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There are so many things that we have in common as human beings. Remembering those positive things that connect us is just plain good for our health! In my humble opinion, I would guess most of us have some kind of heightened emotions at this moment in time. Too many adjectives to list here but…

There are so many good things in the world. There are things that are good for our bodies, like exercising and eating kale, and things that are good for our mind, like reading and meditating. Charity is a good thing. Compassion is, too. Volunteering, and calling your parents, and getting your oil changed on time…

February is all about love – at least according to the greeting card companies! Most of us took a little time to show our friends and family some extra affection this month. And the way we think about love is changing. Valentine’s Day is increasingly seen as a celebration of all kinds of love, including…

So let go, jump in 
Oh well, what are you waiting for? (Frou Frou, “Let Go”) Change is one of the most exciting experiences in life; it is also one of the most terrifying. Ultimately, there is room for change only when something familiar is ending or transforming. And even when change is a welcome…

Imagine a house that has been filled to the brim, well beyond its true capacity. There items stacked atop items in great, leaning stacks, and piles of unused things crammed in under furniture, in closets, and under windowsills. The air is stagnant and heavy with dust. Sunlight struggles to shine through the clutter. When we…

Savor the echos of the festivities in a quiet and nourishing way. The hustle and bustle of the holidays are behind you. Take a deep breath in and a big sigh out, then allow a gentle smile to grace your face. Suggestions on how to RESTORE and REPLENISH post holiday… ~Create your own spa experience…

As we enter the final days of the year, I invite you to spend a little time reflecting on the last twelve months. Whether 2015 was your best year, your most challenging year, or somewhere in between, we have all experienced our share of triumphs and joy, as well as difficulties and disappointment…

Welcome back from the Thanksgiving holiday! I hope you were able to spend some precious time with your loved ones during this last week.

No matter where your celebrations took you, it’s likely that there was an abundance of food served. Quick show of hands: who over-indulged in seconds from the dessert table?

This week, as we prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving with family and friends, gratitude will be at the forefront of our minds. Wherever we gather– in our homes, our churches, or elsewhere in our community– we will ask and be asked, “What are you thankful for?” The big things, obviously: our health, wealth, and the love…

Words are just words. It’s the meaning behind the words that count. I understand the trepidation that comes with learning something new, especially when it includes unfamiliar words and concepts. I’ve felt intimidated by subjects that seem foreign, grandiose and esoteric. But what I’ve found is that once they’re clearly explained to me, I begin…

BOO! Did we scare you? As you prepare to celebrate Halloween this weekend, Radiance Yoga would like to suggest some fun (and somewhat silly!) poses to incorporate into your holiday practice. These postures are great for adults and kids, so consider doing some family yoga before you go trick-or-treating, or to burn off some of…


Whether you are new to the practice or a life-long devotee, you have probably noticed that your yoga practice refuses to stay on the mat: it seeps into every part of your life! Here are ten signs that you are falling in love with yoga— or that your passion is still going strong…

Radiance Yoga is proud to offer one of our community’s favorite annual traditions for another year: the fall 30 Day Challenge! Radiance is the first yoga studio to offer the 30-day challenge in the local area. To complete the challenge, attend at least 26 classes at Radiance Yoga’s beautiful Old Town Alexandria studio between September …

Autumn is a season of great energy and a lot of change. The world around us undergoes an immense transformation, as evident in the shorter days, cooler temperatures, and falling leaves. Our daily routines also become more complicated, especially with back-to-school activities and preparations for upcoming holidays. The energetic and seasonal shift may cause you…

Being quiet + still in the midst of a busy world is a reminder that there is so much more than just our small selves. Witnessing the sunrise and knowing it displays itself in a different formation EVERY single DAY, but equally as spectacular and magical. We could all use a little stillness + quiet everyday! It…

If you practice yoga for relaxation, stress reduction, or spiritual direction, you probably already think of your yoga mat as a sanctuary apart from your everyday life. Yoga gives us the time and space to clear our minds, reconnect with our inner selves, and practice self-care: activities are easy to overlook in our busy, demanding…

Physical inactivity, mental fatigue, poor posture, and frequent or persistent headaches. If you work at a desk all day– especially if you spend hours using a computer–these physical symptoms might be very familiar to you. And you have probably already heard that yoga may help relieve all of them. But what about mental effects of…

