Yoga and Thai massage feed each other. Getting to be in a yoga class and watch people in their active form moving and breathing. Then, in the Thai massage room I work with people in their passive form. So, a lot of people who I work with in my Thai massage room I get to see in the yoga classes and understand their body even more.
Our Chinese medicine practitioner and yoga teacher Kileen Swenson explains the similarities and differences between yoga and qi gong to the Yoga Union community. Yoga is part of Ayurveda, as qi gong is an aspect of Chinese medicine. Historically, yoga and qi gong have different movements and postures and focus, but they both similarly use the…
Yoga teacher and Chinese medicine practitioner, Kileen Swenson, sat down with Jenna Lynne Roberts to talk about these ancient healing medicines. How did you become a Chinese medicine practitioner? My interest in Chinese medicine came from teaching yoga and seeing how yoga affected people so profoundly, including myself. Being an introvert, teaching didn’t feel like I…
After a long break over the summer it is getting close to the next part of the Awakening Heart Intensive with Sianna Sherman at Yoga Union. This has been a truly amazing summer for me. I have been busy teaching a whole lot and at the same time hiking, camping, swimming and enjoying the natural wonders…
Angelina Vasile shares with us about the power of breathing properly in your yoga practice and your daily life. How did you come to find yoga? I was a dancer and came to Pilates through my dance studies. I quickly got interested in injury prevention and recovery in my Pilates teaching. I started working in a…
“Bhukti” means enjoyment or worldly fulfillment. “Mukti” means spiritual liberation. Tantra is the bridge between bhukti and mukti. It is a way of reconciling the apparent opposition of spiritual and worldly fulfillment. The message here is that in the tantric practices it is possible to enjoy a “worldly” existence and discover full spiritual liberation in this life.
And, so on Friday, April 12th I embarked on a yearlong journey with Sianna and a few dozen others on the yogic path of Self discovery.
Only through committing do we build the consistency necessary to support growth for ourselves and others. Just as the bark of a tree forms layer upon layer, each passing year reinforces the promises of our past and we grow stronger, more dependable, and more capable of holding up life and love. This is a rebirthing of our purpose in life.
I recently found myself caught in this contradiction while driving to the Wanderllust Festival for ten days of yoga bliss in Squaw Valley, Northern California. We left a day early in an attempt to reduce potential stressors– two tweens and an eighteen-month-old baby were sure to provide enough of that. In spite of our efforts, however, a drive that map-quested at 11.5 hours and started out as a conscious act of tranquility ended 38 blood-boiling hours later.
July 23rd is coming up fast- have you been practicing your dance moves in anticipation of Yoga Union’s first ever Yoga Groove?
Happy 4th of July weekend fellow Yogis! Do you have plans to BBQ, enjoy the sunshine or watch the fireworks? In case you’re still wondering what to do with all this nice weather, here are some holiday happenings in the Portland area:
Chris has been practicing yoga for the past six years and has recently begun teaching in Portland, Oregon. He has been listening to music since Poison overtook his heart at age 12. Yoga and music, yoga and music, yoga and music! Jai!
Have you had a chance to check out the statue, or “Murti”, in the front of the bamboo room at Yoga Union? Perhaps you’re like me and you’ve used it as your focal point during a difficult balance sequence but don’t know much about it. In order to appreciate more than just the beauty of the murti itself, I asked Todd to answer a few questions about the dancing deity he chose for his studio.
Summer in Portland is… unbeatable. When the sun comes out, the streets fill with smiles, exposed flesh and the smell of backyard BBQs. An open patio seat is hard to find and bodies lay strewn about in parks- victims of the Vitamin D assault. We even seem to forget the 8 months of incessant rain that only just stopped yesterday. It’s on these glorious days that it can sometimes be a challenge to take our bodies out of the sun and into the studio. So instead of compromising one for the other, why not take your practice outside? Yoga is, after all, about unity. When it’s practiced in nature, your connection to the universe may feel more readily available and your sense of awareness will have room to grow and evolve.
If you frequent the Yoga Union studio, then there’s a fair chance you’ve passed by a large van bearing the name “Flying Fish Co.” on the corner of 50th and Hawthorne. But have you stopped to peek inside and see what that van is all about, and who’s actually driving that thing around Portland?
As many of you know, June’s pose of the month is Siddhasana, also known as the “perfect pose”. Already in class I’ve heard students joke about the irony of this choice, “We do this one everyday!” or, “More like pose of the year!” And it’s true! We do find ourselves in Siddhasana more often than many…