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2025-03-27 Active Recovery Slow Flow — Slow things down, deepen and luxuriate in your breath, and explore different transitions into poses in this slow flow Thankful Thursday practice with ZERO CHATURANGAS :) Use this active recovery practice whenever you are tired or fatigued, when you have wrist/elbow/shoulder limitations, or when you just want to switch things up. Ease in with opening poses, practice Nadi Shodana Pranayama, explore supine sun salutation variations, strengthen and open your hips into standing poses and creative transitions, turn yourself upside down (Sirsasana, Halasana?Sarvangasana), then rest deeply. Props: mat, 1 or 2 blocks. Read more

2025-03-26 Garland of Sun Salutations (1/4 Mala) — This sun salutation challenge is Inspired by a study in which participants did 24 sun salutations daily, 6 days per week for 12 weeks, concluding that sun salutations are an ideal exercise to keep oneself in optimal fitness. This practice includes 27 total cycles of sun salutations in sets of Surya Namaskar A and B; with some sets representing the “regular/traditional” way, other sets taking liberties with holding a different pose in each cycle for 5 breaths, and some cycles that add in additional poses. Use this practice to assess and increase your strength, focus, and endurance. Props: mat, towel. Read more

2025-02-27 “Uncruelty is the Highest Dharma” – This contemplated Thankful Thursday practice weaves mythic story into contemplative meditation, pranayama, forward folds, hip openers and twists. We consider a synopsis of the story “The Drilling Woods,” told at the end of Mahabharata’s Book of the Forest (book 3 of 18), in which Yudhisthira proclaims that choice is the highest manifestation of freedom, and uncruelty is the highest dharma. For to choose to love is to experience loss and grief, but we can choose a goodness that does not add more cruelty to the world. Props: mat, 1 or 2 blankets. Read more

2025-02-26 Into the (Backbend) Forest of Consciousness – This Wednesday Bendsday practice wanders in the forest of backbends in dynamic exploration of mobilization drills and stretchy poses, stabilization drills and strengthening poses, Pincha Mayurasana (Forearm Balance), culminating on the summit of Urdhva Dhanurasana (Upward Bow Pose). Props: 3 blankets, mat, sliders, 2 blocks, strap/band, optional chair. Read more

2025-02-25 Equanimity in Stormy Worlds – The storms and chaos of the world will desiccate us, deplete us, and seek to dictate our experience with its terms. Our task as yogis of empowerment is to nourish ourselves, cultivate equanimity in the eye of the hurricane, be able to move with the storm and not be victimized. Increase your capacity to stand in and withstand the stormy world in this practice of pranayama, slow_to_fast vinyasa, standing pose linkings, and inversions. Challenge your stamina and increase your capacity to be equanimous on and off the mat. Props: mat, wall, 2+ blankets, optional chair for shoulderstand. Read more

2025-02-20 Gravitas – The guru principle, gurutva, is the power of gravitas, of grounded stability, the weightiness of what is important. In the whirlwind of life and in the midst of this stormy world, this practice of supported poses, pranayama, and restorative yoga will help you feel more grounded and stable, nurtured and healed (even a little bit), so that you can re-engage the world and carry on with dharma. Props: mat, 4+ blankets, bolsters, strap, optional sand bag, eye pillow. Read more

2025-02-19 Wild Thing – Strengthen and mobilize in this progressive sequence to Chamatkarasana, aka Wild Thing Pose or “aesthetic rapture.” This soulful exploration of rasa theory interwoven with asana uses a resistance band to strengthen your rotator cuff muscles and glutes, plank and side plank variations to strengthen your core, and plenty of backbendy bridge variations and wheel poses to twist into and turn out of. Props: mat, 2 blankets, resistance band or strap, 2 blocks. Read more

2025-02-18 Endurance – Engage and strengthen your deep core, core, and shoulders (as well as mind and heart) as you explore creative sun salutation variations, progressive plank poses, handstands and challenging sliding drills. Cultivate endurance in the pairs of opposites (the terms of the world) so that you are not oppressed by them, as Krishna advises in the Bhagavadgita, “Physical experiences causing us to feel cold, hot, pleasure, and pain, they are transient, they come and go. Withstand them. The wise person whom they do not oppress, steady in pain and pleasure, is prepared for immortality.” (II.14-15) Props: mat, 2 blankets, sliders. Read more

2025-02-13 Foot Strong – This ankle and foot-focused class brings awareness and appreciation to our distal lower extremities, as well as moan-worthy fatigue/cramping in the muscles and fascia of your lower legs, ankles and feet. We begin with deep core activations and move into a cornucopia of ankle/foot/toe drills and construct DIY wobble boards to get FOOT STRONG. If you have ankles and feet, this class is for you! Props: mat, block, socks, resistance band, strap, washcloth, 2+ blankets. Read more

2025-02-12 Strong Open Heart – This Wednesday Bendsday practice mobilizes your spine, lengthens your front body, and strengthens your back body in supine, prone, standing and kneeling backbends. The practice will leave you feeling strong and open, and be a great antidote to forward bending activities, like working at a desk, shoveling snow, gardening, digging ditches etc… Props: mat, strap, 3+ blankets, 2 blocks. Read more

2025-02-11 Leg Day – Engage your legs in every pose, mindfully and systematically, and strengthen those neuromuscular connections in a mix of dynamic movement, activation drills, and variable actions within isometric holds. While we don’t run through a lot of poses in this class, we certainly invite complexity and deep awareness within each pose, and perhaps some quivering quadriceps and delightful cramping hamstrings :) Props: mat, resistance band, strap, 2 + blankets, optional blocks. Read more

