Purple Room Yoga Blog

Back in the mid '90s when I began my yoga journey, I was sharing my new interest with my dad. I was talking to him about meditation and my experience with it. He claimed he had tried it once and didn't really like it. As a brilliant thinker, he said he didn't like the idea of getting rid of his thoughts, he liked the thoughts running about in his head. He liked his ideas and how his mind worked.  This is a common misconception that people have about meditation. The goal is not to get rid of the thoughts, although sometimes that happens; the goal is to notice what is happening in the present moment, without attachment. What does that mean? Sometimes in the course of the day our mind wanders and we go down this rabbit hole of thoughts, where one leads to another, and so on. Other times we are actively thinking, trying to figure out a solution to a problem, putting another item on our to-do list, rehashing an earlier conversation, worrying about a future one, etc. These types ...

In the yoga asana practice we often talk about a category of stretching poses called "Hip Openers." They don't refer to the area where you "put your hands on your hips," but target the groups of muscles surrounding the hip joints.  The Hips include the Gluteal muscles (Gluteus maximus, Gluteus medius, and Gluteus minimus), the Piriformis and deeper hip muscles, and the Hip Flexors (psoas, tensor fascia latae, and rectus femoris). The top of the IT band can also sometimes be considered part of the Hips. Hip muscles (depending on which they are) Extend the hips (bring the thigh behind the pelvis), Flex the hips (bring the thigh in front of the pelvis), Rotate the thigh, and Abduct the thigh (move the thigh away from your midline). See if you can notice the opposite of these actions in the photos below; we stretch by moving the muscle in the opposite direction of its action. For example, muscle that flex the hip will stretch when put into extension. Common Hip Open...

I do a lot of driving, and to keep myself occupied, I to listen to podcasts. I am a self-proclaimed Podcast Junkie. Most recently, 2 of my favorite podcasts are We Can Do Hard Things, hosted by Glennon Doyle (author of Untamed--an amazing book, I highly recommend it), and Unlocking Us, hosted by Brene Brown (she's written many books, and I recommend them all).* Recently Brene Brown released a new book so she was not only interviewed on her own podcast (by her sisters) but also on WCDHT. Needless to say, I've been "fan girling" all week.  Listening to these episodes got me thinking about the words we use. One of the topics that came up in the podcasts was the importance of words and how we select and use them to describe our lived experience. The words we choose can affect us in so many ways, whether we are speaking them out loud, writing them down, or just thinking to ourselves. Words can describe what we are feeling and experiencing in our lives, and how we experienc...

All movement, whether it is yoga asana or something else, relies on some type of Force: our bodies move with or against the pull of gravity, and there is the effort exerted by our muscles to resist or surrender to that force; there is also force on our bodies by our bodies, in addition to gravity. Oppositional movement is a force in one direction creating movement in the opposite direction, and equally opposing forces creating stillness and balance. This discussion will be on the latter force. There are many types of yoga, but for the purposes of this discussion, I will be focusing on the physical practice of yoga asana, as done in a Vinyasa Yoga class, though this discussion will be applicable to many styles of asana practice.  In a dynamic yoga practice, whether you are flowing or still, there is constant oppositional movement happening. For example, when moving from Downward Dog into Plank pose, there is exertion backward through the heels to propel the shoulders forward over th...

 You hear it a lot in meditation and yoga classes: be present. But what does that really mean? We spend many years in school when we are young learning how to think, how to analyze, how to look at things critically. We learn numbers, logic, science, we learn history, literature, we learn to dissect ideas, creatures, we dive into facts and discovery. However, we often don't learn about how the mind works, why we do the things we do. In the last 26 years of practicing, studying, and teaching yoga, I have learned a few things about how the mind works.  First, it never stops. There is always some sort of chatter happening. Even in deep meditation, the thoughts come in and out. Although there might be more space between the thoughts, they are still there. They might be quieter, more gentle, but the mind is always working, processing, thinking.  Second, the mind likes to get caught up in thoughts of the past or the future. We are either worrying about future events (over which ...

I have been practicing Yoga and Meditation for almost 25 years and I will share a little secret with you: the Brain almost never shuts up. It doesn't matter how much yoga or meditation you practice, there will always be chatter in your mind. But wait! Don't lose hope! The point of meditation is NOT to quiet the mind. Let that sink in for a moment. I'll say it again, the point of meditation is not to quiet the mind, rather to release your attachment to what is happening there. The mind is always going, the purpose of meditation is to lose your reactivity, lose your judgment of yourself and others, lose your attachment to what is happening mentally, and instead just allow whatever is there to be there. Thoughts, sounds, sensations will come and go, meditation creates space inside your mind for you to tolerate whatever arises.   Research shows that meditation offers mental, emotional, and physical health benefits (a quick Google search brings up many pages of articles). Health...

Chaturanga Dandasana, or Four-Pointed Staff Pose, sometimes called "low push up," can be the bane of many Vinyasa or Ashtanga yogis practice. Done correctly it is a powerful pose that creates full-body strength by engaging the core, legs, arms, shoulders and back. Unfortunately, it is rarely taught in detail, so many flow yoga practitioners perform it incorrectly and end up causing injury to their shoulders, especially their rotator cuff muscles. It has been my mission, over the last couple of decades, as a yoga instructor to demystify this amazing pose and help my students get the most out of their practice without strain or injury. I hope to pass some of this wisdom onto you through this post. In most Vinyasa and all Ashtanga practices, Chaturanga Dandasana is done multiple times per yoga session as part of the Vinyasa Sequence: Plank, Chaturanga, Upward Dog, and Downward Dog. I would like to start by saying that "Chaturanga Dandasana" does not translate to "...