The evidence released regarding the shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri shows that most of the eyewitness accounts of what happened contradict each other. They mostly follow one of two scenarios: 1. Brown was yet another innocent black victim of a racist and trigger-happy white police officer. 2. Wilson was a beleaguered police…
4 Things Yoga Teachers Should Stop Saying
The foundation that I have built my yoga teacher training curriculum on is the belief that the most effective yoga teachers wholeheartedly work toward basing all of their instructions on a clear understanding of the philosophy that underlies asana practice. In a nutshell, we use the body as a tool to concentrate the mind so…
Beware the Guru
Note: This article was written in February 2013, shortly after the Vatican’s announcement that Pope Benedict would be stepping down. A highly edited version of it was published on The Huffington Post in May of last year. We are re-posting it now, as a UN panel investigating torture questions a vatican envoy on the…
What I Learned Doing Yoga in Marc Jacobs Jeans
Like many repeated endeavors, yoga practice can take the body and mind to higher functionality and health, or toward pain and suffering. The mat is a laboratory where we can experiment with our own strengths and weaknesses. Originally published in The Huffington Post The great yoga teacher Vinnie Marino once said, while teaching an advanced yoga…
Yoga Alliance Is Ruining Yoga
When I started practicing yoga, I never imagined that it would become as popular as it is now. I also never imagined that the majority of yoga classes happening these days would be a string of risky tricks taught by minimally educated teachers, all done to a rocking sound track. And, while there’s a lot…
Begin a Yoga Practice: 6 Tips for Success
Staff Pose | Dandasana You have decided that it’s time to begin a yoga practice! Congratulations on your wise choice! You are not only brilliant, you are also wildly efficient. A good yoga practice can make all those other improvements to your life just kind of happen without much further effort. Some people like to…