When you have secondary progressive multiple sclerosis, you're not supposed to get better. No one knows that better than Dr. Terry Wahls, the assistant chief of staff at the Iowa Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Wahls herself was diagnosed with MS in 2000 and watched her physical abilities steadily decline. Several...

Were you one of the millions of people mesmerized by Oprah's series of web classes with spiritual master Eckhart Tolle exactly four years ago? I was recently reminded how thrilling it was to immerse myself in Tolle's A New Earth for those 10 weeks when I stumbled on the podcasts...

When I stumbled upon an invitation to the "world's largest shared acupuncture experience," held last weekend in a Miami hotel ballroom, and realized it was sponsored by a top medical school, I thought attending would be physically healing. Only as I was...

A few weeks ago, I went to a concert of traditional Indian chanting music by the wonderful performer Krishna Das. "Let's start with a few oms," Das casually began, referring to the sound said to underlie all energy, which people often use to start a meditation. Suddenly, this crowd of...

Many people know that the yoga community is abuzz over allegations of financial and sexual misconduct by one of its heroes. I certainly empathize with the students and teachers who love Anusara Yoga founder John Friend (not to mention any innocent participants caught up in this scandal) and no doubt...

The other day in yoga class I was pretty pleased with my bound triangle pose when the teacher suggested we scooch our back foot forward and then raise the front leg into the air. I pushed my leg closer and found what I thought was my balancing point, but let's...

Imagine Thomas Jefferson, or even Natalie Wood, coming back to life today and seeing all that we have. They'd be stunned by the abundance and ease with which all of us live our lives (and that's true even in this trying economy). Yet we barely notice the "wow" factor, taking...

When I first took up yoga in the late 1980s, I knew that Swami Satchidananda, head of the yoga institute where I took classes, had led the opening chanting to the festival at Woodstock. Somewhere along my travels, I subsequently learned that Swami Vivekananda had introduced Indian practices to the...

Everyone knows that Thanksgiving is the holiday of gratitude, ever since the Pilgrims supposedly tipped their broad-brimmed hats in appreciation back in 1621. (Whether they actually did is beside the point.) Certainly since I was a child, I've been admonished each fourth Thursday in November to recognize everything that has...

When I began studying yoga more than 20 years ago, I learned that there were seven chakras -- those energy centers that run from the base of your spine to the top of your head. They are important because properly spinning chakras (the Sanskrit word for "wheel") balance the body's...

Think about this: If you can get out of your head more often, you can dramatically improve your health.

That's what the research has been showing lately. Three separate studies published this past year by esteemed institutions are proving that minding your mind influences your body. The practice of...

Over the years I've been to a number of energy therapists who've used methods ranging from their hands to acupuncture needles to tuning forks to cure whatever's ailed me (and it usually did). But the last time, when an odd pain kept me from traveling to a practitioner's office, the...

It's certainly true that spiritual seekers can learn from ancient masters like Jesus, Moses, Buddha and Mohammad. But I'm convinced it's also true that masters abound right here and now. And there's nothing like being in the physical presence of a highly-evolved person -- be it at an intimate weeklong...

Here's what happened when I went to meditate the other day: The phone rang as I was about to start. I figured I hadn't even closed my eyes yet, so I answered. After finally extricating myself from the call, I had to search high and low for my lighter to...

We know her as the mom from "E.T." -- or from the 130 other movie roles she's had, many of them horror films like "The Howling" and "Halloween." But there's another, fascinating, metaphysical side to actress Dee Wallace, one I had the privilege to discover when I heard her speak...

It was 25 years ago this month when I took my first Hatha Yoga class. I hadn't known what yoga was back then, but when a woman almost literally floated by my exercise bicycle in a Manhattan gym, I couldn't resist asking someone who she was. "That's the yoga teacher,"...

Now that the Arizona manslaughter trial against James Arthur Ray is gearing up for a verdict, one thing is certain: Ray -- who came to fame riding the coattails of the law of attraction in the movie, "The Secret" -- sure doesn't seem to be putting the law to work...

Sure, the ancient yogis found inner bliss by stretching in their yoga poses and sitting on their cushions for hours on end. But we live in the real world -- too busy treading water to spare that kind of time! Fortunately, after digesting tons of spiritual books and attending myriad...