by Mike Taylor | Dec 16, 2019 | Blog
If you're teaching yoga, avoid telling people what to feel. Just teach people to go where they want to go, then get out of their way. And if you're practicing yoga, it's really the same. Avoid telling yourself what to feel. Learn to move in harmony, without all the noise and limitation created by stress and struggle. Hear what you're feeling, and believe that it's true. Move in response to what you hear. This one is important, and it keeps coming up alongside so many good questions. A long-time yoga teacher recently asked, "If you're in stillness, how can you… 
by Mike Taylor | Dec 4, 2019 | Blog
But to make nice ideas into a practical reality, not stuck at the level of interesting information, takes more work. Developing a real ability to heal yourself and others, to accomplish more in your life and do more for the people around you, this takes much more work, much more education, much more practice. And this is what most of us are wanting. Not just to collect nice ideas, but also a real everyday ability to create something better. How our yoga teacher training curriculum changes each year Overall with these trainings, both in person and online, Tara and I are… 
by Mike Taylor | Nov 10, 2019 | Blog
There's a great deal of good research surrounding the conditions and mechanisms for healing and wellbeing. And for a variety of reasons, the best of this isn't in the field of yoga. I'll share some notes below that give a foundation for good results, along with a framework for successful study, collected from the experience we've had with other researchers. Enjoy this FREE Tai Chi for the Morning Routine There are a variety of good uses for yoga, tai chi, and qigong, that include relaxation and release of stress, health and healing, treatment of injury and disease, strength and fitness,… 
by Mike Taylor | Nov 10, 2019 | Blog
Enjoy this FREE Shiatsu for Lower Back Pain When you convince people they aren't good enough, in so many ways, it's the beginning of manipulation, control, and abuse. For example, by cleverly pushing people to follow imaginary rules of "alignment" and manipulate one disconnected part of your body at a time into a made-up idea of "correct" - you can quickly convince people that they are much worse off than they ever knew, because wow, suddenly they can't even do the simplest of things! Combine this with the reality that when so many of us first approached yoga, we were… 
by Mike Taylor | Nov 8, 2019 | Blog
I ran across this sign on my first trip to Wyoming, and my first time seeing bison up close. They're very, very big. Big enough that the message is so obvious it's funny, which is why I took the picture. But, it's also obviously here for a reason. Because obvious isn't always obvious. Still, some things seem that way. Over-the-top obvious. For example, it's obvious that tickling bison behind the ears isn't a good idea. Although I was tempted. It's obvious that jumping out of a perfectly good airplane, also not a good idea. I come from a Navy family. …