Donna Farhi is an internationally known teacher and author of The Breathing Book, Yoga Mind, Body and Spirit and Bringing Yoga to Life. With yoga therapist Leila Stuart she wrote Pathways to a Centered Body, focused on the psoas.
Listening to the body
Farhi believes teachers should help students connect with their own sense of movement and adapt poses to their structure, rather than copy fixed forms.
The centre as foundation
Pelvic and spinal alignment shapes how the rest of the body moves.
Release before strengthening
- Strengthening over a deep imbalance can lock it in.
- First stretch, release and lengthen.
- Work the psoas gently: forcing it can trigger a stress response.
Hypermobility
Many students struggle not with stiffness but with having pushed flexibility too far.
Sthira sukham asanam
Farhi reads this sutra as steadiness leading to comfortable ease, not as a flexibility goal.
