Journey into a dazzlingly different atmosphere with these innovative and dynamic asanas.

By Diane Anderson with Dana Flynn

Laughing Lotus co-founder and yoga teacher Dana Flynn wants you to feel in inspired. "Everything seems so uncertain in this world today, but your practice is one thing that can be certain," she says. "It's totally possible to face your fears, make your home practice a prayer, and ensure that it's meaningful as well as fun." Flynn suggests that by moving in a dynamic flow through the sequence on the following pages, you can free your body and mind.

Don't worry if the poses look unfamilliar or have strange names—like Stargazer, Funky Tree, or Dancing Ganesha. Flynn has dubbed the entire sequence a "shape-shifting cosmic dance" and recommends that you approach it with the intention of being spontaneous, open, fearless, and free. "It's energetic, empowered, ecstatic, alive," she says. "So keep your sense of humor, especially if you aren't used to sticking your tongue out at your difficulties," which you will do in the pose called Kali.

Part of the series is moving from Kali to Peaceful Warrior to Utthita Parsvakonasana (Extended Side Angle Pose). Cycle through these three poses as many times as you like until you feel like a dancing dervish. You will tap into your intuition and sense your unlimited, boundless, ingnite potential. "You might feel small," Flynn says, "but you'll soon realize that you are bigger than you think you are." Now that's cosmic!

To begin

Personalize Make your own daily yoga ritual: Light a candle, say a prayer, or dive into movement as medicine.

Breathe Tap into your creative power by becoming intimate with your breath. Sit cross-legged; inhale and exhale.

Janu Sirsasana (Head-of-the-Knee Pose), variation Sit with your left leg extended in front of you and bend your right knee so that your right foot presses against your left thigh. Turn your torso to the right; with both hands on the floor, rise up onto your finger pads and soften through both elbows so that your heart can spread wide even as it stays lifted. Let this soft twist become a doorway into your true Self. Turn your listening within as you breathe deeply for 3 to 5 breath cycles.

Stargazer Press your right hand down behind your hips. Now root down through your right shin and left foot as you lift your hips off the ground and sweep your left arm up on a big inhalation. Begin to reach your left arm alongside your head as though you're sending out a cosmic telegram. Ground down and lift up. Breathe and reach for the stars!

Three-Legged Down Dog From Stargazer, bring your legs together, sit down, cross your shins, bring your hands in front of you, and roll onto all fours. Reach through your arms and legs, coming into Downward Dog. Use your breath to open the spine from your shoulders to your hips. Inhale and lift your right leg up. Puff up your inner right thigh as you drop the baby-toe side of your foot to the right to rotate your leg internally. Imagine moving your breath from your hands all the way into your lifted leg. Step both feet forward and fold fully over your legs in Uttanasana (Standing Forward Bend). Bow down at your own feet for a few timeless breaths.

Funky Tree Stand tall like a mountain. Shift your weight to your left leg and press your right foot into your left thigh (or shin if the thigh is out of reach). Inhale and extend your arms out wide, exhale and weave your left arm underneath your right and then press the palms together so that your arms are in Garudasana (Eagle Pose). How's your balance? Focus on a spot in front of you. Breathe and express your own funkiness, your own uniqueness!

Dancing Ganesha From Funky Tree, softly bend your left leg and lift your right knee in front of you. Bend your right knee. Breathe as you unravel your arms out to your sides and then shape your left arm like Ganesha's trunk. Open your right hand, facing it away and letting it fall on the top of your left wrist. This open right hand forms Abhaya Mudra, which represents fearlessness, and is placed out in front of your heart. Dance with Ganesha, the elephant god who removes obstacles. He can help you see what gets in your way. Breathe into Ganesha's positive vibrations.

Kali, Fierce and Loving Goddess of Darkness Jump your legs wide and bend your knees into a Horse Stance. Put your right arm underneath your left, as in Garudasana. To channel Kali, the wild goddess of destruction, stick your tongue out and roll your eyeballs up toward your third-eye center. Breathe and let yourself sway from side to side, pulsing Kali's fierce protective love.

Shanti Virabhadrasana (Peaceful Warrior) Move from Kali into Peaceful Warrior. Turn your right leg out, bend the right knee, and send the arms out and away from each other. Turn the right palm up and sweep it up and over your head as you send your left arm back.

Utthita Parsvakonasana (Extended Side Angle Pose) Inhale, lift up from Peaceful Warrior, exhale, place the right forearm on the right thigh, and then run the left arm alongside your head. Begin to move and dance through these mystical shapes: Parsvakonasana, to Peaceful Warrior, shape-shift to Kali, over to Peaceful Warrior again, and back into Parsvakonasana.

Urdhva Prasarita Ekapadasana (Standing Splits) From Parsvakonasana, turn to face forward and place both hands by your right foot. Walk your hands in front of you and come onto your fingertips as you lift and straighten your left leg into a split. Create length in your front body and room in your back leg by keeping your hands out in front of you and coming up onto your finger pads. Inhale and exhale for 5 breaths.

Gomukhasana (Cow Face Pose) with Ganesha Mudra Lower your left leg as you soften your right knee. Tuck your left knee behind your right knee, and sit between your heels. Bring your hands in front of your heart and clasp your hands together to form Ganesha Mudra. While exhaling, pull your hands away from each other without releasing them. As you inhale, relax the pulling. Repeat 3 times. Place both hands on your heart space. Pause before extending your right leg out and exploring the sequence on the other side.

To Finish

Find stillness and greater depth by holding poses longer in a Yin Yoga sequence.

By Andrea Ferretti, sequence by Sarah Powers

If you're accustomed to sweating your way toward glamorous poses, Yin Yoga may at first glance seem too slow, too simple, and, well, too boring. But this complex practice of long, passively held floor poses is deeply nourishing and has myriad benefits for any yoga practitioner, says San Francisco Bay Area yoga and meditation teacher Sarah Powers.

