On the one hand, yoga for women need not be too different from yoga for anyone else - we all need to build muscular strength and endurance, many of us can use better joint range of motion as well as lung capacity, and we DEFINITELY all need to learn how to manage stress better.

On the other hand, yoga for women should be designed to help women cultivate the RIGHT kind of energy without depleting energy stores overall.  Too many women strive for super strength or Cirque du Soleil flexibility without taking into consideration whether those things are truly needed for a better life.

My class at the Lynne Brick's Women's Fitness Club in Owings Mills is designed to help those brand new to yoga practice learn how to manage their energy (and those with experience can also learn how to safely "power up" without overdoing).  It IS possible to cultivate energy so you have more at the end of class than you did at the beginning!

If you would like to try a class contact the club at  (410) 363-4600.

UPDATE:  unfortunately this club is now closed.  Please come to my Restorative Yoga class at the Padonia Brick Bodies club on Sundays 3 - 4:15 pm!
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There seems to be a lot of controversy about NFL players "taking a knee" during the playing of the National Anthem.  As an act of peaceful protest against the unequal treatment of black men (who are shot, injured, arrested, incarcerated) in disproportionately large numbers to the white population, kneeling instead of standing is a powerful visual meant to be disruptive but ultimately meant to cause some soul searching in the audience.  But kneeling has also been used as an act of bowing to authority, of showing contrition, of demonstrating a prayerful attitude, and as part of a marriage proposal.  Kneeling was never considered an act of disrespect until now.

There is a powerful pull for individuals to conform to actions performed in a group;  standing to recite a loyalty oath with hand over heart, as in the Pledge of Allegiance, allows individuals to blend in, to demonstrate that they are part of the group.  When one person declines to remain part of the group they are often ostracized, as Colin Kaepernick has been.  If others in the group join the one person and their numbers grow, those who sympathize with the original protest but who were previously afraid to fully express themselves can feel more courageous in their new group.  This can result in dramatic positive change, as when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. inspired massive peaceful protests against segregation (and violent backlashes by authorities), or in equally dramatic displays of assumed racial supremacy as with the recent marches by neo Nazis and white supremacists (which usually resulted in violent clashes with anti fascists).

As practitioners of yoga we are part of a group striving to create peace and balance within ourselves, hoping that this will spread to the larger community.  Some work very hard to project "love and light" at all times while denying the shadow within themselves (unless you are a saint and have no shadows).  Others work very hard to deny the light and embrace the shadows of race hatred, extreme nationalism and xenophobia.  Most are somewhere in between, trying to make the world a better place but still on occasion lapsing into reflexive expressions of patriotism, or concerns about violence in "those neighborhoods".  It has been said that when we are truly peaceful within our own hearts that expressions of violence will cease.

We can strive all we want to practice the Yamas and Niyamas of Patanjali but perfect Ahimsa (non violence, the first Yama) is impossible.  We must kill to nourish ourselves (plants are sentient beings too), we commit violence in some form (mild or otherwise) every day in speech, thought, and sometimes in deed.   The deeper work lies in cultivating equanimity as in the Bhagavad Gita - gaining the strength to do the things we must do while remaining unattached to the results.  This should not result in doing nothing in the face of injustice;  even small gestures can begin the transformation in someone else.

​As we are seeing in the #TakeTheKnee movement.

In India, there are Doctors of Ayurveda who see patients in Ayurvedic Hospitals and local clinics.  Vaidyas, the Ayurvedic Doctors, who move to the US are not allowed to practice to their full capacity here unless they are also MDs but many have spoken of the apparent miracles they saw in their practices in India.  

Here in the US, many people come to Ayurveda or Traditional Chinese Medicine after they have exhausted all the treatments that westernized "conventional" medicine has to offer with little or no relief.  At this point where a serious disease has already manifested even Ayurveda may not cure the disease but only help one manage it.  According to Ayurveda, there are six stages of the disease formation process and disease can be prevented or cured if changes are made in diet and lifestyle in the first four stages.  By attacking the root of the potential disease one can prevent the disease.

In cases where the disease is rooted in exposure to toxins one must also either remove the toxin from the area of exposure or remove oneself from the area of exposure before then taking the diet and lifestyle steps to help clear the toxin from the tissues (this might require a specialized process called "Panchakarma", a protocol used for thousands of years to help detoxify the body).  The exposed person must then remain vigilant and continue to support the body's health and learn to understand how small seemingly trivial symptoms such as intestinal gas formation, acid reflux, headaches, or fatigue could point to the accumulation of the "Doshas" (the arrangements of the Five Elements that make up the body's structure and govern its functions), the aggravation of the "Doshas" in their normal sites of accumulation, the overflow of the "Doshas" into neighboring sites, and deposition of the "Doshas" into sites of weakness that then will become the first manifestations of the disease.  

