Scott Anderson, Ph.D.

As a young man, I cultivated the faith that yoga was all that was needed to maintain a perfectly healthy body. In the lead-up to the yoga boom, one of the most famous yoga teachers claimed that yoga was all that was needed for optimal health, and I worked hard to believe her. In one of the first yoga weekends I ever attended, I was publicly chastised for continuing to run and bike. I was gravely warned that such activities would strain my heart and impede my progress on the yogic path. While I didn’t see the logic in these assertions, I was drawn in by the teacher’s knowledge of structure and anatomy. In the second day of the workshop, this same teacher wore a Body by Yoga T-shirt as she continued to proclaim how yoga was all that was needed for body, mind, and spirit. Since everybody else in the room seemed to be enthusiastically nodding in agreement, I decided to set aside what I knew about athletic training in favor of the promise of yoga fitness. I remember thinking t...

My yoga teachers used to tell me that yoga was all that was needed for a healthy body, mind and spirit. And for a long time, I believed them. While many of my friends openly questioned my faith in yoga, and my own doubts would frequently bubble up to the surface, I was fully committed to following what I thought was the yogic path. While a graduate student, I consulted an MD for a required physical. At the end of the exam, the doctor removed his glasses, looked me right in the eye, and asked if I was keeping physically active. With a great deal of confidence, I responded that I practiced yoga for a few hours each day, and as a result, was in perfect physical condition. The doctor’s arched eyebrow should have been a clue that my perceived fitness was far removed from my actual fitness. It turned out that perceived exertion and the benefits of working out aren’t always aligned. After years of exploring, researching, and experimenting, I have fully experienced the gulf between...

When I was a teenager, I hadn’t yet heard of Bodhisattvas, nor had I much of an idea about what it meant to dedicate your actions to the benefit of others. I do remember the first time I recognized a person who saw the goodness in others. Sometimes these people couldn’t see the goodness within themselves , though this energetic and satin-clad man could. I’ve been thinking of Richard Simmons more these days, as I am newly appreciating his focus on moving the body and getting good, aerobic exercise. While I would prefer not to Sweat to the Oldies , I do believe that we can all benefit from being aerobically fit. The benefits of aerobic exercise are legion, and it seems that every day a new scientific study expands our understanding of how aerobic fitness is essential to mind/body health. Heart disease is a national epidemic, and nothing reduces the risk of heart and vascular disease more compellingly than a baseline of aerobic fitness. Having watched my Dad wither for y...

Learn about Alignment Yoga's first LIVE-STREAMED online workshop! Scott will be breaking down a common yoga instruction and offering concrete techniques for how to more effectively teach students. Register for the online workshop at http://www.alignmentyoga.com/workshops-scott To attend online, use the same link above, and scroll down to the second option.