On a physical level, Yin enhances the natural range of motion in the joints. By keeping your muscles soft, you release deep layers of connective tissue, creating more ease in any style of yoga and in seated meditation. On an energetic level, Yin enhances the flow of prana (life force) in the tissues around the joints, where energy often stagnates. Powers likens the practice to doing an acupuncture session on yourself: Sequences are often geared toward strengthening certain energy channels (called nadis in yoga or meridians in Chinese medicine), which ultimately support the organs, immune system, and emotional well-being.

And then there are the mental benefits: Holding poses for three to five minutes often brings up discomfort. Yin conditions you to stay with the intense sensations that arise, rather than quickly moving into the next pose. “It trains you to become more comfortable with discomfort instead of becoming alarmed,” Powers says. “It marries meditation and asana into a very deep practice.”

All that and you don’t have to trade in your dynamic practice to reap the benefits. Powers, who teaches Yin together with Yang (her version of flow yoga), encourages students to do Yin poses before or after a regular routine, or as a stand-alone sequence. She recommends a Yin session at least two to four times a week. “You’re conditioning the tissues to become more elastic, so practicing has a cumulative effect,” she says. “The more you do it, the more you’ll want to do it.”

Practice Tips

There are three crucial things to do as you practice Yin. First, come into a pose to your appropriate edge in a respectful way. Second, become still, just as you would during meditation. Third, stay for a while, as you would for an acupuncture session. In the beginning aim for three to five minutes, but if one minute is enough, start there and grow into two minutes.

Sequence Focus

The sequence that follows balances what traditional Chinese medicine calls the kidney meridian—essential for mind-body health. “When kidney chi is revitalized, you’ll feel vibrant,” Powers says. The sequence includes passive backbends, because the kidney channel flows through the lower back. Seated forward bends act as counterposes and stimulate the urinary bladder meridian, which intersects all of the other meridians in the body.

1. Butterfly Pose Sit on a blanket or cushion. With your weight on the front edge of your sitting bones, bend your knees, press the soles of your feet together, and let your legs drop out like butterfly wings. Take your heels at least a foot away from your hips. With your hands on your ankles, bend forward from the hips to your appropriate edge, then relax your upper spine and let it round. Rest your head in the arches of the feet, on top of the stacked fists, or cupped in the hands while the elbows rest on the feet. If you can, stay for 3 to 5 minutes in all of the poses in this sequence. Inhale as you come up, then stretch your legs forward and lean back on your hands. Pause for a few moments in a neutral position after each pose.

2. Saddle Sit on your shins and lean back on your hands. (If this is already too much for your knees, skip this pose.) Lower yourself slowly onto your back, keeping your lower back in an exaggerated arch. If your quadriceps feel strained, rest your shoulders and head on top of a bolster or a folded blanket. Otherwise, come down onto your elbows or upper back, allowing your knees to spread apart if you need to. If there is too much pressure on your ankles, place a folded towel or blanket underneath them. To come up, place your hands where your elbows were. Engage your abdominal muscles and inhale as you lift yourself up.

3. Sphinx Lie on your belly with your legs outstretched. Place your elbows on the floor shoulder distance apart and about an inch or so ahead of the shoulder line. Place your hands straight forward or hold on to your elbows. Rest here without slumping into your shoulders or lifting them up. Let your belly and organs drape toward the floor as you relax your buttocks and legs. If your back feels sensitive, engage your outer buttocks and inner legs all or part of the time to lessen the strong sensations.

4. Seal This pose is similar to Sphinx but creates more of an arch in the lower back. Begin on your belly, propped up on your hands with your arms straight. Place your hands about 4 inches in front of the shoulders. Turn the hands out slightly, like seal flippers. Distribute your weight evenly across your hands to avoid stressing your wrists. If it’s tolerable, relax the muscles in the buttocks and legs. If not, contract them from time to time to relieve the intense sensations. Your ability to remain muscularly soft may take a few months of practice. Be patient, but do not endure sharp or electrical sensations. Stay for 3 to 5 minutes. On an exhalation, lower yourself down slowly. Remain still and breathe into the whole spine as you rest.

5. Child’s Pose When it feels appropriate to move again, place your hands under your chest, and on an inhalation, lift your upper body away from the floor. As you exhale, bend your knees and draw your hips back toward your feet in Child’s Pose.

6. Half Dragonfly Sit on a blanket or cushion with your right leg outstretched and the sole of your left foot pressing into your inner right thigh. Move your left knee back a few inches. If the knee does not rest on the floor, place a cushion under it. As you exhale, bend your spine over your right leg, placing your hands on either side of it. Do both sides before moving on.

7. Dragonfly Bring your legs into a straddle, exhale, and bend forward from the hips. Place your hands on the floor in front of you, or rest on your elbows or on a support like a bolster or folded blanket. If it feels natural, come all the way down onto your belly. If your knees are unstable, back off the pose and engage the quadriceps from time to time. Attempt to hold this pose for 5 minutes or more.

8. Full Forward Bend Gently bring your legs back together. Bend forward at the hips, curving your spine into a forward bend. If you have sciatica or if your hips tilt backward, eliminate this pose and lie on the floor with your legs up the wall.

9. Savasana Come into Corpse Pose with your palms facing up or with your hands resting on your abdomen. Place the legs wider than the hips and relax your buttocks, legs, and feet. Invite ease in your mind and body, making this the most nourishing posture of all.

Connect with nature and enjoy being challenged by the elements when you take your practice outside.

By Lauren Ladoceour

Imagine your hands cushioned by the soft loam under a grove of pine trees, your feet resting gently against a sturdy tree, as you revel in the strength and beauty of an outdoor Handstand. Then, ouch! Your finger presses into a sharp pebble you hadn't seen.

