What do you want your body to be capable of now, or in ten, twenty or thirty years?

Perhaps you want to travel, hike through unfamiliar landscapes, learn new physical skills, play with your children or grandchildren, or continue exploring movement simply because you enjoy it. Maybe you want the con...

Breath, nervous system and the art of recovery

In the first and the second article in this series, we explored why movement matters for longevity and how we can maintain our physical options as the body changes. Strength, mobility, balance and adaptability all contribute to our ability to keep part...

In the first article of this series, we explored how movement helps us maintain physical capacity throughout life. We looked at why strength, mobility and active muscular engagement matter, and why the body responds not only to what we do, but also to what we stop doing.

Let's take that a step furt...

We often talk about longevity as though it means making life last longer.

But perhaps there is another question worth asking:

What do you want your body to be able to do while you are living that longer life?

Walking easily. Getting up from the floor. Carrying things. Climbing stairs. Balancing o...

The spine is more than a structural column that holds us upright. It is a living, responsive system that reflects how we move, how we breathe, how we manage stress, and how we live. In yoga, we often say that you are only as young as your spine, yet many modern lifestyles do very little to support s...

Beneath the postures and movements of yoga as a physical practice lies a profound tool for calming the nervous system: breath. You can cultivate flexibility, strength, and balance while slowing the heart rate, reducing stress, and creating a deep sense of calm. This is unlike cardiovascular fitness ...

Yesterday I was sitting together with another senior yoga teacher to catch up after some time of not seeing each other.
Invariably at some point the conversation spiralled back to yoga practice and teaching.
What we had noticed was a continued rise of the popularity of Pilates training, studios  and e...

This question is not just about downward dog yoga posture. The enquiry can be expanded to question the practice of any pose.
Maybe we can ask what the purpose of any given pose might be.
For you. Not the general purpose. The general purported purpose you can look up in many available yoga books from ...

Be careful with sharp knives. A sharp knife can injure you more easily.

Who remembers being told this when growing up? Or maybe you still hear it now?

For workplace safety, based on these cautions, wouldn’t it be advisable for cooks and chefs to have blunt knives? That would ensure more consistency ...

Balance is a two-way street.

We are coping with balance quite well so far. We are walking, running, and  standing for most of our lives. Keep in mind though, you practised this for years when you grew up as a little kid.

Further challenges we encounter in later life require physical and physiologi...

‘You are crazy!’  This was the first response I got when suggesting I could run across a boulder field of loosely piled up rocks.  
Walking was challenging. People with hiking boots, sneakers or other footwear moved gingerly as if walking on glass or egg shells.

And here I was almost barefooted. A th...

Oslo Yoga, www.osloyoga.no  hosted a panel discussion on yoga anatomy as part of their international yoga festival www.yogafestivalen.no on January 4, 2021.
On the panel were:

Mark Stephens www.markstephensyoga.com

Anna Kristina Kavli www.iyoga.no,

and me, Chris Kummer www.anatomyshow.com/about...