2025-01-23 Integrity Strong – This meditative Thankful Thursday practice of supported forward folds and inversions draws inspiration from the Bhagavadgita, as we contemplate and embody Krishna’s advice to act according to our highest standard, “Whatever the best among us does, the people do; whatever standard is set, the world follows that” (Bhagavadgita III.21). Props: mat, 4 blankets and/or bolsters, 2 blocks, wall, chair (optional). Read more

2025-01-22 Hold the World Together / loka-samgraham – When the world seems to be falling apart, order becoming disorder (entropy), Krishna advises us to “act while looking to what holds the world together” (Bhagavadgita III.20). Contemplate these teachings (how they apply to yourself, your family/household, your community, and beyond) and embody them in this slow_and_steady_and_deep backbendy practice that will open the front of your body, strengthen the back of your body, and fortifiy your heart. Props: mat, blanket, 2 blocks, strap, chair, sliders. Read more

2025-01-21 Stormy Day Yoga – When the storm is raging (inner or outer) and the wind is howling, this Tensile Strength Tuesday practice will help you find stability in dynamic instability. Come ready for hip openers, squats, rocking and rolling sun salutations, boat poses, sliding drills and arm balances. Props: mat, 2 blankets, sliders, 2 blocks. Read more

2025-01-16 Finding the Way Home – This grounding Thankful Thursday practice of meditation, supported poses, slow-flow standing poses, and inversions facilitates the release of stress and anxiety, encourages the use of props for support, and invites steadiness and ease in each posture (sthira sukham-asanam, Yogasutra II.46, “Asana is steadiness and ease”). Be at home in your body, at ease in your awareness, nourished by your breath. Props: mat, lots of blankets (4+) and/or bolsters, strap, 2 blocks, chair. Read more

2025-01-15 – Strong Open Heart – This strong_and_steady Wednesday Bendsday practice emphasizes backbending poses and actions to open and strengthen/fortify your heart. Come ready for shoulder opening, and lots of shoulder and backbody strengthening in variations and progressions of Urdhva Mukha Svanasana (Upward Facing Dog Pose) with repetitions of Plank and Chaturanga Dandasana (some shoulder/chest soreness may occur later). Props: mat, strap, chair, 1 or 2 bolsters, 2+ blankets, 2 blocks. Read more

2025-01-14 Rise Up! – Affirm your indomitable spirit in this practice of rising up into resilience and courageous strength. Begin lying down close to the earth to ground and release, warm up with leg stretches and core strengthening to prepare you to stand strong in warrior pose variations and transitions for Virabhadrasana I and II. In the beginning of Bhagavadgita’s second chapter, when Arjuna has succumbed to despair and collapsed down into the chariot pit, Krishna instructs him to rise up, saying; tyaktva-uttishtha parmatapa, “abandoning (weakness of heart), STAND UP and ignite the fire of your heart!” Props: mat, 3 blankets, strap, sliders. Read more

2025-01-09 Steady Mind – In times of great adversity and crisis, when we are wobbling in a wobbly world, the teachings of yoga give us practices to cultivate focus and find stability. This Thankful Thursday practice weaves meditative awareness through slow flow hip openers, focusing balance poses, and conscious relaxation. Nourish yourself with this self-care practice whenever you need, access your inner resources and community support, then re-engage the wobbly world with a bit more steadiness of mind. Props: mat, blankets and/or bolsters (for Supta Baddha Konasana), strap. Read more

2025-01-08 Yoga to the Rescue – Dedicated to those suffering in the cataclysmic fires burning out of control in Los Angeles and Southern California, this slow_and_steady Wednesday Bendsday practice cultivates courage and compassion as we mobilize the spine, open the shoulders and heart, lengthen the side body and hip flexors in supported poses and backbends. Props: mat, 3 blankets, 2 blocks, strap. Read more

2025-01-07 Winter Warmth Practice – Welcome to New Year Strong! This Tensile Strength Tuesday practice warms up your engine with deep core engagements (bandhas), sun salutations, handstands, and standing pose vinyasas interspersed with progressive variations of side plank. Welcome in 2025 and welcome yourself back to your mat! Props: mat, wall (for handstand), blankets to sit on. Read more

2024-04-12 Progress Your Inversions – This culminating Inversion Strong session adds more variations and progressions into the practice; leg movements and twisting in headstand (Ekapada Sirsasana, Parsva Sirsasana), handstand press-up explorations, forearm balancing, and playful forward roll entries into shoulderstand. Props: mat, wall, strap, 2 bolsters (or blankets), blocks, chair. Read more

2024-04-10 Core for Inversions – Strengthen your core and shoulders in this Inversion Strong sequence with plenty of blanket (sliding) drills and inversion skills; refine your entry into headstand, work on balancing your handstands, play with supination & pronation in forearm balance, and put it all together in plow pose and shoulderstand. Props: mat, wall, block, 3+ blankets. Read more

2024-04-08 Inversion Eclipse – This playful Inversion Strong practice, broadcasted during the solar eclipse, uses sun salutation variations (block between thighs, belt around thighs) and leg + core activations to increase your headstand skills, practice hopping into handstands, backbend your forearm balances, and invites you to try shoulderstand on a bolster. Props: mat, block, strap, wall, chair, 2 botsters (or blankets). Read more

2024-04-04 Continuous Awareness Inversions – Cultivate serenity and endurance in this Inversion Strong practice of supine pranayama, meditation, longer durations in supported forward folds, challenging holds in handstand, forearm balance and headstand, and finish with a delicious chair shoulderstand. Props: mat, bolster, 3+ blankets, block, wall, chair, travel mat. Read more