For Everybody
Western Science Versus Eastern Wisdom
This was the very first, and still my favorite, of my Yoga Journalarticles. It describes my first trip to India, and my efforts to reconcile what I’d learned in medical school with what I was experiencing in my yoga practice. This is a slightly different version than the one which appeared in the magazine, correcting a couple of small errors that happened during editing.
The Language of Healing
This article, published in Yoga+ (now called Yoga International), lays out the crucial difference between holism and reductionism. Failing to understand this distinction leads many well-meaning people to embrace sometimes dubious alternative treatments, which I lump into a category I call "alternative reductionism." I hope you'll find it both provocative and full of practical implications for how to keep yourself healthy.
50 Ways to Heal a Yogi
This is a version of the article published in Yoga Journal under the name “38 Ways Yoga Keeps You Fit.” It's much more complete than the article that appeared in the magazine; it also groups the ways yoga improves health into categories like “Musculoskeletal,” Circulatory” and “Organ Function,” which makes it a little more user-friendly.
Yoga as a Technology for Life Transformation
How the millenia-old practice of yoga creates sustainable positive change. I wrote this article for the Kripalu catalogue just before completing my year as a scholar-in-residence at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health.
117 Conditions Benefited by Yoga (as Shown in Scientific Studies)
My 2019 update of “Health Conditions Helped by Yoga (as Shown in Scientific Studies)” was released recently. The PDF contains over 40 pages of references, listing the scientific studies by condition. Embedded hyperlinks will take you to the study's abstract, or if available, to a free, full-text version of the study. For printable posters (including A4 versions), click here. I compile this bibliography of research as a service, and hereby give permission to print out, post and/or share this PDF. The printable posters may also be shared.
Talking With Your Doctor About Your Yoga Practice
An article about how and why to talk about yoga with your doctor. Originally published in Yoga Journal.
Your Brain on Yoga
A short article about the neuroplastic effects of yoga.
Cold Caution
Advice on practicing yoga while dealing with the common cold.
Yoga for Weight Loss
A holistic and yogic approach to weight loss.
A Yogic Approach to Back Pain
Suffering from back pain? Yoga can help.
An Integrative Approach to Back Pain
Originally published in a slightly different form in New Age Journal(later renamed Body and Soul Magazine).
Padmasana on Prozac?
Taking an antidepressant won't interfere with your practice, nor does it make you any less of a yogi.
Using Yogic Awareness to Deepen Bodywork
How you can use yogic awareness to maximize the effects of everything from physical therapy and massage to myofascial release and craniosacral therapy.
Upside Downside
Risks and other things to consider before doing Sirsasana (Headstand).
Inversion Confusion
Menstruation and the controversy over the safety of inverted poses, from a medical as well as yogic perspective.
Managing Fibromyalgia
Some advice on using yoga to relieve symptoms and manage the disease.
Wrist Remedy
An excerpt from Yoga as Medicine's chapter on Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, which features the work of Tom Alden, a Boston-area chiropractor and yoga teacher.
Time Magazine Cover Story on Yoga
Published April 23, 2001. I was interviewed extensively for this article.
Published April 23, 2001. I was interviewed extensively for this article.
Is Yogic Levitation Possible? Click here or on the photo above to discover one technique to levitate.
