In this week’s Overheard in Yoga Class, Elena Brower shares a simple, but often forgotten truth: How we relate to ourselves is reflected in how the world relates to us. She steps through using our yoga practice to release self-negativity.

If you Glo in LA, you will not want to miss three free classes taught by Jason Crandell this week:

• Wednesday May 2nd: 10 – 11:30am Vinyasa Flow, Level 2
• Thursday May 3rd: 10 – 11:30am Vinyasa Flow, Level 2
• Friday May 4th: 10 – 11:30am Vinyasa Flow, Level 2

Come on down to the studio and join us for Jason goodness three days in a row!

UPDATE: Jason’s flight into Los Angeles was cancelled and he will not be able to make it to class on Wednesday at 10am. He will, however, be in town for classes Thursday & Friday at 10am. We can’t wait to see you there!

In this Pose of the Week, Steven covers basic Dos and Don’ts of proper placement of the feet during your practice. A solid foundation ensures that we can direct our concentration and focus to other aspects of our practice.

Each week we scour the interwebs to bring you amazing yoga articles, insights and stories that we hope will illuminate the power of yoga, the ways in which it can heal and soothe and the ways in which it can make us laugh, smile and learn much more about ourselves than we ever expected. This week’s links we think you’ll love are all about how yoga is universal. All across the globe, no matter who you are, what you do or what you believe in, yoga can be there for anyone, anywhere, anytime.

• How yoga can help golfers on the course: Breathing is the fastest, most effective way to bring the mind into focus and to alleviate tension in the body, allowing for a more fluid golf swing.
• Namaste: What Entrepreneurs Can Learn From Yoga | Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC):“Although yoga and entrepreneurship may seem worlds apart, they have many underlying similarities. The word ‘yoga’ means ‘to join’ and ‘to unite,’ and the practice of yoga aims to bring the mind and body together to work as one. Similarly, entrepreneurs juggle many different relationships, challenges and responsibilities, with the end goal of harnessing these entities to work together in sync. I apply the principles of yoga to my journey as an entrepreneur.”
• My Yoga Experience After Baby: Once I began showing up less self consciously, I began to tap into something just underneath the surface and I realized it was my innate ability to celebrate my body. Even though it had lost some surface level strength, this body had accomplished an unbelievable amount.
• Relief for The Stuffies: I’ve changed up my yoga practice to work with my physical symptoms rather than against them. Here’s what I’m doing to get some relief from The Stuffies.
• Yoga Reminds Me There is Nothing I Can’t Handle: I learned two things this month: 1) Healing takes time. Most days I’m strong and moving forward, but sometimes, little things like a pregnant woman’s belly or hospital bill can bring on the waterworks. 2) Yoga truly is relaxing and medicinal. When I feel like I’m losing control, I remember the things that yoga has taught me: relaxation, focus, awareness, balance, and strength.

Jason Crandell once said that “Yoga is the perfect opportunity to be curious about who you are”. So this weekend we challenge you to learn something new about yourself. Dig a little deeper in your practice, emotionally and spiritually. Try to explore your mind, body and soul in ways that you never have before.

In this Overheard in Yoga Class, Christina Sell reminds us that in order to achieve the serenity that our mind seeks, we must first start from the outside and work our way in. Once our body and our breath are in a state of steadiness, the mind will follow.

Ever have a Glo-tastic moment practicing along to YogaGlo that you want to share with others? We invite you to share your special moment with us and the YogaGlo community through Instagram.

Show us what inspires and moves you: from your favorite place to practice to a tranquil moment during meditation, or even when you successfully complete that tricky pose you’ve been trying to master forever, we want to see it all!

You can find us on Instagram at YogaGlo where we’ve been sharing some of our own special #yogagrams. Remember, in order for us to see your picture, please use the hashtag #yogagram

Don’t have Instagram yet and want to play along? Download Instagram for the iPhone or for Android.

We can’t wait to celebrate your yoga practice together in a new and visual way!

Beginning a yoga practice can feel a little like entering a play already in progress. You can pick up the general storyline pretty quickly, but there are some integral plot details you really need to go back for in order to get the full experience.

By the same token, there are terms used in yoga classes which are a little bit elusive to the beginner. Namastes and Ohms are easier understood, but there is a wealth of vocabulary that reflects trickier concepts. The idea of chakras is one that can be harder to grasp, especially for Westerners (or for me, at least). I’ve kind of avoided delving into the chakra question, but figured I should give it a go, since clearly, having been around for millennia, it isn’t going anywhere. Understanding chakras in the most sciency way was, of course, my goal, since this is generally what makes things tangible and come alive.