Once the initial symptoms of the emerging disease become apparent, westernized "conventional" medicine can begin to treat but some diseases are easily cured while others are not.  At this stage and beyond Ayurveda and TCM can still provide supportive care, improving and maintaining the strength of the patient while s/he is undergoing standardized treatments.

​Below is a link to a brief article about the possibilities of using Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese Medicine to support patients with mesothelioma, a disease resulting from exposure to asbestos.  If you know someone with this disease or simply wish to learn as much as you can feel free to explore the rest of the site for information about symptoms, standard treatments, the different ways the disease can manifest, as well as resources for veterans and others.


https://mesothelioma.net/ayurveda-ancient-healing-practices/

What is freedom?

Is it the "freedom" to do whatever we want whenever we want?  To eat things we like, wear things that make us look a certain way, to say whatever is on our minds?

Is it the freedom to willingly suffer the consequences of our own bad decisions or do we really think freedom is avoiding consequences at all?

What if true freedom requires a bit of discipline and a lot of education and practice?

What if freedom evolves out of deep self-knowledge and long experience of what works for us and what doesn't work as well?

Then we can be free of serious disease even in the face of discomforts because our healthier dietary choices have improved our immunity.  We can be free of suffering in the face of pain and loss because we have done the hard work of cultivating emotional resilience.  We can be free of dependence on pharmaceuticals and surgeries to repair physical damage to our bodies because of our ability to observe how our exercise habits not only build strength and endurance but balance.

None of us are immune to aging, decline, or death but we can keep working to live the best lives possible.  It's not the years in our lives but the life in our years that counts.

​Have a wonderful day, and may the Fourth be with you!

I had spend a wonderful weekend with my colleagues, mentors, and MUIH cohort at the Symposium for Yoga Therapy and Research, emerging to find myself immersed into a local yoga festival right outside my hotel.  The weather was perfect, I felt calm and focused, ready to rededicate myself to helping my clients feel the same energy I cultivate every time I set my feet firmly into my personal practice.

The first thing I heard when I turned on my car radio was the sad news about the Orlando shooting.  One more deranged, mentally ill, fearful, hateful man somehow able to buy weapons and slaughter dozens of people just wanting to have a fun night on the town with friends.  We can agonize (and have) for years over how often this happens in our "civilized" nation, about how to keep guns away from those who should not have them, hear endless commentary attempting to make sense of the killer's state of mind and whether those who knew him (and it always seems to be a "him") noticed anything alarming without ever wondering what we can do for ourselves;  how can WE change ourselves to help build a better, saner, safer community?

I've been reading (finally) the groundbreaking book "The Body Keeps the Score" by Dr. Bessel Van Der Kolk that lays out in clear language how trauma affects the brain, how the conscious mind may not be able to make sense of traumatic events while the tissues of the body record the memories in every cell.  Those at the Pulse may not remember what happened but their bodies will.  It is my sincere wish that they all find some way to process this horrific event - talk therapy, somatic therapy, gentle massage, yoga - so they can find some measure of peace.

But what about the shooter?  He died at the scene and so cannot tell us why he felt such hatred for gay people.  Was he a victim of early trauma that perhaps he did not consciously remember?  Was he gay and unable to accept himself as he was?  As details emerge about his often violent relationships with others we could perhaps speculate that in the past he must have been abused in some fashion by someone he trusted.

This book also notes that mindful movement like yoga and tai chi can help a traumatized person process their experiences without having to relive them, that their brains gradually rewire themselves away from the fight/flight/freeze center towards the rest/digest/restore areas.  While adults need to make the effort to heal it is increasingly possible to offer generalized yoga classes to children in their schools, to at-risk children in specially designed classes with trained teachers, and specialty classes in trauma-sensitive yoga for those who know they need help but haven't had much success with medication or other therapies.

We must do all we can to prevent acts of violence by helping create conditions that nurture and provide safety.  The first step is cultivating peace in ourselves.

As we age we show the effects of our bad habits over the years; slouching posture, too much sitting, carrying things over the same shoulder all cause the body to change form to follow the function we've come to inhabit. Illnesses and injuries take their toll and add to the ill effects of our unconscious habits.... 
Read the rest here:
​http://healthyayurveda.com/activity/