By Mark Goldstein The wettest part of the rainy season is upon us now, and I thought it would be good to focus on cleansing. Even though it can get quite muddy during our rainy season, this time of year does serve a purpose to both cleanse and feed our environment.
Read MoreBy Mark Goldstein For many of us, yoga is a deeply personal experience. It is always a great yoga class when we are able to climb deeply into our own bodies and really experience the postures, nothing beats that……except maybe one thing……bringing someone else along. When we partner up with
Read MoreBy Mark Goldstein There’s a huge difference, right? As a yoga instructor, I can’t imagine that I would ever advise a student to give up, on the other hand, I whole heartedly encourage them to give in every once in a while. This month we will be focusing on forward
Read MoreBy Mark Goldstein This month I would like to present two yoga poses to open your heart. Specifically Cobra and Upward Facing Dog. We will be practicing these postures in each one of my yoga classes this month, and I encourage you to also include them in your own practices
Read MoreThis pose is a wonderful hip opener, because of that it can help out many types of lower back pain. As a massage therapist, the most common issue that I hear from clients is regarding back pain. Of course it can feel wonderful to have some great massage strokes done to your back when you are in pain, but, I find that whether we are healing through massage or yoga, that we always need to address the front of the body too in order to really make your back feel better.
Read MoreMany, if not all styles of yoga integrate breath into their practices. I teach the Vinyasa Flow style of yoga, and we link breath to each movement we make. There are quite a few asanas, or yoga poses, that can illustrate the experience of linking breath with movement, and this edition’s pose of the month is really a pair of poses named Cat and Cow.
Read MoreIt’s March, and a few days ago the Northern Hemisphere will be experienced it’s spring equinox, when Winter begins to turn to Spring. Many of our visitors are here from the northern latitudes, and have been going through a long cold winter. The arrival of spring launches growth and new beginnings. Many of you reading this are ex-pats from up north, and have experienced huge changes by relocating to Costa Rica. This brings up this month’s subject and pose of the month. Change: how to create it, embrace it and how to use yoga to make it more meaningful.
During the third week in March, Earth reaches it’s tipping point on a geological scalewhich will initiate Spring to our north and Autumn to our south. Simply put : What was up becomes down, and what was down becomes up on a globalscale, and this creates massive changes.This brings up our Pose(s) of the Month: Inversions. An inversion pose is one that gets you upside down. A pose when your heart is above your head, or at least your feet are up into the air.
Read MoreI’d like to present an important concept from yoga, one which I encourage in every pose that we practice. There is not really a name for this concept, rather a description.
It can be summed up as: “In a pose, what parts of my body do I need to use, and which ones can I let go of?”
When practicing yoga, many people seek, and achieve, improvements in their physical bodies: six pack abs, less fat, more muscle, increase in flexibility. All of these are great goals, and can look and feel great as you achieve them. Many of these results come when we use our muscles, and burn calories. That’s fine, however, that’s not really where the “yoga happens”.
Read MoreBy Mark Goldstein Why practice yoga? Because you will feel better. Practicing the type of yoga that is right for you will improve your life. Some enter a yoga practice in search of physical improvement, and some are searching for a deeper spiritual involvement. Many find their way into some
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