Fresh and juicy conversations on making yoga a part of your daily life
Both Kawai Purapura and Byron Yoga Centre have a holistic and integrated approach to yoga, encompassing not just physical postures but also philosophy, meditation, pranayama and the yogic personal and social code of ethics. This collaboration strengthens the ability of both organisations to fulfill their aim of bringing about a deeper understanding and practice of yoga as a way of life and thus of improving lives through yoga. … [Read more...]
by regular columnist Elissa Jordan, Adventures in Teaching I’ve had the same conversation a countless number of times since I started training to be a yoga teacher - a conversation about continuity in access to a skilled senior teacher. Traditionally yoga was taught over many years from a guru to a student. This student would often live in their guru’s home and what was given to them for a practice was never once questioned. Times have changed and in this busy world people don’t … [Read more...]
by guest author Elissa Jordan It started with a story about a mouse in a toaster. Our second weekend in Nelson, as part of the Advanced Yoga Teacher Training with Jenifer Parker of Wellington’s Healium, focused on the energy body. Looking back over my notes from the weekend I see the conversation ebb and flow as only appropriate for a weekend focusing on energy. The movement of stories rode one energetic wave after the next - starting with that mouse in a toaster, and moving to a … [Read more...]
by guest author Elissa Jordan As a yoga teacher, over time, a funny thing starts to happen. Walking down the street you stop seeing people covered in their clothes and shoes and hair. Instead you start seeing collections of muscle and bone, alignment and postures carried around in a thin casing of skin. The knocked knees, the hunched shoulders, the sunken chests taunt us. I’ll sometimes mouth the suggestion of taking your shoulders back and down. Sometimes whispering the instruction … [Read more...]
by regular columnist Elissa Jordan, Adventures in Teaching One of my Dad’s favourite stories to tell about me as a little girl is the one about my favourite word: why? I carried the word with me everywhere until it was a scraggly, worn-out dirt-encrusted version of itself. There’s some discrepancy as to whether or not this was, in fact, my first word. Dad says yes. Mom thinks it was second, after no. Either way, right from the start I’ve wanted to know the why behind things. Not … [Read more...]
It's day number.... something? on my Prana Flow teacher training with Shiva Rea. The training is at Exhale Spa, Venice, California and the apartment I'm staying in with another student is a short walk along Venice Beach. Ah Venice Beach... like no other I've ever encountered. Shops and cafes on one side... a wide pavement of walkers, bikers, rollarbladers & skaters, dogs and skateboards in the middle... and vendors, musicians, and hanger-ons on the other side. Beyond the vendors … [Read more...]
