2024 is a leap year, granting us an additional 24 hours! Time is a precious resource in our modern day society. 

​​I read an article last week where prominent figures from different professional and cultural backgrounds shared their wishes for 2024. All of them, without any exception, wished for more time. ​

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​What a paradoxal statement: anger on the yoga mat. This is what I witnessed recently as I was preparing to lead a Gentle Yoga class. A student came in already pretty grumpy, and as she was settling on her yoga mat, she started complaining loudly and forcefully about something she had absolutely no control over.

​Her tone and negative energy was obviously affecting the other students. This went on for a few minutes so I decided to slowly step toward her and tried to address her concerns. 

I trust that this post finds you well, rested and ready to tackle 2023! 

This year, my personal intention is to trust that I am where I need to be, and to continue nurturing my body and soul so I can continue to learn, and guide you on your yoga journey.

Part of this nurturing process includes eating nutrient packed foods, moving my body everyday, and meditating daily. As I plan my year, I complete the following sentence, which I find quite helpful:

​If I had a penny for every person who asked me if yoga can fix their back pain, well, my piggy bank would be delightfully full!
 
This may come as a surprise to some of you, but I have suffered from back pain most of my life. I am certain that without yoga, my life, and the state of my back, would be extremely different today. Can yoga fix all back pain? Probably not. It is however effective in managing the pain and preventing further injuries.

Have you ever experienced elbow pain? If so, the video featured in this blog may be of interest to you. I personally have experienced discomfort in my lead arm, specifically around the elbow, which brought me to explore ways to restore the area.

​From our wrists to our shoulders, we are looking at mobilizing, stretching and strengthening the muscles that may be tight, weak, and potentially causing disfunction and pain. 

Photo by Dex Ezekiel on Unsplash

That you are a golfer or not, lower body strength has a direct impact on our longevity as well as on the health of our knees and lower back.  A typical yoga class (that it is focused on golf or not) incorporates standing postures which improve lower body strength and stability. 

For golfers, lower body strength has a direct impact as to how efficiently we can connect to ground reaction force and increase our club head speed.

In this blog, since our winter Yoga for Golfers™ program focuses mainly on building strength and stability, I am proposing a short leg strength assessment, which includes a video.

​Let me start by wishing you much happiness for the new year. May we all stay healthy and thrive!

As I was brainstorming a few creative ideas for the year ahead, out of curiosity, I searched the significance of the number 2022. Apparently, in numerology, 2022 indicates that there is hope and healing ahead... How fitting and uplifting for these unstable times!

I am thrilled to announce that, between December 14th and December 21st, together, we raised $920 for the The Housing Help Center, a registered non-profit organization that help families and individuals who are homeless, and/or at risk of losing their housing. I am grateful for everyone who joined me on the mat virtually during this fundraiser week. Thank you for your generosity and kindness!

Before you head out to the course, join me in my garden as we prepare body and mind for a great round of golf! We will pay special attention to the thoracic spine, allowing us to reduce tension and play with more ease. During this 30-minute video, we will warm-up our ankles, hips, hamstrings, gluts, shoulders, wrists and neck. All you need is a pillow or a yoga block to support your head. As always, breathe deeply, move slowly, and enjoy! ​ Happy golfing!  /  Watch video

More than ever, we need to monitor our level of stress in order to maintain resiliency during our current confinement. Restorative Yoga is the perfect antidote to stress. For those of you who may not have traditional yoga props at home, here is a list of items that can easily be used in replacement of yoga bolsters and blocks.

More than ever, we need to equip our body and mind with tools that will help us stay calm, grounded, and resilient. I am sharing with you today, in the form of a video, a meditative practice which I hope you will enjoy. It's been my go-to practice this week!

​Take 10 minutes, find a comfortable seat and enjoy! VIEW VIDEO
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​I have to admit that, a few days ago, I was really concerned about the future of Fore! Yoga. Like many small businesses in the service industry, these are interesting times! Luckily, with the support of our community, and the brilliant invention of virtual platforms, such as Zoom, we are on a brighter path. ​We are happy to share with you our Live Streaming Yoga Schedule.  