Practicing in the great outdoors is exhilarating, but it usually presents its fair share of challenges: changeable weather, bugs, uneven terrain. "When you're outdoors, the surface can be slippery, or it can be moving if you're on sand, but that's the real world," says Twee Merrigan, a Prana Flow Yoga teacher who is based in New York City but spends many weeks of the year practicing outside in remote and exotic settings. "It isn't always a perfect wood floor with incense and a teacher. Outside the yoga studio, if a challenge comes up, what are you going to do? Freak out? Instead of waiting for someone to tell you what to do, you figure it out for yourself," she says.

Which is why an outdoor practice can be a resource for nourishing your creativity and resilience."We were in India, and ants were crawling all over my mat and feet," recalls Merrigan. "I made a choice to respect them, focus enough to step around them, change my practice a little for them. If they're red ants, OK, you might want to move your mat. But generally you can just let them be. They'll crawl off, and you'll be OK."

Adopting an attitude of curiosity is the first step to enjoying a practice out of doors. Gillian Kapteyn Comstock, a yoga teacher who leads yoga-in-nature workshops at the Metta Earth Institute in Lincoln, Vermont, suggests exploring your environment with all five of your senses. "Experience soft grass or warm sand underfoot," says Comstock, who wrote the outdoor asana instructions featured here. "Feel the texture of a boulder with your hands in Half Downward-Facing Dog Pose, or the rough tree bark against an extended arm in Triangle Pose."

Then, try to let go of your ideas about what your yoga practice should look or feel like, and see what you encounter. "Give yourself permission to move from spot to spot to find the natural props you need," Comstock suggests. "Think of nature as a yoga partner, and suddenly a whole world of props opens up."

Observe the natural world: the smell of the air, the feel of the wind, the sound of the birds, the shifting shadows, and your ever-changing feelings of eagerness, happiness, pride, vulnerability, strength, exhaustion—whatever arises. Notice your reaction to it all.

Finally, let yourself be spontaneous and have fun. "I'll decide to go for a walk on the beach, and—I can't help myself—the walk turns into a 45-minute practice of free-flowing vinyasa yoga," Merrigan says. "Yoga in the outdoors is doing what's calling you. Anytime I'm in an open field, I go into arm balancing poses. The yoga doesn't even have to be advanced postures. I might be in Half Lotus with a mudra. Or doing an Earth salute, by laying on my belly on the grass. Or break into chanting or pranayama. There's no set program—just taking a breath and seeing what inspires you right now."

Instruction by Gillian Kapteyn Comstock

Rock Solid: Standing Poses

From head to toe, standing poses such as Utthita Trikonasana (Triangle Pose), Virabhadrasana (Warrior Pose), Utkatasana (Chair Pose), and Tadasana (Mountain Pose) empower you to be present and engaged in the world, poised for whatever calls. No matter where you are in nature, the ground is probably uneven and the weather is changeable. On top of these distractions, the usual studio props that keep you balanced and aligned are absent. The challenge here is to stay in the pose mindfully in changing conditions.

Tadasana (Mountain Pose) Stand with your feet hip-distance apart and parallel. Spread your toes, and exhale as you ground the four corners of each foot, feeling your weight press down into the earth. Inhale and draw energy up your legs by lifting the quadriceps. After your next inhalation, retain the breath briefly as you gently squeeze your perineum and engage your core. Exhale and draw your tailbone down slightly as you lift up out of your waist. Inhale again and allow the chest to open and the collarbones to widen. Let the breath rise up through the neck with a gentle lift, free of tension. Exhale and roll your shoulders back and down. For this variation of Tadasana, you'll inhale and bring the arms overhead, palms shoulder-width apart and facing each other.

Find a point in the landscape at eye level and steadily gaze there while you use your peripheral vision to notice the light, ground, clouds, and whatever else is in your environment. Take it all in with a soft, inclusive view. Next, imagine everything that can't be seen with the eyes at the moment. You may sense things that you might not have initially noticed. Finally, concentrate on your inner landscape, scanning the body for sensations.

To come out of the pose, exhale and lower the arms to a T, pause, and release them to your sides. Relax, close your eyes, scan inwardly, and notice the effects of the practice. Open your eyes, and simply witness your experience.

Catch the Wind: Balancing Poses

Lift up into in Ardha Chandrasana (Half Moon Pose), Garudasana (Eagle Pose), Bakasana (Crow Pose), or Vrksasana (Tree Pose) outside among birds, swaying branches, and crashing waves, and you'll soon notice all of the movements that can interrupt your concentration and cause you to fall out of a pose. How do you steady yourself when you're surrounded by so much motion? Rooting down into the earth and keeping a steady gaze certainly helps. But it's your breath that will best steady the mind and help you rise high. "By consciously breathing, a whole world of awareness begins to open up," Comstock says. "Yogic breathing creates space for listening to the sounds of nature and noticing sensations."

Through Ujjayi Pranayama (Victorious Breath), you can call forth the sound of the wind, the very element that lends the sense of flight to balancing poses. The sound of air moving through the back of the throat may also help you concentrate and stay present. A steady mind, after all, encourages steadiness and balance in the body. So in preparation for a balancing pose, practice Ujjayi by contracting the back of your throat slightly. Imagine you're fogging a bathroom mirror with your breath, and let out a soft "ha" sound that begins in your mouth and comes through your nostrils. When your breath starts to sound like wind in the trees or ocean waves, you've got it. You're ready for takeoff.

