Falling in love with seated postures, falling in love with me

Feeling the chill in Lotus

Once upon a time,  seated postures were so impossible for my rigid and bound body that I could only ever practice a standing series. Now, seated postures are exactly what I need. Partly it's because my body has opened up enough that it is now possible for me to sit on the ground with my legs straight out in front of me and my spine extended upward. Until that point is reached, seated postures either need modification, or props. But also, it's because I've changed. Once a driven, … [Read more...]

Why nothing is a problem anymore

No problem!

My work mates thought I was nuts. A four day meditation retreat, three and a half days of which were in silence. Doing nothing but sitting meditation, walking meditation, eating and sleeping. To me it sounded like bliss. No work. No website. No teaching. No relationships. No internet, tv, media, newspaper, books, magazines. Just unadulterated being, led by one of New Zealand's most prominent meditation teachers, Stephen Archer in a beautiful retreat house in Otaki. … [Read more...]

Inside the experience of a Loving-Kindness sadhana to day 29

Kundalini, or prana, rising up the spine

Kundalini, or prana, rising up the spine Meditation is a cumulative experience. That is, the more you do it, the more you get it, the more you want to do it, the more you get out of it... creating this constant feedback loop of encouragement. Unfortunately, it also works the other way. We begin to meditate, never having done it before, likely with many expectations of what meditation is "supposed" to be like. … [Read more...]

How yoga practice teaches you to listen to your intuition through life’s transitions

Wellington Yoga Teacher Lynda Miers-Henneveld

by guest author Lynda Miers-Henneveld of Yoga Unlimited Yoga teaches us to embrace the natural rhythms of life. Through our practice we can ground ourselves in times of instability, or motivate and energise ourselves when we feel stuck. A personal practice has to reflect our changing circumstances if it is to support us in our journey through this life. If we stay present to what is happening in our bodies, minds and hearts, we can adapt our practice intuitively. … [Read more...]

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

Open your eye

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. Yes - all the financial upheavals, and the crashing and burning of our current model of economic reality, has me seeing opportunities for creative and innovative change left, right and centre. From my perspective, I see that this so-called economic crisis … [Read more...]

How to surrender into back bends using a sankalpa

Lauren joyfully lifts into urdhva dhanurasana at Oriental Parade

by guest author Trudi Collins, Yoga teacher at Synergy Fitness, Napier After reading Kelly’s article about sankalpa’s, and KL’s inspiring 40 day commitment to Sodarshan Chakra Kriya pranayama, I thought I would share my experience (so far this year) with my sankalpa – to improve my backbends. … [Read more...]