by Tara Stiles | Jun 29, 2022 | Blog
Expect Good Things to Happen. There are many special results of practicing tai chi in your yoga. One is, when you move your whole body in harmony, every part helping every other part, you accomplish more with less effort. And, you can feel good in the process of improving. Good things happen when you practice improving AND feeling good. Our culture tries to trick us into force, push, and struggle now, so we can have some hard-to-reach reward later. Tai chi reminds us not to hurt one part of us, while trying to help another. There's always a better way,… 
by Tara Stiles | Jun 5, 2022 | Be, Blog, Healing, Move
On my way to being fit while steering clear of pain and injury - from high altitude mountaineering to martial competition, skiing to running and cycling, I've had more than my share of challenges. The good news is, tai chi has given me a way to heal problems like back pain and joint injuries faster and more completely, as well as prevent injury along the way. It's something I love to share now in all our online Strala Yoga classes in tai chi, qigong, and yoga, as well as in our Strala Yoga teacher trainings online and in person. We… 
by Tara Stiles | Jun 4, 2022 | Blog
This online course gives you a set of skills and practices grounded in the healing foundations of qigong and tai chi, for preventing and healing both chronic and acute back pain and injury. It also gives you a structure for applying these foundations to help with all kinds of muscle and joint challenges, as both pain relief and prevention. You can click here to register, and it's all ready for you to begin any time. Western medicine is working miracles every day, in the emergency room, and with all kinds of diseases and conditions. But traditional therapies are not always… 
by Tara Stiles | Jun 4, 2022 | Blog, Move
Softness is something common to nearly every form of East Asian art, from tai chi to calligraphy to healing. It's also a foundation for how we share Strala Yoga, across all our yoga, tai chi, and qigong classes, and our Strala Yoga teacher trainings. It means being movable so I can be moved, without needing first to overcome my own rigidity and tension. It's a practice that begins with your breath, then expands out to the connections you can make with your whole environment. But softness isn't common in usual yoga, fitness, or therapeutic practices, because it's not so much… 
by Tara Stiles | Jun 3, 2022 | Be, Blog, Move
It's so wonderful to be part of sharing Strala Yoga for kids in more than 30,000 schools, through the Alliance for a Healthier Generation and a newer program called BOKS. Through these foundations, the program resources are freely available to schools all around North America, in exchange for the schools - and teachers - adopting new standards, and new ways of being themselves. There's something really big I've learned here along the way, and it's something we share now in our Strala Kids Yoga Teacher Training. This all works so much better when it's not just teachers telling kids what…