Foundations

Got an overnight flight? YJ Influencer Heather Lilleston shares her personal strategies for staying well-rested despite frequent flying.

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In this excerpt from her new book Deep Listening, Jillian Pransky offers a practice for creating space to let yourself be just as you are.

Yoga historian Philip Deslippe looks at the insight a few unusual yoga-themed pieces of pop culture can offer into the popular perception of the practice in America over the last century.

Using a chair as a launch pad to toggle between Kurmasana and Tittibhasana is a great way to build mobility and challenge your balance. Ready to give it a try?

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Try this strap trick to increase postural awareness in the upper back and shoulders—and relieve the excess tension that accumulates there.

Learn how crystals can work in tandem with your chakras to bring harmony and higher awareness to your life.

In this six-part series, our writer introduces the concept of internal activism through kriya yoga as the ultimate yogic tool for weathering personal, political, and natural disasters. First, learn how to become an internal activist.

Learn how to use a chair and a block in Revolved Head-to-Knee Pose to both ground and expand the posture all at once.

Sutra 1.12 introduces two essential elements of yogic philosophy: effort and non-attachment. When practiced together, they can serve as a spiritual and practical roadmap for navigating almost every aspect of life with greater equanimity.

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Navigate transitions with more calm, confidence, and joy by tapping the powers of your chakras.

Variations on classic poses helps create new pathways within your nervous system and open you up to possibility.

In this dharma "talk," Judith Hanson Lasater delves into the paradox of santosha.

Senior Iyengar Yoga teacher Carrie Owerko offers an alternative approach to One-Legged Crane Pose II. Go ahead, take flight.

YJ Influencer Hemalayaa Behl shares how you can harness the most intense mental and emotional energy to raise your vibration.

As the Las Vegas shooting further assaults our sense of peace,  yogis have an opportunity to raise our vibration and use our off-the-mat practice to make the world a more peaceful place.

Carrie Owerko shows us how repetition and novelty are both important in daily practice.

In the age of Instagram, yoga historian Philip Deslippe takes a look at how yoga has in fact embraced new forms of media and technology since its debut in the West. The question now: What will be next?

Aromatherapy can play a role in helping to open each energy center of our body. Take this quiz to find out which chakra might be out of alignment and a scent to help restore balance.

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Whether you're new to restorative yoga or a seasoned pro, little tweaks can help you get more relaxation out of your practice.

Master teacher Amy Ippoliti interprets Sutra 1.3 as a way to meet your thoughts and feelings with self-assurance.

"At the end of the day, the technical aspects of Trikonasana are not enough. And you cannot get enlightened doing a fancy pose—no matter how perfect it is. It’s just not gonna happen."

Learn how to listen with compassion to your body, breath, feelings, and thoughts. This deep listening helps you cultivate the kind of conscious relaxation that allows you to stay open, present, and curious in situations where you normally wouldn't.

“At the heart of yoga, there is awakening through direct realization, transformation, and regeneration from within. The more we wake up, the greater our power as a whole. We genuinely practice for the benefit of all beings.”

One of the most powerful ways to feel more OK mentally and emotionally is to learn how to relax the body. Here, Jillian Pransky breaks down how to release one of the most chronically tense muscles: the psoas.

With our community more than doubling in the last decade, yoga is quickly evolving. (Goat yoga gone mainstream? Couldn’t have called it.) This National Yoga Month, we asked respected teachers across the yoga spectrum: what’s happening now and what’s next? Despite wildly different styles, many shared unified perspectives—and predictions.

Spiritual seekers are those who follow a path of self-discovery. Here, Diana Raab, PhD, author of Writing for Bliss, explains how writing can be a powerful tool transformation.

Curious how you might benefit from our Restorative Yoga 101 course with Jillian Pransky? Five students of Pransky's students share how her restorative classes transformed them.

Need a minute? How about 30. Take time to center yourself with this calming playlist, designed to help you really drop in.

Harness the influential energy of the deities with yantras—geometric diagrams composed of shapes such as triangles, squares, circles, and lotus leaves, which often represent the energy fields of specific deities.

Carrie Owerko calls herself a nontraditional Iyengar Yoga teacher. While the lineage of Iyengar has a reputation for being strict and methodical, Owerko is driven by a love of exploration. A certified senior Iyengar yoga teacher with 20 years of study and work in movement and theater, Owerko chooses to focus on the playful experimental side of the practice.

Use this sequence to check in with yourself, quiet fears and negative mental chatter, and ultimately move into a place of deep trust.

According to yoga tradition, there are five currents of vital force (prana) that run through us and govern our bodies and minds: the prana vayus. When we understand them and how they can work in harmony with each other, we're able to experience life with more clarity and authenticity. YJ Influencer Lauren Eckstrom explains how to use your yoga practice to embody the vayus, both on and off your mat.

Most people think hippies and Hare Krishnas were among the first American yogis, but in fact dozens of people with remarkable backgrounds were teaching the practice in the U.S. decades earlier. You won’t believe you’ve never heard these fascinating stories before.

Did you finish yoga teacher training with more questions than you started with? That’s why we’ve recruited seasoned teacher trainer Gina Caputo to speak frankly to some of the most common post-TT questions submitted by YOU. In each of the four posts in this series, she’ll address a new subject and offer both insight and practical tips on how to work skillfully with the challenges you face as a yoga teacher.

Whether you're getting pumped to attend this year's ARISE Festival or just want to experience it vicariously through Spotify, flowing to this playlist is the perfect prep for a big night out.

