Journal Posts | iHanuman

iHanuman

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Journal Posts

A couple of newsletters back I wrote about how the Unity Woods logo came into being and what my thinking was in creating it, and the significance of the various components. As there wasn't space then to talk about the three words that appear at the points of the triangle, I said I would do so in subsequent newsletters. In the last newsletter, I discussed the relevance of the first of the three words: health. Now we come to the second: serenity.
Needless to say, health and serenity are not separate and distinct. Our physical health unmistakably affects our mental health. And this being a two way street, our state of mind plays a huge role in the quality of our physical health. Unity Woods teacher, Alyson Ross, recently presented a program at the Bethesda studio on Yoga and the Physiology of Stress in which she described the current state of research regarding the effect stress has on physical health. The data is powerful and unequivocal in connecting the importance of our reactions to stress to our physical well-being.
But serenity has meaning and importance beyond...

posted: 11 years 9 months ago
posted: 6/11/12
NAMASTE, It's such a cliché to remark on the speedy passage of time. Nonetheless, I have to trot out the "how time flies" line to comment on the arrival this year of Unity Woods' 30th anniversary. To tell you the truth, things are tumbling by so fast and there so much going on that I might have missed noticing it altogether had I not been prompted by the ubiquitous accolades to local (and national) media star, Diane Rehm, on her 30th anniversary. That's when I said to myself, "Hey, Unity Woods has been around for 30 years, too." 30 years! Wow! Hard to know...
posted: 6/11/12
The February issue of Yoga Journal includes an article by John Schumacher. Regular readers of the magazine look forward to the monthly Home Practice feature for fully illustrated sequences of ten poses. This month's sequence is designed to build the strength and flexibility needed for arm balances, such as Bakasana (Crane Pose). Each pose is photographed, with John's precise descriptions guiding readers through the work in each asana. Arm balances are challenging because they require both abdominal strength and flexibility to bring the arms and legs into position. John encourages...
posted: 6/11/12
John is featured in the Yoga Journal Asana ColumnWhen it came to the fitness benefits yoga can or can't provide, yoga teacher John Schumacher had heard it all. A student of B. K. S. Iyengar for 20 years and founder of the Unity Woods studios in the Washington, D.C. area, Schumacher was convinced yoga provides a complete fitness regime. But many people, even some of his own students, disagreed. Yoga might be good for flexibility or relaxation, they'd say, but to be truly fit, you had to combine it with an activity like running or weight lifting.Schumacher just didn't buy it.He knew...
posted: 9/1/09
My thanks to our conference co-coordinators and my dear friends, Patricia Walden and Linda DiCarlo, for their tireless efforts and their deep devotion that made this conference possible. Thanks also to all you workers and volunteers, in front of and behind the scenes for your invaluable and essential assistance. And, of course, thanks to all of you attendees for being here. Without you there wouldn't be any conference. I felt very honored when I was asked to give the keynote address to this conference. This is the largest group of senior-level Iyengar yoga teachers ever gathered for a...
posted: 4/1/08
By now, given yoga's broad popularity, many people know that the word yoga means to unite or yoke together. When one moves past the common notion that yoga is mostly about exercise, flexibility, and relaxation and begins to delve into the underlying philosophy of yoga, one begins to encounter conceptually and experientially what this business of unity is really about. From the moment you stand in Tadasana (Mountain Pose) and ground through your feet, you become aware that the actions of your feet have a direct and palpable effect on your ankles, your legs, your spine, indeed, your entire...

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