What I found in my search, however, surprised me. Of the many people I polled, from doctors to researchers and everyone in between, not many wanted to comment. Some said there was too little research, some said the question was too large to get into quickly, and some just declined to comment. Scientific literature searches didn’t reveal much.

A couple of people did volunteer to “go there.” One was Jeff Migdow, MD, who has taught yoga and headed teacher trainings at Kripalu. He first explained that chakras are typically thought of as “swirling spheres, or spinning vortices of energy. The faster they spin, the more energy is sucked into energy body.”

I told him that I was having a hard time wrapping my brain around that. I wanted to know how they can exist in the physical body – if you could measure them with equipment, or if they were more philosophical in nature.

Migdow suggested that while the concept of chakras is an ancient one, there are some biological links that have been suggested more recently, which may help Western minds feel a little less skeptical. One idea is that each of the chakras corresponds to a nerve plexus in the body – points where nerve bundles branch off to innervate different parts of the body. For example, the root chakra might correspond to the coccygeal plexus, the heart chakra to the heart plexus. Another theory is that the chakras correspond to the endocrine glands of the body: the crown chakra to the pituitary gland, third eye chakra to the pineal gland, the root chakra to the adrenal glands, and so on. Communication within the nerve fibers or fluctuations in the endocrine (hormone) system might correspond to the shifts in energy that some experience as chakras.

While these theories seem logical on some level, they seem to be just that – theories. In the end, I’m not sure there is much empirical Western evidence that the chakras exist physically. But I’m also not so sure that this matters much. It may be more about subtler changes or movements of other particles throughout our bodies. Even more, it may be about how we choose to conceptualize chakras for ourselves that’s the real evidence. As I discovered from researching further, their existence is, quite possibly, larger than the literal.

Stay tuned for more on chakras. In the meantime, please tell us your own thoughts: How do you conceptualize chakras? How do you feel them, experience them, and relate to them, both in class and outside of it?

Alice G. Walton, PhD is a health and science writer, and began practicing (and falling in love with) yoga last year. She is the Associate Editor at TheDoctorWillSeeYouNow.com and a Contributor at Forbes.com. Alice will be exploring yoga’s different styles, history, and philosophy, and sharing what she learns here on the YogaGlo blog. You can follow Alice on Twitter @AliceWalton and Facebook at Facebook.com/alicegwalton.

Want to learn more about chakras through asana and meditation? Our seven week What the Chakra program allows you to explore the First Chakra, Second Chakra, Third Chakra, Fourth Chakra, Fifth Chakra, Sixth Chakra and Seventh Chakra in two very different ways.

In this Pose of the Week, Tiffany Cruikshank demonstrates Hanumanasana (or Monkey Pose). Keep those hips steered forward and your back knee cap pointed at the floor for a deep stretch in your hip flexors.

Each week we scour the interwebs to bring you amazing yoga articles, insights and stories that we hope will illuminate the power of yoga, the ways in which it can heal and soothe and the ways in which it can make us laugh, smile and learn much more about ourselves than we ever expected. This week’s links we think you’ll love are all about how yoga can make you feel empowered. Whether you are a maxed out mother, frustrated child or someone in the fight of their life, yoga can make you feel like you can take on the world.

• On how a yoga camp is used to empower children: “Because of the environment and the things going on around the children, knowing how to calm themselves down and how to deal with some of the trauma that they’ve been introduced to is important,” Saddler-Walker says. “They need to know how to respond in a nonviolent way.”
• Restorative yoga helped with the healing: As she grappled with the rigours of fighting a terminal illness and breast reconstruction surgery, Skaey took action, leveraging several complementary practices to stay active and positive… She found a restorative yoga class that allowed her to gradually rebuild her strength and address physical challenges associated with her breast reconstruction, which had involved repurposing a muscle in her back.
• Yoga For Busy Moms: Busy moms run around with so many items on their to-do list while taking care of their child and subsequently forget to breathe! We take it for granted that we breathe automatically but when you do not breathe correctly, this is what causes stress…
• Yoga Helps to Relieve Aches and Pains from Gardening: To prevent fatigue and energize your body, it is important to take periodic stretch breaks. The following yoga inspired stretches will help relieve bodily discomfort brought on by spending hours in the garden.
• The Yoga of Parenthood: “Parenting is truly the greatest joy, but the most difficult ‘job’ in the world. I, for one, need all the tools I can get to negotiate this path. Sometimes it is a simple asana to bring me clarity, other times it is yogic philosophy. Even a few meditative breaths go a long way. The beauty of parenthood, though, is like yoga – there is no right or wrong.”