Yogi-turned-pop artist Justin Michael Williams talks to YJ about the making of his new album Metamorphosis, his support for the LGBTQ community, and meditation as the "express elevator" to his dreams. Plus, he curated a practice playlist to speak to your soul and kick-start your dreams.

We can mitigate some of the shifts in the body that occur during pregnancy, simply by standing well. This practice will wake up the muscles that we need to maintain good structural integrity and a healthy pelvic floor even as big changes are occurring within.

Can't make it to your favorite class? Channel your coolest self with this chill, modern yoga playlist.

You deserve to reap the profound rewards of the humble (yet powerful) Namaskar.

This two-minute primer traces Namaskars—and the pieces missing from modern practice—back thousands of years.

Embrace summer's chill vibes with our ambient playlist on Spotify, designed to inspire you to slow your flow.

Meet your next teacher, Aadil Palkhivala, Purna Yoga™ co-founder and mentor in Yoga Journal's upcoming online Master Class course.

Yoga teacher Carola Lovering left YJ LIVE! New York with some existential questions about the practice of asana. Here she breaks down how a modern-day yogi can make sense of what we’re really doing on the mat.

Feeling the mid-workday slump? Take a break to flow and clear your mind with this vinyasa yoga playlist.

Try this short sequence 3–5 times on its own, or as part of a longer practice to ignite the energy in your third chakra.

Embody the spirit of spring with this playful 75-minute yoga playlist on Spotify. Download the free software to listen to our playlists—and check back weekly for more of our fave yoga tunes.

Taking a month or year off to make a spiritual pilgrimage is the kind of romantic endeavor some of us will only ever be able to dream about. But that doesn’t mean we can’t embark on an inner journey that leads to the same kind of transformation. Start one of these 30-day pilgrimages from wherever you are today.

Author Stephen Cope considers the contemplative traditions’ aversion to attachment—and penchant for non-attachment (vairagya in yoga)—and asks is attachment really so bad?

This guided meditation is designed to help you feel that something has your back, so you can open your heart.

Do this short sequence 3–5 times on its own or as part of a longer practice to open your heart chakra and experience compassion.

You'll be hooked on Gaia’s new 13-episode docuseries, Yogic Paths.

Part of our mission at Yoga Journal is to expand the conversation and include a more diverse group of yogis in print and on the web.

Part of our mission at Yoga Journal is to expand the conversation and include a more diverse group of yogis in print and on the web.

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Yoga teacher Mary Clare Sweet is paving the path from bridezilla to bride-ZEN-a. Here, she shares the yogic wedding planning method she’s leaning on leading up to her big day.

Indie-folk trio Magic Giant talks to us about the making of their upcoming album, their devotion to yoga, and how their music reflects their practice. Plus, practice to their playlist curated exclusively for YogaJournal.com readers.

As B.K.S. Iyengar turns 90, he talks candidly about his life and this thing called Iyengar Yoga.

Forget everything you thought you knew about yoga history. Writer Matthew Remski reviews the new book Roots of Yoga and (spoiler alert) shares 10 of its biggest surprises.

Alexandria Crow discusses the yoga you can and can’t see in an Instagram.

Learn how Kundalini Yoga incorporates movement, dynamic breathing techniques, meditation, and the chanting of mantras.

DJ Taz Rashid created this playlist for Kathryn Budig's class, UnF'withable. Play it at home when you need a good sweat and rock-solid self-acceptance.

In day 7 of our Spiritual Laws Challenge, Deepak Chopra's yoga teacher Sarah Platt-Finger explains how Eye of the Needle Pose illustrates The Law of Dharma.

Sarah Platt-Finger explains how Parsvottanasana illustrates The Law of Detachment.

Deepak Chopra's yoga teacher Sarah Platt-Finger explains how Warrior II demonstrates the The Law of Intention and Desire.

Deepak Chopra's yoga teacher Sarah Platt-Finger apples the Law of Least Effort to Plank Pose.

Deepak Chopra's yoga teacher Sarah Platt-Finger explains how Tadasana illustrates The Law of Karma, or Cause and Effect.

For day 2 of our Spiritual Laws Challenge, Deepak Chopra's yoga teacher Sarah Platt-Finger explains how Cat/Cow pose illustrates The Law of Giving and Receiving.

Get ready for your jump start your Friday night out with this vinyasa flow playlist. You'll come back to this Friday night yoga playlist time and again!

For 7 days, Deepak Chopra's yoga teacher, Sarah Platt-Finger, will offer you a pose that illustrates one of Chopra's Seven Spiritual Laws of Yoga. Take the challenge and practice with us for a week.

Connect to higher consciousness and reach your full potential with this heart- and mind-opening asana and pranayama practice.

In his new book, You Are the Universe, best-selling author and integrative-medicine expert Deepak Chopra, MD, explains that the universe is participatory and that all of us are creators of our reality. Here, Chopra explores how yoga can help us understand our role as co-creators— and how liberating that knowledge can be.

Feeling blocked in your heart chakra? Listen to these heart-opening tunes, drop into Wild Thing, and feel the love.

So, is "constant checking" and social media overload the cause of the disconnection that so many of us feel? Not really, says legendary integrative-medicine and meditation expert, Dr. Deepak Chopra, who leads Yoga Journal's online course.

Often used in meditation, pranayama, and asana, this mudra helps lift dull energy, creates a more receptive state, calms the mind, and brightens the overall mood.

Yogis have used singing bowls for decades, but in recent years crystal alchemy bowls seem to be displacing the traditional Tibetan variety. Discover the healing power behind their sound.