Yoga is often described as a practice of awareness. Yet awareness does not appear automatically. When students first enter a yoga class, much of their attention is occupied by learning. They are remembering instructions, observing others, wondering if they are doing the pose correctly, and navigating their own thoughts and sensations. In neuroscience, these instructions live in working memory, which has limited capacity. As teachers, the way we cue students can either increas

क्रोधाद्भवति सम्मोहः सम्मोहात्स्मृतिविभ्रमः। स्मृतिभ्रंशाद् बुद्धिनाशो बुद्धिनाशात् प्रणश्यति॥ (Bhagavad Gita 2.63) Anger leads to clouding of judgment, which results in bewilderment of memory. When memory is bewildered, the intellect gets destroyed; and when the intellect is destroyed, one is ruined. Anger can feel like strength. Like clarity. Like protection. For a long time, I believed anger made me alert, aware, untouchable. It signaled that someone had crossed a line or

There are moments in teaching yoga that remind me why I do what I do. These moments that move beyond the mat, beyond the poses, and into the very heart of what it means to hold space for another human being. Today, as were just about to begin our Yoga for Women session when a woman walked in and quietly asked if she could speak with me for a few minutes. As we stepped outside, I noticed her body trembling and her face wet with tears. Her breath was shallow. She whispered that

A reflection on mental health, body budget, and what yoga really teaches us I’ve often heard things like: “But don’t you do yoga every...