Christchurch Anusara Yoga Teacher: Katie Lane

I’m delighted to introduce our first Christchurch yogi, and our first Anusara teacher. Anusara means “flowing with Grace,” “flowing with Nature,” and “following your heart”, and it was founded by John Friend in 1997. It’s a style of hatha yoga with an uplifting philosophy, epitomized by a “celebration of the heart,” that looks for the [...]

Why sangha (spiritual community) is the most precious thing on your path

In Buddhist practice, the three jewels of life – or the three refugees – are what you turn to for support, for guidance, and for friendship. These are: The Buddha nature – the ideal or highest spiritual potential that exists within all beings. The Dharma – the teachings of Buddha, or the path one walks [...]

Part 4: Completion of the loving-kindness sadhana, Day 30 to Day 40

This was the easiest sadhana (daily spiritual practice) I’ve done. Simply sitting cross-legged and repeating four lines (in English no less!) over and over. May I be filled with loving-kindness May I be well My I be peaceful and at ease May I be happy I finished yesterday, with a twenty minute meditation. Yet this [...]

Part 2: Inside the experience of meditation – loving-kindness sadhana to Day 20

This practice was inspired by many things. A conversation with friends after a heart-opening Bhakti practice about the nature of the spiritual path. An understanding that opening the body was all very well, but unless the heart also opened, essentially meaningless. A desire to experience more equinimity, more joy, more bliss, more love. And a [...]

Part 1: How to connect to other people while holding your centre – a new loving-kindness sadhana

Perhaps my biggest discovery this year has been the power of sadhana. I started my new years with a Forty Day Sadhana of Sodarshan Chakra Kriya. It took me a bit longer than forty days to finish it, as I missed a day at day 35 and had to start all over again… but boy [...]

What is this heart-opening stuff all about?

Is your heart closed, or open? Do you feel yourself as a separate entity, or do you feel yourself to be a part of a whole? Do you see other people in a judgmental, critical way… or do you see them through eyes of love and compassion? If your heart is closed… are you ready [...]

Enough of the doom & gloom! We are in a time of great transformation, can we grab the opportunity it represents?

At any one time, many possible futures are available to us as individuals and as a whole. Times of great change represent both times of great challenge and times of great opportunity. This is one of those times and it makes me excited.

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