We all love our neighborhood studio; the place where “everybody knows your name”, but sometimes life dictates that we travel far away from home. When that happens, check out Gaiam’s Yoga-on-the-Go Guide for ideas on classes from your computer, yoga- and pilates-friendly hotels, and packable yoga mats, among other things. Woo-hoo! No more withdrawal symptoms when flights and room service...

While pilates and yoga have been around for many years, scientific research on the disciplines is fairly recent. Pain is not only physical; there is a mental aspect that comes into play as well, and the mind-body focus of pilates and yoga addresses this beautifully. Check out this 2007 paper on PubMed I came across today that looks at the effects of pilates and yoga on chronic low back pain: Yoga...

Bette Calman isn’t your typical yoga instructor, but she’s my new roll model! The 83 year old grandmother from Australia has been teaching yoga for 40 years and shows no sign of stopping. She might look sweet and demure in her pearl earrings and perfectly coiffed hair, but Ms. Calman is fearless as she demonstrates advanced yoga poses that most people 50 years younger would have trouble...

We all know how we feel physically following a long flight (or a long day at the office): stiff, disconnected from our body, a little agitated. While it’s not possible to opt out of traveling or working in modern life, we can do something about the side effects.  Brooke Siler, owner of re:AB Pilates Studio in NYC, shares some of her tried-and-true stretches to make the journey easier on...

Yoga Thrive is a community-based program for cancer survivors that was started by Dr. Nicole Culos-Reed of the University of Calgary and yoga instructor Susi Hately. The seven-week program offers free or minimally-priced therapeutic yoga classes to patients and loved ones in any stage of treatment. Yoga Thrive started in Calgary and is now beginning to spread all over Canada as well as parts of the...

One of the best things about yoga is that at some point we can’t keep everything inside; the inward journey moves out, causing us to seek a connection to something greater than ourselves.  Off the Mat, Into the World is a program started by yoga teachers Seane Corn and Hala Khouri and vocalist/composer Suzanne Sterling that ”aims to inspire and guide you to find and define your purpose...

How much better would we all feel if we had begun practices such as pilates and yoga as children?  Dawn-Marie Ickes of Core Conditioning Physical Therapy, Pilates and Gyrotonic in Burbank wanted to find out!  “Joseph Pilates’ mission was that he felt that everyone should be doing pilates” Dawn-Marie Ickes told the Burbank Leader. The pilot program Ickes started consisted of teaching pilates...

Good news for those with chronic lower back pain: yoga may help!  Reuters Health reported last week on a study published in the journal Spine in which 90 adults (ages 18 to 70) with chronic lower back pain were randomly instructed to either stay with conventional therapies (such as pain medication) or take therapeutic Iyengar yoga (a type that is highly focused on proper alignment and uses props such...

A positive attitude is vital in pilates, yoga, and in life. Studies have shown that looking on the bright side will help us live longer and with fewer health challenges. The best part is that we hold the power. Day in and day out, we can choose our responses to life’s challenges and quirks.  When things don’t go as planned we can choose to simply modify our response like we modify an...

Ranch and Coast is San Diego’s luxury lifestyle magazine, and is full of the latest information on galas, arts & culture, dining, and home & garden.  Here’s what they have to say about us! A Perfect Pairing  enCORE Pilates and Yoga is a new partnership between CORE Orthopaedic and Bella Forma Pilates, offering Pilates mat and yoga classes, and private Pilates lessons. “We...