The yoga tradition offers a refreshing alternative to the New Year’s resolution: the practice of sankalpa, or resolve. Like a vow, a practice of sankalpa starts from a radically different premise: that you already are who you need to be to fulfill your life’s purpose, or dharma. Through practices of breathing, movement, meditation and chanting, a focus can be created to connect to your most heartfelt desires, and this is where sankalpa begins. To create a life we want and…

“Hip Openers” has become a catch-phrase to describe yoga poses that increase range of motion in the hip joint, widely offered therapeutically for lower back issues. But do you really just need a more mobile hip joint? While it’s true for some that increased external rotation will relieve stiffness in the lumbar spine and aid in overall extension, it’s also true that over lengthened hamstrings, hip flexors, and external rotators can weaken stability. So what’s a practitioner to do? Since…