Vrksasana (Tree Pose) Begin in Mountain Pose. Strongly ground the right foot and establish steady Ujjayi breath. Focus your drishti (gaze). With awareness, inhale, bend your left knee, and place the sole of your left foot, toes pointing down, on the inner right thigh. In the beginning, the foot can rest wherever you can most easily find your balance. Exhale and turn the left knee out so that it is in the same plane as the front body. On an inhalation, bring the hands to Anjali Mudra (Salutation Seal) at the heart center. After 5 breaths, exhale as you bring the hands with palms together down the midline and release the foot. Repeat on the other side. Relax and close your eyes for a moment. When you open your eyes, let your awareness include the many things in nature that balance—a bird's nest, stacked rocks—and simply observe.

Down Play: Inversions

Whether you're on sand, a grassy knoll, or a rough forest floor, the ground is sure to be a far cry from a studio's flat wood floors. Even the walls, mats, and props on which you often depend for many inversions are noticeably absent. I've found the best—and most fun—thing to do in these situations is to remind myself to not be so serious about my practice and instead take the opportunity to play with the slanted ground and experiment with using large rocks and trees for props. Did you ever turn cartwheels on the beach or do headstands on the grass as a kid? It's the practice of playful ingenuity that makes inversions like Salamba Sirsasana (Supported Headstand), Salamba Sarvangasana (Supported Shoulderstand), Setu Banda Sarvangasana (Bridge Pose), and Adho Mukha Svanasana(Downward-Facing Dog Pose) possible outside.

Most inversions take the body into adventurous positions. So before beginning, consider safety. For example, if you tumble, are there any hard or sharp objects you might fall onto? Commit to listening to your body with the utmost gentleness. Then let your mind relax and tune in to your childlike nature. Is there a tree to support you as a wall would, a soft spot in a meadow for your head, a rock to lay your back body over, or a sandy dune to press into? Make a pose up and add improvisational play to your practice. Maybe you'll find yourself kicking up into Handstand on a sandy dune or letting your feet lean against a tree trunk in Headstand. The fun of the practice is being as creative as nature.

Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward-Facing Dog Pose) Of all the inversions, this pose is perhaps the easiest one to playfully create structural variations and modifications to in nature. Try it on a sloping beach, stand on a fallen log, or put hands and feet on boulders and stumps. The perfection of the pose is not in the classic alignment, but rather it is in the dynamic play of the core with the extended limbs. So find what fascinates you in the landscape.

Begin in Uttanasana (Standing Forward Bend). On an inhalation, reach out and walk your hands forward until the four corners of each foot and hand come in contact with the ground, boulder, slope, or tree you've chosen as a prop, consciously adapting the classical positions of the hands shoulder-width apart and parallel and the feet hip-distance apart and also parallel. Exhale and spread your fingers and toes evenly, which will help stabilize the posture.

When you feel grounded, inhale as you press the buttocks upward, and exhale as you extend the arms and legs. Continuing to breathe deeply, alternate rocking the left and right heels. Play with the inhalations and exhalations as you allow the head to drop down between the arms, and draw up the quadriceps. The shifting and adjusting of your body's play with the earth depend on your ability to breathe consciously. Breath by breath, make the micromovements that keep you connected to your inner sensations.

Lengthen the arms and lift out of the shoulders while continuing to press the heels down. Breathe deep into the abdomen, and then exhale, lifting the belly gently. Feel the dynamic opposition of the hands and heels pressing down, while simultaneously reaching up with the buttocks. And when you've completed your play, exhale and walk your hands back to a standing forward bend. Rest there for a moment, inhale, and unfurl yourself vertebra by vertebra back to standing. Rest and witness the world right side up again.

Ardha Matsyendrasana (Half Lord of the Fishes Pose) Begin with your legs extended in Dandasana (Staff Pose). For this variation, keep the left leg straight and active and the left foot flexed. Inhale, bend the right knee, and exhale, placing the right foot on the outside of the left knee. Keep the right knee pointed straight up and the right foot pressed firmly into the ground. On an exhalation, rest the right palm on the ground next to the right hip. Inhale and hook the left elbow on the outside of the right knee.

To deepen the twist, inhale fully, lift the spine, and exhale as you press the left elbow into the knee and turn right. Let the twist originate in the belly as you breathe. Hold the pose for 5 breaths and tune in to the currents of energy moving through your body. Exhale as you unwind the posture, and then twist in the other direction briefly as a counterpose. Pause in Staff Pose, and notice if there is an increase in flow of energy. Repeat on the other side.

Balasana (Child's Pose) Begin by kneeling on your hands and knees, with your knees hip-distance apart and parallel, and your big toes touching. Inhale and gaze softly at the earth before you. Exhale, and extend back so that the buttocks touch or move down toward the heels, the torso rests between the thighs, and the forehead sinks into the earth. Bring your arms along your sides and extend them out behind the buttocks. Turn the palms up. Inhale and lengthen your spine by extending your neck forward, then exhale and reach the tailbone backward. Allow gravity to pull the weight of the torso down, and feel your back widening and expanding. Breathe deeply and slowly for 5 to 10 breaths or more, completely letting go and resting on the earth.

When you're ready to come out of the pose, inhale, bring your torso up slowly until you're in a seated kneeling position, and rest your hands on your thighs. Keep your eyes closed for a few breaths, and then gently open them to observe your connection to the earth.

Back to Earth: Forward Bends

Forward bends like Janu Sirsasana (Head-of-Knee Pose), Ankle-to-Knee Pose, Balasana (Child's Pose), and especially a supine asana like Savasana (Corpse Pose) let you sink deep into the quiet of the earth. Outdoors, that means you'll be sinking into sand, grass, stone, or even mud. You might have twigs on your shirt or sand in your hair, but the moments of feeling the quiet vibration of the earth will surely make up for it. So choose a spot that feels inviting, and relax into any of these poses.

