Christmas Yoga for Kids

The holiday festive season is almost here! While the holiday season is super exciting, it can also mean stress and anxiety for both adults and children. This time of year often gets our minds racing with all the things on our to-do lists. There is usually a lot to organize to get our families together […]

Alice Coltrane: Musician Turned Swamini

Alice McLeod, commonly known as Alice Coltrane, was born August 27, 1937. She was raised in Detroit’s east side in a home where prayers and hymns extolled the Lord. Her interest in music blossomed in early childhood. By the age of nine, she played organ during services at Mount Olive Baptist church in Detroit, Michigan. Alice’s […]

Ashtanga Yoga Confluence

What is Ashtanga Yoga?

Ashtanga yoga is one of the oldest forms of yoga. It was first recorded in ancient Indian manuscripts, but brought to life by K. Pattabhi Jois in 1948. After leading the yoga philosophy department at the Sanskrit College of Mysore from 1937-1973, Jois established the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute in Mysore, India which became training […]

What is Yoga Therapy?

Yoga Therapy is a fairly generic sounding name for an important field that is emerging in medicine.  When most people think of yoga, groups of people gathering in a hot room performing different body positions usually comes to mind. While these poses, or asanas, can be beneficial, they are most effective when used as part […]

The Benefits of Yoga for Seniors

If you grew up in an era that now makes you a part of the Senior Community in the United States, you may have some misconceptions about yoga. For many, the images that come to mind when you hear the word “yoga” usually include young people twisting and stretching their bodies in unimaginable ways. If […]

Mariah Simpson's outdoor yoga class

How Yoga Changed One of Our Yoga Instructor’s Life

Laura Petersen, a freelance writer featured in Nevada City’s local newspaper, The Union, recently introduced Inner Path yoga instructor, Mariah Simpson. Simpson, who discovered yoga as a form of emotional and physical therapy, is offering yoga both in and outdoors. “It changed my life,” Simpson recalled. At 17, like many teens, she was “getting into […]

Niyamas and Yamas: The 10 “Commandments” of Yoga

Patanjali outlined what he called Ashtanga Yoga, or the “eight-limbed” Yoga. Ashtanga Yoga is a classification of the eight stages on the route to Self-Realization: yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana and samadhi. Ashtanga Yoga (also called Raja Yoga) is not a “type” of Yoga; it is Yoga. It provides not only an invaluable “road […]

The 4 Yogic Paths to Self-Realization

There are four main yogic paths to unite with God and our higher selves: karma yoga, bhakti yoga, gyana yoga, and raja yoga. Each of these paths can serve individuals based on different temperaments. You can focus on one at time or practice a combination of them. Karma yoga is for those who like to work and serve […]

Yoga’s Journey to the West

In February of 1968, the Beatles went to India for an extended stay with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, their new guru. It may be one of the most renowned spiritual retreats since Jesus’ fast and seclusion for 40 days and nights in the Judean desert. And while the Beatles’ exploration into Hinduism and Indian culture was […]