I HAVE WHAT you might consider an unlikely celebrity crush: 94-year-old British naturalist Sir David Attenborough. I fell in love with him and his BBC documentary series The Blue Planet and Planet Earth while living in London in the early aughts. Att

AS I STOOD with my eyes gently shut beneath the wide California sky, a dog howled off in the distance. Its echo through the verdant hills reminded me that I was just a tiny speck in the vastness of the Santa Monica Mountains. I was at Topanga Canyon

Since I’ve been working from home, it’s been hard to remove myself from the “office.” When I have moments of mindfulness, I make space for creativity. I’ll put on some music and dance around or blend essential oils to boost my mood. Sometimes I’ll ju

Two years ago, Shayla Stonechild awoke from a dream at 4 in the morning in her Vancouver apartment. She had goosebumps on her arms and chills running down her back. A voice had whispered a dharma in her ear as she slept. Three little words: the Matri

YEARS AGO, I was teaching a workshop for yoga teachers focused on the anatomy of the shoulder joint. One of my students mentioned that she was suffering from chronic shoulder pain in Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward-Facing Dog Pose). As she demonstrate

WHAT CALIFORNIANS HAVE long known as fire season is now a phenomenon that has grown to epic proportions as a result of climate change. The apocalyptic images of flames raging in the West are now alarming people far beyond California’s borders. While

EVERY YEAR, BEGINNING in March and April, we go through a process of emptying our metaphorical cup in order to be filled with fresh spring energy. This year, there are two important shifts occurring simultaneously: We welcome the new astrological yea

LAST MAY, AFTER George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police, Shankari Goldstein, a yoga instructor, activist, and farmer in Virginia, knew she had to respond. Wanting to uplift BIPOC voices, she started making phone calls with another local yogi an

Not to ruin your Savasana (Corpse Pose), but close to 40 percent of the thousands of yoga mats bought each year are made out of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a synthetic plastic polymer that can take more than 500 years to break down. While natural rubbe

SERVES 4 Hands-On Time: 30 Minutes Total Time: 35 Minutes 2 cups fresh basil, packed½ cup toasted unsalted walnuts2 small cloves garlic1 tsp ground black pepper, divided½ tsp sea salt, divided¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil12 oz thin asparagus spears, t

WHEN I TOOK yoga teacher training, I realized that this is an ancient philosophy and lineage. I felt like I was not ready to teach it, because it wasn‘t my own. So I spent the next three years integrating and embodying what I learned. I went on to tr

Some good news: The hygiene practices you’ve grown accustomed to during COVID—mask-wearing, frequent hand-washing, and social distancing—also help keep colds at bay. Cold and flu viruses thrive in dry air, so keep nasal passages moist with saline spr

I’VE IDENTIFIED AS a yogi for as long as I can remember. Growing up, I spent more time in ashrams than on playgrounds. I was raised in Boulder, Colorado, but my parents were part of spiritual communities that practiced meditation and bhakti yoga ever

TURNING HER 1950S Encinitas home into a micro-hotel and yoga space was a decade-long dream for designer Anke Bodack. Just minutes from renowned surf spot Swami’s Beach, Twelve Senses Retreat is a study in mindful minimalism, incorporating green build

A WEEK BEFORE writing this, we got our first cold day of the season in central Virginia, where I live. It was time to swap out my handmade summer dresses for clothes that cover my legs. As I pulled out my favorite jeans from last year, I wondered if

Place a block between your thighs to engage your inner legs and core and to keep your knees from splaying. For a more grounded version of this posture, place a block under your sacrum. This may also make the pose more comfortable if you experience lo

by Kabir I talk to my inner lover, and I say, why such rush?We sense that there is some sort of spirit that loves birds and animals and the ants—perhaps the same one who gave a radiance to you in your mother’s womb.Is it logical you would be walking

WE USUALLY HEAR about chakras in terms of health: They’re the energy centers within your body that keep you physically and mentally balanced. But chakras are more than just wheels of energy—they’re the road map for ushering your dharma (your purpose,

A Lie on your back with your knees bent, feet planted with your heels directly below your knees. Keep your feet parallel with your knees hip-width apart. Arms are by your sides, palms down, reaching toward your feet. B Maintain a comfortable space be

I’VE TRIED ALL sorts of breathwork practices, from the Wim Hof Method to three-part breath, but Holotropic breathing—a pattern of inhalations and exhalations designed to help practitioners access higher states of consciousness—was new to me. To try i

IN AYURVEDA, the key to glowing from within is balancing three mind-body energies: prana, tejas, and ojas. These exist in all of us in a mutually beneficial relationship that sustains long-term wellness. Healthy prana (life force) and tejas (a physic

SOMETIMES LIFE COMES at you blow after blow. When that happens, how do you get up? How do you thrive? The last year delivered a series of unprecedented long-term challenges that brought us face to face with those questions: Collectively, we experienc

IN THE MIDST of daily highs and lows, life unfolds in the gray middle area—and at the Space Between, a Dublin yoga studio that recently celebrated its first anniversary in the wake of a pandemic, it’s that challenging intersection of dark and light w