Author Archives: Kristin Shepherd
Meditation Top 10
Why meditate? Here are my top 10 reasons: Because it makes me happier overall. There’s nothing sophisticated about this, but if I had to pick one, this’d be it. Because it has transformed my asana practice. Without meditation, I strive… Continue reading
Beginner’s Meditation 1+1
Last time, we talked about starting to meditate, about placing your bum on the couch for the first time. If that worked for you, and you didn’t run screaming to your TV or your fridge, your computer or your iPhone… Continue reading
Posted in ekharttolle, monkeymind, practice, Yoga
Tagged meditation
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Beginner’s Meditation 1
Meditation, like asana and pranayama, is a branch of yoga. Writing about meditation makes me nervous. I have an irrational and enormous love of what amounts to sitting still, doing not very much, and feel it is impossible to do… Continue reading
Bellowing
If it weren’t for bellows breathing, I could go the entire day without actually waking up. We’ve been talking about pranayama, the breathwork limb of yoga. I can’t move on to anything else without paying tribute to Bellows Breath, or… Continue reading
Posted in bellowsbreath, bhastrikapranayama, drandrewweil, Yoga
Tagged Beginner's yoga, breathing, kristin shepherd, pranayama, Yoga, yoga humor
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Squared Breathing
Have you tried squared breathing? Inhale, two, three, four, hold, two, three, four, exhale, two, three, four, hold two, three four. Simple, but it’ll change your life. In the foreword to The Yoga of Breath by Richard Rosen, Rodney Yee writes that… Continue reading
Posted in exhalation, inhalation, pranayama, richardrosen, rodneyyee, squaredbreathing, Yoga
Tagged breathing, kristin shepherd, pranayama, Yoga, yoga blog, yoga humor
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In Praise of Breathing
Pranayama. I’m besotted with it. The use of breath is one of the eight limbs of yoga. It’s all I can think about these days, which makes for disastrous conversations in grocery stores. ("Have you practiced exhaling lately? You haven’t?" Blank… Continue reading
Posted in exhalation, inhalation, pranayama, Yoga
Tagged Beginner's yoga, breathing, kristin shepherd, meditation, pranayama, Yoga, yoga humor
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Expanding the Definition of Yoga
Like most North Americans, I first met yoga as a physical practice, a sport. Unlike most sports in my life, yoga combines strength and flexibility, which is like some kind of magic trick after years of activities (trail running, cycling,… Continue reading
Posted in asana, deepekchopra, downwarddog, mediation, pranayama, sunsalutations, Yoga
Tagged Beginner's yoga, breathing, kristin shepherd, meditation, pranayama, Yoga, yoga humor
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Beginner’s Breathing
It could be that I’m getting old and that my sense of fun has changed so much that I can no longer play with others in the way I used to. It could also be that yoga is having… Continue reading
Posted in alternatenostrilbreathing, bellowsbreath, pranayama, ujjayibreath, Yoga, yogicbreath
Tagged breathing, kristin shepherd, meditation, meditation humor, pranayama, Yoga, yoga humor
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Best Yoga of 2010?
Best yoga of 2010? Okay, I’ll start. Hands down, no question, it was 108 Sun Salutations, done by myself at 4am on the solstice, December 21st. Why was it the best? (I will resist giving you all 108 reasons.) I… Continue reading
Posted in challenge, challengingpractice, seatedmeditation, sunsalutations, Yoga
Tagged meditation
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