To be a good yoga student, it doesn’t matter how well you can do yoga poses. Your attitude, intentions, and awareness is what is important. As a yoga teacher of over 16 years, I have had many different kinds of students in my classes. Some are naturally very good at learning and doing yoga poses, while others have […]
What Gives Northern Cardinals Their Red Color? The Northern Cardinal is one of my favorite birds because of its cheery, bright red plumage. It adds a welcome touch of color during our gray Michigan winters, and it’s common at our bird feeders all year round. Cardinals are common in the eastern and southern U.S. and […]
Spooky Halloween Skeleton Decorations What would Halloween be without a few scary skeletons rattling around your house and yard? A spooky skeleton is one of the iconic images we associate with Halloween, and your decorating wouldn’t be complete without at least a couple of them hanging around to create a delightfully creepy atmosphere. Add one at […]
Learn to Identify Birds by Their Songs and Calls Do you enjoy listening to bird songs and calls? Birding by ear (listening to, and identifying birds by their songs and calls) is a great way to locate birds, and often the easiest way to identify birds. And bird song identification adds to our overall enjoyment of […]
Decorate Your Bathroom With These Fun Skull and Skeleton Accessories Do you decorate your house for Halloween? Do you include your bathroom? Here are a few fun ideas for accessorizing your bathroom with spooky skeletons and skulls during the Halloween season, or for all year if you’re into this type of thing. Your guests can […]
Asanas of Virabhadra, the Mythical Hindu Warrior Some of my favorite standing yoga postures, or asanas, include the different variations of the Warrior Pose, or Virabhadrasana (the pose name in Sanskrit). These beautiful and challenging poses are named after the great hero warrior Virabhadra from Hindu mythology. They are active postures that require strength, steadiness, and […]
As an Iyengar Yoga teacher, I have many books that I use as references for teaching and for my own practice and study. My beginning yoga students often ask me what resources, including books, would help them to further their own work and development in the poses, and in their overall understanding of this beneficial practice. Here are the five books that I […]
Squirrels Love Our Backyard! We’re lucky to be sharing our southeast Michigan backyard with a large variety of wildlife (of the small sort!), including three species of tree squirrels, and chipmunks, which are also in the squirrel family. We enjoy watching the squirrels’ antics around our yard — chasing each other through the lawn and […]
Migration of the American Robin The American Robin (Turdus migratorius) is one of my favorite backyard birds because it symbolizes the return of spring and the feeling of ease during our pleasant summers here in southeast Michigan. I love seeing the first group of robins hopping around on our yard in early spring, searching about […]
Build a Strong Foundation by Practicing Yoga Standing Poses Learning and practicing the yoga standing poses (asanas) builds a strong foundation for the rest of our asana practice. We practice these postures as a way to develop better awareness and control of our own bodies. We learn how to extend, contract, expand, and rotate different parts of […]