroiliac Joint (SIJ) — Movement and Misconceptions
Yoga’s Missing Nutrients
I am excited to announce the publication of my latest article, Yoga's Missing Nutrients on the new online yoga magazine Shut Up and Yoga. I feel honoured to have been asked to contribute an article to this magazine and hope I can continue to write for them in the future! In this article I take … Continue reading Yoga’s Missing Nutrients
Awaken Your Glutes — Goodbye Glute Amnesia
The gluteal muscles are an incredible group of three with impressive street cred. The largest and outermost — the gluteus maximus (GMax) — is (1) the largest muscle in the human body and (2) has been flaunted as the “hallmark of bipedalism”1,2. The main actions of the glutes are hip extension, abduction, and internal and … Continue reading Awaken Your Glutes — Goodbye Glute Amnesia
Home Practice 2: Move Your Practice
There may be something idyllic about a home practice that exists during dedicated time on the mat and follows the arc of a perfectly sequenced class. But why let conventional thinking cloud our understanding of what a home practice should look like. In the first post of this two-part series, I discussed five tips for building … Continue reading Home Practice 2: Move Your Practice
Home Practice 1: Intrinsic Motivation
I recently listened to podcast where the host talked about developing a home practice. His advice, while admirable if it had worked for him, was ultimately filled with a long list of “shoulds” and “should nots”. One of my grandmother’s favourite adages is “don’t say ‘should’ — it comes between shit and syphilis in the … Continue reading Home Practice 1: Intrinsic Motivation
Mind-Body 2: Bottom-Up Processing
In my last post, I discussed interoception — the ability to perceive our internal bodily states1. I discussed how the age-old yogic practice of pratyahara, one of the eight limbs of Patanjali's Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga, is really a practice of interoception. Today, I will expand on this conversation by discussing why it would be a … Continue reading Mind-Body 2: Bottom-Up Processing
Mind-Body 1: Pratyahara & Interoception
In B.K.S. Iyengar’s book, Yoga: The Path to Holistic Health1, he discusses the philosophy of yoga and its sacred eight limbs. We are all too familiar with the most esteemed limb in the Western hemisphere: asana, or physical postures. Of course, those of us dabbling in yoga have probably also come across pranayama or breath … Continue reading Mind-Body 1: Pratyahara & Interoception
Do You Know Psoas?
If you know nothing about anatomy, chances are you have never heard of the psoas muscle and struggle with the pronunciation (hint: “so-azz”). If you associate with the new wave of so called movement enthusiasts or you are even remotely into fitness, the psoas is probably your favourite muscle. I am not kidding — when … Continue reading Do You Know Psoas?
Why Evidence-Informed Yoga Blogging?
A few months before plunging into my work for this blog, I developed a healthy obsession with yoga-related information...