Practicing yoga has changed me, made me calmer, less anxious, more equanimous. It's given me a physiological way to deal with trauma that was otherwise unavailable to me, and as a teacher, I now have some tools that I can share with others who've experienced trauma.

Do you have the sense that life is speeding up the older you get? If so, you're not alone. Can there be a reason for this perception? I've discovered three scientific theories that shine a little light on this mysterious experience.

I see so clearly now how a sense of community is perhaps what we now need more than ever, as more of our time is spent plugged into some technological device or other and the world seems more unstable than ever.

Enlightened self-interest refers to the understanding and trust that what a person does to enhance another's quality of life enhances one's own quality of life to a similar degree. More simply put, it is the idea that "what goes around comes around."

Several practices and perspectives can help you move through self-absorption and toward the mentality, spirit and behavior that support healthy, continuous "evolution" in your life, psychologically and spiritually.

Do opposites attract, as Paula Abdul once assured us in a pop song, or do you need to be similar on 19 dimensions of personality -- as eHarmony suggests -- to find the perfect match?

Even though my life is calm these days, I plan to continue my practice because I know a new stressor is bound to appear just as certainly as the sun rises tomorrow. For me, yoga is good medicine for body, mind, soul and spirit.

Anyone who has ever practiced mindfulness knows that there is something akin to a wild animal living inside each of us. We call that wild animal "mind."

Recently I have found that walking up a flight of steps can cause me to become breathless. I know that as an ex-smoker my lung capacity isn't what it used to be, but lately I found that little things other than steps have been causing my breathlessness to concern me.

No matter what you are going through in your life -- a sick family member, a troubled relationship, a difficult child, or a demanding boss -- a 45-minute sweat session might just be the best outlet of your day

Email triggers a part of the brain that I call "lottery brain." It is the part of the brain that produces the thought/hope/belief that miracles can happen.

I focused straight ahead at the white wall, and dropped fully into the present. My mind quieted and my body took over.The seconds between deep gasps for air were filled with thoughts of nothing beyond my next breath.

We are trained to be grateful for getting the things we want, but we can and need to become equally grateful for the things that we don't get, and the wonderful and unexpected opportunities and gifts that those absences bestow upon us.

When we have a friendly relationship with ourselves, when we can listen kindly to our own experience and take our own side, we are far more likely to take action and risk the unknown.

As you look to your own list of resolutions this year, consider taking that first step to using technology to take control of your health and gaining a better quality of life.

When we stop, quiet down, and pay attention, there suddenly emerges into awareness a whole field of experience. Do we have to take a course in order to "know" these feelings, sensations, sounds? Of course not. The capacity to know is our nature.

When we can become completely gentle with ourselves and genuine in our approach to others, we can find a celebration of joy within -- a feeling that it is wonderful to be in this world.

We can choose to think flexibly and adaptively, rather than rigidly and maladaptively, by redefining painful life blows as opportunities to evolve. Suffering is the "rock-tumbler" of life, within which the nuggets of our battered selves get polished into our highest and best selves.