When practicing forward bends in nature, try turning your face downward and close your eyes. Imagine that you can see into the layers of stone and soil. Allow your senses to soften, and let the darkness behind your eyelids fill your consciousness. There's nowhere to go, nothing to do. Just be. Ideally, the meditation will take you down into pure space and empty the mind. More important, this deep listening to the earth is a way for you to commune with nature.

Nature's Spin: Twists

Twists are everywhere in nature: a vine wrapped around a tree, a river whirlpool, a snail's shell. In yoga asana, twists such as Ardha Matsyendrasana (Half Lord of the Fishes Pose), Bharadvajasana (Bharadvaja's Twist), Jathara Parivartanasana (Revolved Abdomen Pose), and Parivrtta Trikonasana (Revolved Triangle Pose) curl you in closer to your center. In addition to revitalizing the spine, they are thought to invigorate the interior organs of the body by increasing blood circulation there.

Many twists are done while you're seated or lying on the ground for several still moments. During this time, the mind can wander to the damp grass under your bottom, the itchy twig tickling your leg, or the sun in your eyes. Remember to breathe and close your eyes as you twist so that the rich sensations outside and inside have a chance to mix into your awareness.

Lauren Ladoceour is Yoga Journal's associate editor.

Remember your early courtship with yoga? The first blush of love that left you sweaty and ecstatic, yearning for more? It felt juicy, delicious, and full of promise. That intimacy deepens as you learn more about the philosophy and postures of yoga.

By Hillari Dowdle

It's all good... until, suddenly, you realize you're bored. You've hit the maintenance phase, where putting yourself through daily practice feels about as exciting as washing the dishes, and hustling off to your regular Wednesday night class becomes just one more thing to tick off on your to-do list. The question is, What do you do about it?

"A yoga practice is just like a marriage or any other long-term relationship," says Mebbie Jackson, 46, a longtime yogi with a daily vinyasa practice in Knoxville, Tennesee. "When life gets busy and you don't pay attention to yoga like you should, you can get stuck in a rut. You need always to be working to bring new energy and new tricks into it to keep it interesting."

Jackson actively looks for ways to keep her passion for yoga burning brightly. She found it one night in an Anusara Yoga workshop led by Martin Kirk at the local Glowing Body studio.

Kirk is a teacher who makes passion a central theme in his teaching. "Don't just practice by rote; don't ever close down into dogma," he advises. "Find the things you really love about your practice, and explore them more deeply. Let that love inspire your practice so it can inspire your life."

This is just what Jackson needed to hear. "I came to this workshop to recommit and to challenge myself a little more," she says. "I've been practicing for 19 years, and I try to do it every day at home. But when you start doing yoga as daily maintenance, you can forget all the yummy stuff it can do, all the loftier ideals. I need to be reminded."

Do you need to be reminded too? If so, consider these seven ideas for reenergizing your practice. Mull them over, try them out, or let them inspire your own, better ideas. Perhaps among them you'll find just what you need to fan the flames of your own passion for yoga.

Dedicated to the one I love

Sometimes when you are bored or you're feeling that your practice has hit a plateau, it's because you're driven to get a certain pose that's out of reach, like Handstand," says Adi Carter, a teacher who blends Anusara, Ashtanga, Iyengar, and Jivamukti yoga with Pilates. "It can be tremendously helpful to dedicate your practice to feeling grateful for what your body already can do, or appreciating the simple beauty of your breath."

In her classes at Greenhouse Holistic in Brooklyn, Carter advises her 
students to start their practices by feeling gratitude for how things are. From there, they can expand their focus outward. "Every time you step on the mat, you have the opportunity to ask yourself: 'What do I want to see more of in my life?'" Carter says. "It's a tough question, but it's worth asking. Once you find the answer, you can set an intention to use the energy of your yoga practice to help make it real."

For example, you might want to see more flexibility in your body and mind, and set an intention to work toward that goal. You might want to dedicate your practice to creating peace in all your relationships. Or you can pick something more practical, like reducing the amount of waste you create. "Any intention is heightened by your yoga practice, so set a good one," Carter advises.

Jodie Vicenta Jacobson, 32, often spends a moment in Carter's class sending love to children around the globe. "When I stop, get quiet, and take a breath, I'm reminded that yoga is much bigger than me," she says. "I think yoga helps send my intention out and at the same time seal it in. It's amazing every time."

Let's get anatomical

When you're doing your Down Dog, you're probably focusing on all the bits and pieces—the pressing through the palms, the inner spiral of the legs, the alignment of the elbow creases. But are you really, truly in the pose? "So many longtime yoga practitioners get caught up in where their arms and legs are supposed to be that they forget how to feel the pose," says Susi Hately, a kinesiologist who facilitates Anatomy and Asana workshops throughout the United States and her native Canada as well as abroad. "I want someone to understand how their arm bone moves in its socket, or how the pelvic girdle functions. Once they understand how their body really works, all the other alignment cues fall into place."

Hately is a big fan of yoga-oriented anatomy workshops and introductory anatomy courses at community colleges and massage schools. "Any good fundamental anatomy course will teach you the basics: This muscle attaches to that bone and moves that joint in this direction or that direction," she says. "This is the key to understanding how the body moves, and it can give you tremendous insight into how your yoga practice works."

When you have a fundamental grasp of anatomy, you'll understand what your teacher really means when she talks about internally rotating your arms, or why your tight chest muscles are preventing you from straightening your arms overhead. With practice, you may even be able to visualize the cascade of cause-and-effect events that each muscular action sets into motion. And this knowledge can infuse your practice with a new level of curiosity. "When you know the body and understand how and why it moves the way it does, you're able to come at poses from the inside out, rather than from the outside in," Hately says.

Buddyup!