Until we are able to resume our in-studio group classes, hug, and shake hands, let's embrace new technology and get together virtually from the comfort of our own home. 

​More than ever, we need to breathe deeply and stay united!

​Today, I am offering you a quick tutorial video describing three ways to perform side planks safely. Side planks, when done properly, help strengthen the obliques. Like any other muscle in the body, the obliques, located on both sides of the abdomen, have many functions, one of them being to help with torso rotation. For my fellow golfers, you can only imagine how important that function is for an efficient golf swing. 

Do not worry! We have not branched out into the match-making business! But as yoga instructors, we are often asked, “What should I look for in a good yoga mat?”  Depending on your yoga practice, you may be spending time on your yoga mat every day, as well as bringing it along wherever you go. Hence, the importance to find the perfect mat(ch!)

​Full disclosure: before I took my yoga teacher training, I injured my lumbar spine - from doing yoga. It all started with some workshops on practicing Upward Facing Dog, an advanced backbend. Although my teachers described this back-bending pose in depth, I was doing it wrong and I kept pushing for "more", to "feel more" and to "backbend more" (whatever that means!) I started experiencing some low back sensations but misinterpreted it as "going deeper into my pose", so I kept at it.  ​

Although it may not feel like it here in Toronto, spring is just around the corner. We can finally look forward to the beginning of warmer weather. As nature does, we are thawing out, slowly coming out of our “winter hibernation mode” and embracing the sunny days, easing into “spring growth mode”.  While I believe that the time to begin yoga is always “now”, creating a new habit with the change of seasons may be powerful as you connect to the idea of spring renewal. So here are my top ten reasons (a few of them backed by science and helpful resources!) why you should consider incorporating yoga in your life, or rekindle your practice if it has waned. Hopefully one or a few of these reasons will help you create a steady yoga practice that you can call your own. 

​One important lesson that a regular yoga practice offers is the realization and eventually the acceptance that we are all unique; every person is different, and an asana (yoga posture) that “seems easy” to one person may be a real challenge to another individual. Therefore, as there are many valid factors that affect the ease of a yoga posture, comparing your yoga practice to someone else’s is irrelevant. ​​For example, the natural abilities and anatomy of a person can deeply determine if he or she will be able to sit comfortably cross legged, in what we call “Easy Pose”, the subject of our blog today.

Before you roll up your mat, always make sure you allocate some time for corpse pose, otherwise known as savasana in Sanskrit. For some students, it is exactly like the t-shirt says, “I’m just here for the savasana”.  For others…not so much. ​So, what is savasana?  Why do we do it?  Why do some of us struggle with it?  And how can we make it easier and more comfortable?  We will cover these topics in today’s blog post.

Cat pose offers a multitude of benefits. Primarily, it strengthens and stretches the spine and neck, as well as massaging the internal organs located in the belly. It is also known to develop coordination, emotional balance, while calming the mind. 

Tension in the upper back (thoracic spine) can significantly limit your movements and eventually affect other areas of your body. Remember, everything is connected! Over time, the body adapts and if not addressed, a tension we may consider trivial at first, can develop into a chronic one. Today, I am sharing with you a sequence that is part of my personal daily maintenance program, the key to keeping accumulated tensions at bay. 

We all know it;  exercising regularly, eating healthy meals, getting enough sleep, and engaging in social interactions, are crucial self-care components to stay healthy. Over the years, thru my personal yoga practice, it's become a little easier to put myself first, and to fight the temptations of taking care of other people or things, before getting on my mat or going for a run. As I get older, I realize that these self-care moments feed my ability to stay focused, energized, and "perform well on the job." When 2018 came around, I felt I needed an added motivation, something different! 

Incorporating yoga on a daily basis has many positive effects on one's body and mind. Yet, with life's multiple demands, it can be a real challenge to find the time for this important practice. What I discovered over the last few years is that a short yoga practice is better then none. My level of energy, my geographical location, and the time that I have, dictate my yoga practice, not the other way around.