The Best Yoga Blog
A collection of thoughts, ideas and teachings to inspire you
In this yoga blog you find carefully selected articles about all things yoga, spirituality and breath. It aims to educate and inspire you on your own spiritual path and hopes to make you curious to experience too, what else there is.
Are you a teacher and would like to share your thoughts and knowledge too? Send me an email with your ideas.
How to best deal with setbacks
Are you a failure because you experience setbacks?
Of course not dear! Just because you didn’t do what you wanted to do, doesn’t mean you are a failure.
We all have setbacks. They are normal. Important is on how do we move on from them?
Improve your heart health with the Ornish program in Denmark
My week as a coronary heart disease patient One week I have lived according to the Dr. Dean Ornish program during my yoga therapy certification course for heart conditions. I had the privilege to study with Lutz Hertel, who worked closely with Dr. Dean Ornish himself...
The strong connection between intuition and alignment
Following our intuition in yoga encourages us to sometimes step out of alignment, embracing variations of poses, and allowing our body to move and groove to its own rhythm rather than that instructed by the yoga teacher.
How to adapt your yoga practice during your cycle
In this guest blog post, Jana explains the influence the female cycle has on women’s energy levels and their yoga practice. You’ll learn how Ayurveda views the phases of the cycle and how you can support yourself through your yoga practice with asana (yoga shapes), pranayama (breath and energy work) and meditation during each phase.
The surprising teachings of a birthday cake
We do not know how much time we got left.
We simply don’t. We can take so well care of ourselves and we could still leave our physical bodies before the life expectancy that our society suggest. But we can also live well beyond it. We just don’t know.
How to teach a mixed levels yoga class
Did you know that teaching advanced students is actually the easiest? Beginner classes require more skill in clear, direct and concise cueing. Mixed level classes can add another layer of challenge.
Here are a few tips on how to master a class like this.
The hidden power of sound
Sound healing is an all-encompassing therapeutic technique that makes use of the power of sound waves to promote harmony, relieve stress, and improve one’s physical, mental, and emotional health.
Why discipline is important in yoga
What keeps you from having a powerful practice and making lasting changes is often your ego, as it wants to stay in control. Your ego wants to stay in comfort, and doesn’t want to be challenged. To release from the suffering, we need to go beyond the ego and the fluctuations of the mind. Understand when it’s necessary to be used, and when we need to ask it to be quiet.
The Secrets of Manifestation explained with real life
Manifestation is so powerful that it is sometimes hard to believe. Then we think of coincidence and forget that all things happen as they are supposed to.
What is self care and why is it important
What is self care? You know deep down what makes you feel good, and that is self care. We all have different needs and only you know what it means for you. Yes it can be a bubble bath and face mask, but deep down its the real heartfelt act of caring for yourself and being your own support system. Self care is a huge part of self love, loving yourself enough to care and look after your needs.
The powerful healing with breathwork
I won’t lie and say I never feel fear, oh I do, but when she speaks, I allow myself to breathe and then I listen to her with my heart instead of my head and realize there is someone present, someone that needs to be heard and not abandoned or shamed. I’ve grown to have a deeper respect for where she came from, and now she is no longer at the steering wheel of my life.
How to de-stress your Xmas
It’s just November, and I am already talking about Xmas? It will arrive sooner than you might have hoped for. And as it is better to tackle stress early, before we have a burnout or need to take stress related sick-leave, it is just about time to send you some advice on how to de-stress your Xmas.
How to find light in the darkness
We are entering Samhain, which marks the Celtic celebration of the dark half of the year. I’m sure I’m not the only one with mixed feelings about this. I definitely label myself as a summer girl and put summer on a pedestal, looking forward to it and the clinging to it as it ends.
Do you save time, to waste time?
Are you saving time, to waste it? How much do you optimize your day? Having meetings back to back, to get the most out of the day? Taking the fast track, having an app for virtually everything to optimize every second of your life. And where does this running around from A to B get you? Exhausted on the sofa scrolling mindlessly through the internet.
Do you need to know it all to be a good yoga teacher
We as yoga teachers need to keep on studying, so we can be confident enough knowing that we don’t have all the answers, but still can be empowering companions on our students’ yoga journeys.
The powerful connection of Yoga and Ayurveda
In everyday speech yoga and Ayurveda are called "sister sciences" and Ayurveda is considered to
be the health tradition of yoga. Both have their origins in the ancient Indian scriptures, the Vedas,
just as they also have the same goal; healing the body and soul, spiritual development and
freedom from suffering.
The valuable benefits of learning Sanskrit
To understand a culture it is said, one needs to understand its language. Whereby I do not think one needs to know the ins and outs, a basic knowledge definitely will open doors to more understanding.