A traditional Ashtanga practice takes place in a Mysore room, where students gather together to practice, but don't necessarily do the same poses. But there isn't one in Sebastopol, California, where Ann Austin lives.

Austin, a teacher at the local Yoga Studio Ganesha, offered a Mysore room to her students for a while, but there, she was the teacher, not the student. So she created one with her friend Lucky Jamison. "We make a little Mysore room wherever we are—right now, it's in my barn," Austin says. "We get together at 6 a.m. four times a week to practice in our lineage. Then we head home, send our kids off to school, and move on with our lives feeling totally energized."

Practicing together, the two yogis provide each other with inspiration, feedback, adjustments, spotting, and reinforcement. "We keep each other honest," Austin says. "When you are left to your own devices, you're more likely to just do what you want or like. We're not strict, but we both love the practice. We help each other remember that."

They have traveled to yoga retreats together and have traded babysitting so that the other can attend classes and workshops. They also study the Yoga Sutra together.

"All you need is a friend who shares your enthusiasm and a space to do your practice in that's separate from your everyday life," Austin says. "To be able to create your own schedule and have your own practice—but not have to forge along the path alone—that's invaluable."

Worth the watch

When Kimberly Greeff, 29, feels like catching a yoga class, it's not so simple. She's a busy working artist, a mother, and the co-owner of Laughing Lotus Yoga of Anchorage, Alaska. So Greeff does what any tech-savvy, semi-isolated, time-pressed yogi would do: She downloads an inspiring podcast class. "I use the podcasts to further my study," she explains. "I love taking a good class with a master teacher, but up here in Alaska, we just don't get the big teachers coming through."

Greeff teaches Forrest Yoga and listens to Ana Forrest's podcasts. But she's also a big fan of Alanna Kaivalya, a Jivamukti master teacher in New York who offers free and subscription podcast classes. Other high-quality yoga podcasts are available through iTunes, iHanuman, and Yoga Journal.

DVDs can also be a potent cure for burnout, says Yoga Journal contributing editor Richard Rosen. "There are a few that I watch over and over for their beauty, approach, and for new ideas about how you can practice," he says. "They really have the potential to spark enthusiasm for the practice."

Style makeover

It can be said without (much) irony that any fallow period is an opportunity for self-reflection. Yoga values this process: Svadhyaya, or self-study, is a niyama (observance), one of the eight limbs of classical yoga. You can practice svadhyaya by exploring different styles of yoga, says Shannon Paige Schneider, the founder of Om Time studios in Denver and Boulder.

"Make a list of all the styles available to you, and go and take those classes in a systematic way," she advises. Try one new style every few weeks, and note after each what you liked and what you didn't like.

"If you usually practice an alignment-based style, you might like learning to flow in your practice. If you do vinyasa, you might find real power standing still in an Iyengar class. And people who take a restorative class are always amazed that you can lie down and let the yoga do the work," Paige Schneider says.

Feeling stuck in your practice is a sign that you are craving something, she adds. "When you take a different class, you get an instant fresh perspective—you are being asked to use your body in new ways. It's an opportunity to learn a tremendous amount about yourself."

The experience doesn't have to be all good in order to benefit you, either. "What you don't like is as important as what you do like," Paige Schneider says. "You might take a hot yoga class and dislike it. Then you would know that you need something more cooling and soothing. Sparks of wisdom come from good experiences and bad ones."

In private

Sometimes the best way to climb off a practice plateau is to go deeper by taking a private lesson. "When you are feeling stuck, you'd do much better to spend your money on a private session than on a five-class pass," says Om Time's Paige Schneider. Maybe you're feeling frustrated by a pose. Maybe you're ready to progress in your practice but don't know how. Maybe you need help developing new sequencing that gets you fired up about yoga again.

Private classes give you an opportunity to ask questions you never get to in a class setting. "You can be in a room with a yoga teacher every day with 40 other students for years and never realize you drop the inner thigh in Lunge," Paige Schneider says. "In a private, the teacher will make sure you master the action, and you might realize that keeping your inner thigh lifted is the key to transforming all your standing poses."

Private lessons can be expensive; prices range from $50 to $250 for one hour. Consider it an investment in your yoga future. Before you book your appointment, make sure you've got the right teacher. Paige Schneider recommends asking three questions—and looking for excitement in the answers: Do you give many private lessons? Do you like to give private lessons? Do you have the time to give private lessons? "These are more important than How much does it cost?" she says.

Follow your leader

It's a fundamental tenet of yoga that the answers to all our questions—including How do I shake off these doldrums?—can be found within. The problem is, it takes practice to recognize the questions we need to ask and also to hear the answers. Paradoxically, as we learn self-guidance, most of us benefit from the guidance of a wise teacher—a guru, if you will.

"A real guru can see what the student needs and offer the practices at the right time," says Yogiraj Alan Finger, the co-creator (with his father, Kavi Yogi Swarananda Mani Finger) of Ishta Yoga. "Serious students should seek out a teacher who can help them understand how it all works—how asana affects the gunas, doshas, chakras, and the subtle body. When you have that depth of understanding, you will never become bored with the poses. You'll never not want to do it."

They say that the teacher will appear when the student is ready. Still, it doesn't hurt to give fate a hand. So go looking, in books, on videos, across the Web. Look in classes, workshops, and conferences. When you find a teacher whose work resonates with you, do whatever it takes to learn everything you can from him.

You can choose a period of time, say a year, to commit to one teacher, and just do it, if for no other reason than this: You might just transform your life.

Extend your energy and feel your balancing poses come to life with this Anusara sequence.

By Desiree Rumbaugh

Students of Anusara yoga often have beautiful, awe–inspiring backbends. With their fingers spread wide and their hearts soaring, they convey immense freedom and joy—even in "baby backbends" like Cobra or Locust.

