Blog - Asheville Yoga Center

Teacher Feature: Get to Know Sierra Hollister

October 30, 2023

The first yoga class that really captivated me was a power flow style with Sarah Powers. I was young – still in college, and a dedicated runner and climber at the time. Yoga was poetry for the body. In my attempts to find a class / teacher similar to Sarah, I stumbled into Ahimsa Ashram in Washington, DC and found kundalini yoga- which felt like
rocket fuel to me. Some 30 years later, I am still enchanted with kundalini and the
incredible power of the practice to transform. And, I still love flowing vinyasa andmany other styles. I think of myself as a “yoga universalist” – I love all the
lineages and paths deeply but kundalini is the maha (great) practice of my heart,
the one that I do every day, no matter what.

5 Tips for A Sustainable Yoga Practice: Connecting On & Off The Mat

May 2, 2023

We can practice ahimsa or non-violence with others, mother Earth, and also ourselves. When we notice thoughts of judgment or criticism, there’s an opportunity to return to the breath, witness those thoughts and emotions, and allow them to flower. This momentary gap enables us to choose how we respond – ahimsa lives in our breath, that dynamic and divine pulsation of inhalation and exhalation that we share with all living beings.

Spring Renewal: Yoga Practices to Care for Your Self & Environment

March 30, 2023

You Already Know How: Yoga and Breathing

March 14, 2023

Did you know that Ada Limón, the extraordinary 24th Poet Laureate of the United States, loves yoga? And yet, in a recent On Being podcast, she laughed while sharing the following:

When I lived in New York City, my two best friends, I would always try to get them to go to yoga with me. And they would say, “I don’t want to go to yoga.” And I was like, “Why?” And they said, “I just don’t want anyone telling me when to breathe.”

I know, right?! Breathe in—do this. Breathe out—do that. Enough already!

Warrior Breath: Astrological Archetypes & Yoga

January 13, 2023

A short time after I moved to Asheville, NC in 1996 I stumbled upon a little yoga practice room above an antique shop downtown. There was no sign outside advertising it as a studio or practice space. At the top of a narrow and creaking staircase there was simply a wooden bowl for donations.

Community Kīrtan Audio with Michael Johnson

November 11, 2022

Here is the first limb of Yoga. It is a set of skillful means (upāya) that we can adopt to create a space where we can practice Yoga. These five great vows (Mahāvrata) appear to have originated with the Jainadharma tradition c.600 BCE, yet have been adopted by many other traditions.

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