Discovering the Powerful Benefits of Yoga in Midlife
My yoga journey – Chapter 1 How yoga helped me through a life crisis Hi – I am Kirsten. I am 58 years old and living in greater Copenhagen. I am living alone. I have a boyfriend, two grown up sons and their families, very old parents, a job and good friends. I am...
Office Yoga was a remarkable lifesaver
I think we all were challenged in many different ways during the covid19 pandemic.
Julia fast switched from providing classes in her studio to provide all her classes online, live-streamed. It worked fantastic! What Julia added to her weekly schedule was a 25 minute office yoga class.
Cultivating Mindful Balance In Your Everyday Life
You can take this a step further by muting or pausing apps on your phone that you may be anxiously checking or turn off notifications. I set my email app to pause in the evening so that I can’t check my email or get notifications while I’m resting at the end of the day or in the morning before my meditation practice and daily morning walk.
The Power of Working with our Heart
Working with our heart Recently I created and delivered a workshop on yoga for dementia and mild cognitive impairments. While validating what I experimentally knew worked in this demographic with science, I came across renowned psychologist Tom Kitwood and his work on...
Learn to Love Your Body with Authentic Yoga
In the west yoga became an exercise regime focusing on the physical body. The yoga culture shows beautiful lean and bendy women, and makes many men and women alike feel like this is not for me. Yoga itself is not the problem, but classes focusing on asana (postures) alone and lacking elements of an authentic practice are.
How Yoga Taught Me Genuine Self Acceptance
I can never remember being given permission to relax before. My exhausted body sank into the ground and I felt a sense of peace that I had not experienced before. I couldn’t get enough. In fact, I ended up skipping law lectures to attend morning yoga. It made more sense to me.
The Beautiful Healing Power of Nature
Nature has always called me, as I think it does all humans. It’s just a matter of answering the call to notice that. We may feel the integration with nature when we’re walking barefoot on the earth, watching the rain fall on the leaves, or smelling a flower.
The problem with free yoga
And then I thought there is something really wrong with our ‘everything needs to be for free culture’, which I started to observe more and more. And this is not about the people who really do not have the money to afford things, it is about this culture that we can afford something, but we do not want to spend money on it.
The Powerful Practice of Vulnerability
I am sitting on the floor. My back towards the bed. My body curled into a little ball. Tears are running down my cheeks. I am sobbing. My boyfriend comes in to comfort me. He says: “this is a great teaching. Learn to live with the chaos around you. You are a great teacher, and now you need to be your own teacher.”
Do you speak the truth?
But it may not be as simple, as not lying someone in their face. It is to strive to avoid even the smallest misimpression in the mind of the person listening to you. So their picture in their mind needs to match the picture we have in our mind about what we speak. Any difference created on purpose is lying.
Proven Stress Management with Yoga
Most of my stress clients tell me how they’ve experienced not being able to realize whether they were tired, hungry, thirsty or whether their bodies were hurting when they were stressed. They were so busy with their lives, doing “what was needed to be done”, that they lost their ability to feel how they felt. As a result of long years with stress, some even experienced that their bodies were not answering their demands any-longer, and ended-up not being able to get out of their bed one morning.
The unexpected connection of yoga and winter bathing
Today my breath was calm. I floated in 3 degrees warm water. My mind was calm and I felt at peace. All the times I have been in there with my pure willpower prepared me for this moment, all the pranayama (breath work to control lifeforce energy) I did prepared me for this moment, where my breath knew exactly what to do.
Yoga and Sustainability fundamentals
The concept of sustainable living has been growing over the past decade. Its application relates to
lifestyle choices and decisions we are making daily. When we talk about yoga it is more than just a
regular physical exercise, controlling your breathing, proper diet, relaxation, and positive thinking. It
also includes meditation which helps in developing harmony in your mind, body, and environment.
The interesting connection of Minimalism and Yoga
The next thing is that we get attached to these things and start worrying about losing them. We pay even more money for insurance and we sometimes do not use the precious things so they do not get broken and buy something else instead to use, while we wait for that special day to take the other thing out of the closet again… I think you can see the vicious cycle here. Enjoy it while it lasts.
About the big changes during the pandemic
I am walking barefoot over warm stones, I can hear the birds singing and behind me the panorama of three volcanoes immerse in the light of the setting sun. The lake in front of them lays calm. Far from civilization, I am finishing my advanced yoga teacher training at one of the world’s most beautiful lakes as named by National Geographic. It is here where I first hear about the virus. First I am exploring my options to stay longer in paradise, as knowing coming home now, would mean no work.
The fascinating wisdom of the body
Wisdom and intelligence is something we often times associate with our mind. Our head, our brain, our ratio. But did you know your body also holds a great deal of wisdom? It has so much to tell you. Your feelings, wants, desires, values, limits, and your intuition; these great treasures all live within you.
