Yoga Blog

Just a reminder that Aunt Yoga, your trusty advice columnist, is open for business. She's not taking off early on Fridays or closing in August or any other summer shenanigans. So shoot her an email with your yoga questions and we'll see what we can do for you.

In reverse warrior, there's a tendency to get all caught up in deepening the backbend, trying to inch your fingers further and further down the back leg. But this is only part of the pose: keeping the front knee nice and deep is just as important, so make sure you're not sacrificing that alignment for your fancy backbend.

I just made up a batch of yogi tea and discovered it is just as delicious iced as it is hot. If you have a good blender, try grinding up some ice with your tea for a smoothie-like consistency.

A lot of press has been devoted to how yoga can cause injuries recently. Bad Karma: When Yoga Harms Instead of Heals from msnbc.com is the latest, providing scary examples of serious conditions including stroke and blindness (to name the scariest) that can be brought on by yoga. Preventing yoga injuries really boils down to following the yogic principal that instructs us to know our own bodies and respect our limitations. This is really what yoga is all about, not bending yourself into the proverbial pretzel only to find you can't walk the next day. Making sure you take classes from qualified teachers is also essential. This may mean leaving the gym for a dedicated yoga studio.

These supported variations on side plank allow you to get the same wonderful stretch to the intercostal muscles between the ribs as full side plank without having to bear your full weight on one arm. If you have occasional wrist pain (as I do), you can also pull out these supported variations while you are resting your wrists.

Well, I don't think I've been this pleased with a yoga product since my first pair of be present pants (and that was quite a love-fest). Leslie Kaminoff's 2007 release Yoga Anatomy is such a great book for yogis. Read my review to hear me gush some more.

If the number of "out of office" email replies I have been getting in any indication, a lot of people are on vacation this month. As you plan your trip, think about how you'll be able to keep up with your practice while you're traveling. One of my favorites is to track down a local yoga studio at your destination, because it's always interesting to see a new teacher or style. If this won't fit your schedule, you can plan on doing some stretching on your own instead. Happy trails!

Once you get pretty comfortable in crow pose, you can start working on jumping back from crow to chaturanga dandasana. This can be done with varying degrees of grace, of course, so try to make your transition more of a float and less of a fling.

Stateside, we are headed into a long holiday weekend. If you're looking to fill the hours before the kids head back to camp, how about a little parent child yoga session? Though I used to look at my time on the mat as "me time," I quickly discovered my daughter likes it much better if I include her, so I get out an extra mat for her and sneak in a few stretches in between oohing and aahing over her poses.

Cooling breath is yoga's answer to those baseball caps with battery-powered fans on top. Actually, I have no idea of those fans work, but this breath really does make you feel cooler.