That's because Anusara founder John Friend teaches that it's not just the shape of a pose that can make it magnificent or therapeutic, but the energy and intention behind it, as well. So in addition to learning alignment, Anusara students also learn about Muscular Energy (hugging the muscles to the bones) and Organic Energy (extending energy out).

This month's sequence eases you gracefully and playfully into Vasisthasana (Side Plank Pose), a pose that combines an arm balance with a backbend. It also enables you to work with the two types of energy. "By first engaging your muscles and drawing your energy in, you'll be strong in the outward expression, reaching far beyond your perceived boundaries or limitations," says Desiree Rumbaugh, an Anusara teacher based in Scottsdale, Arizona, who created this sequence. "Even if you can't get into the full pose today, the variation allows you to taste the richness and freedom that happen when you infuse an asana with your energy. "

Before you begin:

Breathing and Meditation
Sit in a comfortable cross-legged position. Using both hands, grasp your thighs and turn them inward, one at a time, and then place your hands, palms facing down, on your legs. Slide your hands toward your waist to create ease in the neck and shoulders. Take 10 full breaths.

Invocation
Chant Om or an invocation of your choice.

WarmUp
Begin by stretching and breathing, either sitting or standing.

Before the sequence:

Do Reclining Hand–to–Big–Toe Pose. Then do Standing Forward Bend, with the balls of your feet on a rolled–up blanket and your heels on the floor. Do 5 Sun Salutations. Then integrate the action of your arms and shoulders by doing Handstand. Next, do standing poses like Triangle and Side Angle Pose, and seated poses like Seated Forward Bend and Head–to–Knee–Forward Bend.

Featured Sequence:

Do all 10 poses, then repeat on the second side.

After the Sequence:

Do Headstand and Shoulderstand.

1. Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward–Facing Dog Pose)
View in Detail	Begin on your hands and knees. Spread your fingers and press your hands firmly into the earth. Inhale and lengthen the sides of your body and exhale, allowing your upper back to soften. Keep your heart descending and your spine long as you lift your hips and straighten your legs. Lift your sitting bones up and take your tailbone down toward your heels.
2. Bhujangasana (Cobra Pose)
View in Detail	Lie on your belly with your hands on the floor, by your chest. Spiral each leg inward and press your feet and toenails down firmly. Inhale as you lengthen the sides of your body, then exhale, pressing your tailbone down. Press the lower tips of your shoulder blades toward the back of your heart while keeping the upper shoulder blades broad and open. Root your hands into the earth, and curl up toward the sky.
3. Vrksasana (Tree Pose)
View in Detail	From Tadasana (Mountain Pose), bend your left knee and place your left foot on your inner right thigh. Press that thigh against the foot. Keeping the arches of your feet lifted, spiral your legs in, back, and away from each other. Now take your tailbone down toward the earth—your legs will spiral outward as you do this. Once you've established your steadfast power, reach your arms up and look up with an open heart.
4. Virabhadrasana III (Warrior Pose III)
View in Detail	With your right leg forward and your left leg back, engage Muscular Energy for a supportive foundation. Take your tailbone down to gently lift your lower abdomen. Bend your front leg slightly and lean forward, focusing on the strength and stillness in your core. Come into the balance by stretching both legs. Keep the left leg spiraling inward as you hug both legs toward the midline. Stay for 5 deep breaths.
5. Ardha Chandrasana (Half Moon Pose)
View in Detail	With a wide stance, turn your right leg out and your left leg in slightly. Bend your right knee to 90 degrees. Place your right fingertips on the floor about 12 inches in front of your foot, with your thumb in line with your little toe. Hug your legs to the midline and then draw your tailbone and right buttock down to engage your lower abdominals. Once you feel steady, use Organic Energy to open and stretch fully, from your heart through your legs, arms, head, and hands.
6. Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana (Extended Hand–to–Big–Toe Pose)
View in Detail	From Tadasana, bring your left knee toward your chest. Hold the outside of your left foot with your left hand. If your hamstrings are tight, use a strap around the bottom of your foot. Engage your muscles to the bone. Then hug both legs to the midline to find your core. When you're steady, bring your left leg out to the side. Breathe steadily; breathing takes concentration, but it helps you balance.
7. Parsvottanasana (Intense Side Stretch Pose)
View in Detail	From Tadasana, step your right foot forward four feet. Spiral your left leg in 45 degrees. Draw your tailbone down and your abdominals up. Lengthen your side body and press the lower tips of your shoulder blades into your back. Hug your shins toward the midline as you exhale and bend forward.
8. Garudasana (Eagle Pose)
View in Detail	From Tadasana, bend your knees, take your left leg off the floor, and wrap it around your right leg. Squeeze your legs together, which gives your leg muscles a massage and encourages circulation. Wrap your arms around each other, with the right one on top, until the palms meet. Squeeze them together, too. How much can you bend your legs? The more you hug to your midline, the more resilience and balance you'll create.
9. Wild Thing (Vasisthasana variation)
View in Detail	From Downward Dog, bring your weight into your right hand and roll onto the outer edge of your right foot. Step your left foot back and place your toes on the floor with your knee bent at 90 degrees. Exhale and, keeping your right leg straight, push your body away from the floor. Use your legs and buttocks to lift your tailbone and hips as high as you can, until you are almost standing on your right foot. Keep breathing and curl your head back, extending your left arm from your heart and expressing your power and freedom.
10. Vasisthasana (Side Plank Pose)
View in Detail	From Down Dog, bring your weight into your right hand, stack the feet, and come onto the edge of your right foot. Bring your left leg into Tree Pose, then grab the outside of your left foot, press your right palm down, and lift your hips. Extend your left leg while holding the big toe. Firm both shoulder blades into your back. Spiral your chest up, lift your heart, and drop your head back. Source: http://www.yogajournal.com/practice/2582

Dear Rita,

Absolutely not! True, carrying extra weight will make certain poses more challenging, and there will be increased pressure on the joints in some poses. But not doing yoga until you lose weight is like not doing yoga until you get flexible. Among other things, we do yoga because of the tremendous physical and mental benefits it brings us in exactly those areas where we struggle. If we were already as strong and flexible and thin as we tell ourselves we should be, then we wouldn't have to do an asana practice at all. We could just sit around meditating all day until we found bliss.