Breathe right, now.
Another great thing that happens when we breath through the nose is the production of NO, which also plays part in the absorption process. NO is further important to keep your blood vessels healthy and regulates blood pressure. It is also important for the immune system and nervous system including a healthy brain. NO has antiviral, antibacterial and antifungal properties. New studies suggest that it could also reduce the viral load of SARS-COV2. Lesser load has been shown as correlating with milder symptoms and lower risk of transmission.
The quality of practicing yoga together
“It is not about individuality or certain sections of society. It is all about recognizing that we are all connected and part of one universal being. We all are governed by vibrations. A happy person can make us happy and an unhappy person spreads unhappiness. When glaciers melt due to global warming the water levels rise around the planet. Global warming is such a glaring reminder that we cannot isolate ourselves.” Bhanu Narasimhan
How Yoga can change your life
If 2020 taught us something then it is that we need to be more flexible – in our minds too. Yoga can help you with this as its original meaning is: the cessation of the fluctuation of the mind. Change is all around us, and it is our ability to respond to it that decides if we thrive and look for new opportunities or if we let it control us and suffer.
Benefits of Yoga Nidra
People that want to transform their minds and their lives need to implement this beautiful sacred healing practice into their lives to see the change they wish to see.
Why nose breathing is essential for your health
The mouth is there for talking, eating and kissing. Physiological it is the nose’s job to provide you with oxygen. It prepares the air for optimal oxygen absorption. It is connected to the diaphragm and an inhale through the nose has hence the potential for more volume.
Yoga for Cyclists
Did you know that yoga can improve your cycling performance? Efficient oxygen intake! Good breathing is vital, especially when you request endurance performance from your body. Yoga helps you to optimize the ratio between muscles used for a single breath and...
Why is yoga so spiritual?
Let’s put this in simple words.
What differentiate practicing asanas (set of physical exercise) in yoga from gymnastics?
Connecting your breath to the movement or the static retention of the poses (and a few more things, but let’s stay with the breath for now).
Continuousness is Key for your success in yoga
Why this post? Yesterday I saw 2 new girls in the studio. Struggling to keep up with the pace, mixing up left and right arms etc. I remember, that I was the same. I still fall every now and then because I loose my balance. But I didn’t give up. If the first session sucks, don’t say yoga isn’t for you. Find the right studio and teacher. You will grow together and after maybe 82 or more logs you will understand the beauty and make it a habit that will change your life.
Short Yoga Routine for Everyday
Do you spend a lot of time sitting on a chair? Do you regularly feel stiff in your back, shoulders and neck? Or do you simply want to stretch a bit in the morning or before going to bed?
These 4 Asanas (poses) are easy and achievable by anyone. Just use 10 minutes of your day to get down on the floor, on your yoga mat or on your living room mat.
Find your Inner Warrior Goddess
What do tsunamis, snowstorms, earthquakes, and wildfires have in common? Power.
Raw, fierce, and uncontrollable. None of your actions could stop it. This same energy can be found in a mother protecting her kid or in an activist standing up for its rights. This bravery and the inner force that we all have in us is represented in Hinduism by the goddess Durga.
Free Guided Meditation
Getting started with meditation? A guided meditation can be a great way to get started. Julia met Doug in Guatemala. He is a talented Yoga, Kirtan and Meditation teacher and is sharing a beautiful guided meditation with us. Sit back, close your eyes and relax. Let his soft voice carry you away from the earthly worries for 25 minutes.
“What are you willing to commit to… and let go off?”
I can spend days ruminating the thought that “I” need to figure it all (including the “right” thing to do). But in truth, so much is just out of my hands. If and when I open to that truth, I immediately feel a sense of support, like someone is holding my back, and my breath becomes deeper.
Keeping Up with A Home Practice
I woke up six days a week before the sunrise to practice the centuries old teachings from the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. I spent many days awash in contentment while living mindfully in an ashram on a mountainside overlooking the awe-inspiring Lake Atitlan. In retrospect, working for the teaching credential was the easy part.
Awareness, a traveler’s perspective
I thought after a month there was never some danger in front of my bed, I should be less paranoid and mistaken fearless for unawareness. So first step that morning was on to a scorpion and it got me. It is hard to be so aware in the morning, especially as we often just stumble out of bed into the day.
Boundaries in a Yoga Class
I am sure that all of you have had moments of irritation in a Yoga class. But there was one moment in class, that really irritated me. The Yoga teacher assistant of my Ashtanga Yoga Led class, who I saw for the first time in my life, touched my breast during an assist.
How to handle exam fear with yoga
Probably, as economic students they are not used to breathing exercise and certainly even less when their teacher invites them to do it. I told them that this should help them release some unwanted stress and improve their concentrate on the exam questions.