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Level Up Your Yoga FAST!

A few months ago, my Hard Reset blog post racked up thousands of views, easily surpassing any of my previous YOGAthletica blog posts to become my most popular one to date. Since then, I have received a lot of questions about fasting and intermittent fasting for weight loss. You can find out all about that…

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Anxiety Relief

It shouldn’t come as news to you that asana practice is a fabulous tool for quelling anxiety. Deep breathing and meditation, movement and mindfulness all work together to calm your nervous system and tame your brain. But sometimes even the best of us succumb to stress and anxiety. Whether it comes in the form of…

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Making an Exit

So, you know how to make a grand entrance, but do you know how to make an exit? One of the big “missing pieces” of so many people’s yoga practice is the lack of follow through. The not waiting until the fat lady sings. The premature evacuation of a pose. Keep in mind that a…

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You’re Getting Sleepy…Sleeeeeepy….

By Shana | September 30, 2021

One thing (if I can possibly name one thing) that everyone is talking about these days is how hard is has been to get a good night’s sleep during the pandemic. A year-and-a-half into all this craziness, that’s a long time to go sleep deprived. Sleep is such an incredibly important part of not just…

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Well…I Gotta Have Faith…

By Shana | August 31, 2021

In a recent personal exploration of faith, I came to an unexpected conclusion: that one can be a person of tremendous religious devotion without being a person of faith. Typically, these words are used more or less interchangeably. Devout, faithful…same thing. And yet… My revelation emerged from an examination of prayer itself. The act of…

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Financial Abundance…Beyond Wealth

By Shana | July 12, 2021

I have financial abundance. Not because I am rich. Not in the conventional way, at least. In fact, my financial abundance has nothing to do with with what I have and everything to do with what I have to give. Like many, this past year-and-a-half has been a rough one for my business. When you…

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Happy Memorial Day?

By Shana | May 31, 2021

Pop quiz! Quick! What is Memorial Day? Time’s up! If you said it is for honoring our servicemen and women, you are wrong. That’s Veteran’s Day. Memorial Day is a day of commemoration of those who lost their lives in the line of duty. So, it always rankles my nerves when people wish each other…

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it’s just so easy for me!

By Shana | March 28, 2021

easy peasy, lemon squeezy. it always takes me aback when people comment on my photos or videosthat they will never be able to do something but it’s just so easy for me. or even better, that everything is easy for me. first of all, i’m not going to lie. most of the stuff that looks…

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Soul Purpose

By Shana | February 23, 2021

Do you believe in reincarnation? I sure do. And I always have. Waaaaay before I knew a single thing about yoga, I just knew. I believe that a soul is eternal. And recyclable. I believe that child prodigies are reincarnated souls that remember. I believe we are all here to learn the lessons we failed…

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lesson learned

By Shana | January 26, 2021

I had been teaching almost a full decade when I decided to take a second, entry-level 200-Hour training with Sri Dharma Mittra. I was already highly experienced, already teaching at studios all over the world, but I really wanted to train with the master. Anyone who knows me–who knows my teaching–knows that I love alignment.…

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i 💚 you

By Shana | December 28, 2020

quick! when i say “love”, what color do you think of? bet you said red! of course you did! red is the color of fiery passion and romantic fire. red burns. it excites. it ignites. it’s the color of hearts and roses and valentines. how interesting, then, that the color associated with love in yoga–the…

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when you give a yogini a pillow…

By Shana | November 29, 2020

i’ll admit, it’s been hard for me to sleep lately. not for the normal covid reasons. it’s not anxiety or stress or depression. it’s my neck. and shoulders. living massage-free for the last eight months has not done my body well. and i wake up repeatedly during the night because my neck and shoulders just…

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is yoga a religion???

By Shana | October 20, 2020

you’ll probably be surprised to hear that my entire yoga career started by teaching extensively throughout the ultra-orthodox jewish community (with both women and men). and one of my other first clients was a traditional catholic school. this, despite the vocal objections from some extremely religious people (of all faiths) that “yoga is a religion”…

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prop me up! and let me down easy…

By Shana | September 23, 2020

love props? you can thank bks iyengar for those yummy blocks, satisfying straps, soothing blocks and blankets, and, of course, paul the wall. props can be used to make your asanas more accessible, deeper, or even more challenging (hello, handstands!). blocks don’t always make things easier! but no matter how you use them, ultimately, they…

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why i never had children

By Shana | August 8, 2020

i never had kids. the simple explanation is this: no man has ever wanted to marry me. the longer explanation is this: let me begin by saying that there is no one on earth who loves children more than i do. i will concede there may be some who love kids as much, but no…

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the handstand video that never was

By Shana | July 24, 2020

so….i have a lot of handstand tutorials online. on youtube, i have 62 videos in my handstand mania playlist, including 31 handstand drill-a-day vids. and on my vimeo channel, it’s simply handstander’s paradise! but there is one handstand video i’ve been wanting to make for years but just haven’t been able to figure out how.…

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the full monty

By Shana | June 29, 2020

if you follow me on social media, perhaps you’ve heard. or perhaps, you need to follow me a lot closer… my newest vimeo video, “the full monty“, is up and here’s why it gets its own blog post! this is a video i have been meaning to make for years but, quite frankly, i’ve been…

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the same thing…over…and over…and over again…

By Shana | May 2, 2020

it started on april 14. i made a commitment that day to recite the mourner’s kaddish and psalm 23 daily for everyone who has lost his or her life either due to, or during, the coronavirus pandemic, until this nightmare, too, shall pass. every day at 1pm (pacific), i go on facebook live to say the…

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covidYAMA and coroNIYAMA

By Shana | April 10, 2020

as coronavirus sentences us to solitary confinement, we are each given a unique opportunity to step back, take inventory, and think about who we were coming into this pandemic…and who we will be coming out. we are all suffering in our own way, be it emotionally, financially, mentally or all of the above. and while…

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yoga is worth nothing

By Shana | April 10, 2020

ah! yoga in quarantine! it helps us stay connected. it helps us stay strong. it helps us stay sane! and it’s worth…nothing. or at least that’s the message the world is sending: “online yoga rocks!” “online yoga is a life saver!” “online yoga is free! or else, i’m out.” hey, i understand that everyone wants…

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how many times have you said this???

By Shana | February 27, 2020

i would assume i am not alone in saying that, as a yoga instructor, the comment i hear from students the most is, “i wish i started yoga ten/twenty/thirty years ago!”. heck, i’ve said it myself! (i didn’t start yoga until just before my 30th birthday). well, unfortunately, we don’t have time machines, but we…

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meditate for your life!

By Shana | January 1, 2020

if you have ever spent any time studying yoga, you know that meditation (not asana!) is the cornerstone of the practice. meditation teaches us how to calm our bodies, still our minds, and move beyond the attachments of this world. for most casual meditators, the process is accessible–and even enjoyable–when the conditions are just right.…

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I Gained Weight with Intermittent Fasting. And Here’s Why…

By Shana | December 1, 2019

It’s funny how brain waves and the shared conscience works. In January, I had never heard of intermittent fasting, but I stumbled into it anyway. I had no idea that it was a huge trend or even a thing for that matter. It just made sense to me. I was teaching my 200-hour Teacher Training…

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your worst day

By Shana | September 27, 2019

you know those days? the ones when you really don’t feel like getting out of bed? and everything seems to be going wrong? and everything is just off? yeah, we all have those days. i have them more than i care to admit. so, i won’t. most people back off their practice when their energy…

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