The point is that yoga helps us find balance in all areas of our lives; we're not supposed to arrive in yoga class as a fait accompli. We're supposed to show up ready to take a journey of transformation, whatever that may be. Everyone comes to the mat with a different imbalance, but everyone is working on something, and it is the act of getting on the mat that points us in the right direction.

A dear friend of mine began practicing yoga at the age of 37. She had always avoided it because she thought she was too stiff and that she didn't have a "yoga body." After several months of classes, she made a remark that I have never forgotten. She said that on the days she does yoga, she consistently makes better food choices, and these choices come naturally because she is calmer, more centered, and more fully in the present moment.

To me, this observation is the essence of the impact that yoga can have in all areas of our lives. I encourage you to disregard your friends' advice and find a class that lets you begin to experience yoga's extraordinary potential. You may need to experiment a bit to find the class that is just right for you, but I am sure it will be worth it

Quite often people who begin using Yoga in their older years discover that they feel even better than they did in their younger years. One of the rewards from starting a Yoga health program is the ability of the body to recover greater flexibility and regain health that had turned poor.

It has been discovered that your age is not determined on how long you have lived but the condition of your spine. Yoga achieves this by making your spine more flexible, strengthening your abdominal muscles and removing general tension from your body. The truth- which, you discover is goodness.

Searching for ways to deal with the stressful work environment, corporations are discovering the enormous health benefits and tips of yoga-based wellness programs. Now you can discover these ancient teachings without parting with your hard earned money for classes.

Maybe one of the easiest ways to relax, reduce stress and boost your health is to add yoga to your exercise routine. Not only does it aid in adding flexibility to your joints and muscles, but it can be great for clearing your mind. It was found that visual exercise routines which include blinking and focusing the eyes on distant objects, may be helpful. Please consult a yoga master, before trying out any of the
exercises and diets you may come across.

I even found I had enough motivation and discipline to extend the good effects of yoga by doing exercises at home in the morning. Thus, I could guarantee that I always awoke on the right side of the bed. Studies have also revealed that yoga exercises are effective at increasing joint flexibility and lubrication of joints, ligaments and tendons. Another interesting aspect of yoga health benefit is one of the very few techniques which contributes to massaging all the internal organs and glands.

Designed for every level of ability, age, and physical condition, there are detailed instructions for beginner, intermediate, and advanced students. Clearly illustrated, step-by-step instructions explain how to perform each yoga asana, or posture, correctly, while a unique 360-degree view of the final pose shows exactly how to position each part of the body.

Women who practice yoga report more body satisfaction, less self-objectification, and greater satisfaction with physical appearance (compared to women who don't do yoga). Fewer symptoms of eating disorders are also reported by women who practice yoga, perhaps because yoga encourages you to listen to your body's feedback and learn to be sensitive to your bodily sensations. All yoga classes should incorporates yoga philosophy, breath work, and an alignment based asana practice that is tailored to meet the needs and abilities of the students. For the best yoga health benefits and tips check out the secrets of yoga.


Are you a practicing yogi who would like to add the cardiovascular health benefits of running to your fitness regime? Are you a runner who needs the strength and flexibility benefits of yoga? Researchers pursuing the health benefits of yogic practices must compete not only for funding, but also to get their work published in reputable journals.

You can be sure that the words "yoga" and "meditation" don't appear often in the pages of the Journal of the American Medical Association, Allery and Asthma Proceedings, or Stroke (a journal of the American Heart Association) -- but it does happen! There are yoga poses and yoga stretches designed especially for those who are busy and unable to make time for yoga practice. The Mountain Pose is one of the simple poses that you can practice without any difficulty and no one will notice.

Relaxation is the release of unnecessary tension in the body and is part of every type of yoga practice. Yoga health benefits from meditation are also abundant that not only can someone with a health problem recover; someone who practices meditation regularly can also prevent a lot of health problems and diseases from developing.

Meditation has been used widely in managing many serious diseases, so much so, that success has been recorded in actually reversing mental disorders like depression and others. A once-a-month yoga workout may relieve some stress, but for benefits like increased flexibility and stamina, you should aim to practice yoga three or four times a week. It generally takes about 4 to 6 weeks of regular exercise at least 3 days a week for your body to begin to release the endorphins that make exercise such an uplifting experience.

This information is not intended to replace the advice of a doctor. I emphasize this because a lot of people tend to get alarmed by some of the terminology, and it just stems from a misunderstanding of the context in which it is being used. Please consult with your physician or other licensed health care professional for medical diagnosis, prescription, and treatment.

Side-bending poses open the energy channels of the liver, gallbladder and heart to help remove physical and energetic blockages in the heart and chest. Spine lengthening poses promote good posture to reduce compression on the heart and lungs and to facilitate proper functioning of the heart.

The rationale behind the appeal is greatly to do with the physical and psychological benefits experienced when integrating yoga into one's daily schedule. Yoga can be viewed as a breath of fresh air in this fast paced lifestyle that we live in, for these are just a few of the of the health benefits of yoga.

We wish to inspire learning, a healthy lifestyle, the pursuit of truth, and the experience of the Light within each of us. The festivals will benefit those interested in a lifestyle enhanced by various schools of yoga, informed eating habits, and natural medical remedies often found in household gardens.