This is my new favorite quote. We live in a world that is obsessed with “better.” We read articles about how to be a better partner, better parent, and better employee. We rate things by comparing them to other things: books, movies, and even people. We replace the things that we own not because they…

Yoga starts with your first intentional, conscious breath. Most classes begin and end with sitting, lying, or standing comfortably and becoming aware of your breath. Feel your breath as it enters your nostrils and swirls in the back of your throat. Watch it move into your chest, your diaphragm, and your belly. Then watch it…

You don’t necessarily have to want to teach yoga to embark on a Yoga Teacher Training program. Many people sign up for Yoga Teacher Training for different reasons: to get really good at yoga, to “deepen their practice” or to explore yoga philosophy and history. Radiance Yoga’s Flow Teacher Training is taught by our senior…

You may have heard yoga described as an integrative practice. The first time someone described it to me in that way, I didn’t understand what they meant. But in fact, the word “yoga” means to join together or yoke. Generally, we think of yoga as uniting the mind and the body. But the idea of…

How many hours do you sit in a chair every day? Think about time spent at your desk at work, in your car, and sitting at a computer. For most of us, the answer is at least eight hours, and possibly much higher. (For example, I sit for at least twelve hours a day during…

Stress. If just seeing that word makes you tense and nervous, then this post is for you! For most people, some degree of stress is unavoidable. Stress comes from many sources, but work-related stress might be the most common: according to a 2001 study from the American Institute of Stress, 80% of workers reported feeling

The official start of summer, according to the stars, is Sunday, June 21. This marks the longest day of the year, with approximately 12 hours of sunlight. Since we’ve been enjoying the heat of the sun since the end of April, meteorologically, the summer solstice can be thought of as the middle of summer. Whichever…

Every time we come to our yoga mats, we meet ourselves exactly as we are in that moment. Although we arrive in the same body, different sensations, levels of energy, environments, and moods all play a part in guiding our practice. Because of this, no two yoga practices are ever the same. When we practice…

We’ve been so busy getting the house ready to sell that I haven’t had a chance to get to Radiance (my most favorite yoga studio of all time) for a class in over a month. I was excited Saturday to finally get a chance to grab my mat and go to the 830am class.

Are you interested in yoga, but haven’t had the chance to check out Radiance Yoga yet? Join us this Saturday, April 25, for a studio open house! Come in to tour our beautiful, sunlit space, meet teachers and fellow students, and enjoy a FREE yoga class: • Beginner’s flow – 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm…

No matter how healthy you intend to be, life has a funny way of always getting in the way. Something ALWAYS comes up and throws you off track. All it takes is one little distraction to derail you completely from your commitments. When this happens, try your best to get back into your healthy routine…

Take a long inhale through your nose, and then sigh it out through an open mouth. In class, you might hear these called releasing breaths, sighing breaths, clearing breaths, or even falling-out breaths. It is one of the easiest and most beneficial breath practices in yoga. ​These breaths signal the body to relax, inviting it

While many of our Radiance yogis and yoginis are engaged in the 30-day challenge, it is important to remember that asana — the postures we practice in our yoga classes — is just one part of a complete yoga practice. While asana helps us evaluate, strengthen, and control our body, dhyana, or meditation, helps cultivate…

Happy Spring, Radiance yogis and yoginis! We hope you have been enjoying the warmer weather and later sunsets recently. Spring is a season of great energy and revitalization. As we move out of the colder, slower winter months behind, you may feel lighter, more boisterous, and ready to tackle new challenges. Which makes this an…

When we practice yoga, we invite a wide range of experiences and sensations into the body. While we seek openness, flexibility, and surrender in the postures, most yogis will experience a degree of physical resistance or discomfort at some point in their practice. These feelings are normal. They are signals from the body, and they

Radiance Yoga offers a wide variety of classes to help broaden and deepen your yoga practice. This month, the studio is highlighting the Intermediate/Advanced Flow class. This invigorating, vinyasa-style class is available twice a week, on Thursday nights and Sunday mornings. Yogis who practice flow yoga will recognize most elements of this class. The poses…

At the beginning of most yoga classes, your teacher will invite you to set an intention for your practice. This intention may be a word or phrase to describe something that you would like to receive, or a person who you would like to dedicate your energy towards. Similarly, some of us will also choose to…

In the first days of 2015, many of us will consider setting a resolution for the year. One of my dear friends decided to start running as part of her resolution to get fit. “The best part,” she told me, “is that I didn’t need much to get started: just a good pair of shoes.” Her comment stuck with…

In this season of wish lists, gift guides, and piles of presents tied up in ribbons, shopping for your favorite yogi or yogini can sometimes be tough. Through the practice of yoga, we become increasingly mindful that we already have everything we need to be happy, healthy, and whole. As we begin to redirect our energies…

For me, the most exciting thing about essential oils is how scent travels through the spaces of the body and mind and into our souls. A single drop of essential oil can be a dynamic powerhouse of expansiveness, magnifying the wonder of life, becoming a vehicle of intention and manifestation. My aromatherapy is about tapping…

Chaturanga Dandasana or 4 Limbed Staff Pose — the yoga pose that yogis love to hate. Most people have done it either incorrectly and/or half-heartedly for years.Why? Because it’s darn hard! There’s no denying the physical and mental challenge of hovering inches above your mat in a low plank position without losing your cool. While…

Did you know May is National Meditation Month? If you haven’t tried already, now’s the perfect time to start your own meditation practice or even try a new technique if you’ve been meditating for years. What is Meditation? Simply put, meditation begins with concentration – trying to focus the mind on one point. The purpose…

Don’t miss the opportunity to visit this amazing exhibition before it closes on March 9. “Women of Vision” features nearly 100 photographs, including moving depictions of far-flung cultures, compelling illustrations of conceptual topics such as memory and teenage brain chemistry, and arresting images of social issues like child marriage and 21st-century slavery. In addition to…

Once I heard a talk by a spiritual teacher who mentioned the Middle East. I think most of us think of that area as irrevocably stuck in animosity. His message was “If you could see this from our perspective you would see that this area of the planet is continuously in a direct beam of…

I have been teaching at Radiance since the studio first opened in 2008. As I discovered my teaching path I rediscovered my passion for health and healing and decided to go back to school to study Acupuncture. After over three years of commuting back and forth from DC to NYC for my program, I am…

How many times have you heard it… “Just breathe”, “Concentrate on your breath”, “Return to the breath”? But what does it mean? If you are alive, obviously you’re breathing… The term pranayama is made up of two words – prana (life force energy or breath) and yama (regulating or causing a break). The importance of…

Our children live in a hurry-up world of busy parents, school and peer pressures, video games and TV shows. We usually don’t think of these influences as stressful for our kids, but often they are. Add to that parental money pressures and stress, it seems that these problems don’t just affect the adults in the…

There is so much to know about prenatal yoga it can be tricky to know where to start. So we asked an expert – – our prenatal teacher Paige Lichens. Read on to find out more about her journey as a prenatal teacher and her thoughts on prenatal yoga. “I studied with a very experienced…

Yoga can be amazing and relaxing, transforming and uplifting, but if you practice long enough, you may eventually find yourself in a yoga rut. So, what does this yoga rut look like? Well, one indication that you’re in a yoga rut is that you find your practice reaching a plateau, or even regressing. Perhaps every…

Are you a furloughed federal employee or do you know one? Are you wishing you could make lemonade out of all those furloughed lemons you’ve been forced to accept? Step right up to Radiance Yoga – the lemons into lemonade studio! Don’t waste your time at home sucking on those sour lemons and watching bad…

The unlikely hero? Me. The impossible task? The thirty day challenge at Radiance Yoga in Old Town Alexandria, twenty-six yoga classes in thirty days. August 2-31. Why? The big reward! Bragging rights. Oh sure there were other things, like a tank-top that said 30 day challenge (that’s just a way to brag where I don’t…

You’ve heard the bad news: High blood pressure can lead to heart attacks, strokes, and other unhealthy cardiovascular events. Traditionally treatment has been medication, diet, exercise, and no smoking or alcohol. The good news is that recent studies and reviews have shown there’s a lot you can do to keep your blood pressure within a healthy range, including starting a yoga practice.

We’re very excited here at Radiance. There’s a new exhibit coming to the Smithsonian this fall: Yoga: The Art of Transformation. This is the first major exhibition devoted solely to the art of yoga. The museum’s Arthur M. Sackler Gallery will have over a hundred pieces of Indian sculpture and paintings on display, with some items…