I first discovered Donna Farhi in my local library in Queenstown. Her book Yoga Mind, Body and Spirit: A Return to Wholeness was liberating, informative and challenging. She taught not asana by asana, this body part in that body place, but through universal principles that underlay every asana. It was a watershed moment in my Yoga journey as my home practice had begun to diverge from anything resembling a standard hatha class. With Donna's book within easy reach, I felt able to honour the … [Read more...]
Archives for May 2010
How Yoga Has Helped Me… With Sarcoidosis
This is the fifth post in a series of yoga stories from readers. Tell us how yoga changed your life. Submitted by Danelle Wilson of Pennsylvania, USA I have been living with Sarcoidosis for three years. It has caused scarring on my lungs and prior to practicing Baptiste Power Vinyasa Yoga, I only had 40% lung capacity. At first my practice was very difficult. I could not breathe or focus on my asanas. It has been just a little over a year and I have reached so … [Read more...]
Will you still be doing yoga at 90?
by guest author Emma Furness, owner of the Dunedin Yoga Studio I recently attended the Yoga Aotearoa IYTA convention in Auckland. This was a wonderful opportunity to connect into a wider yoga community – a community that included teachers that had been teaching and practicing yoga for more years than I had been alive. In my practice I often run into my own expectations of what my practice ‘should’ bring me: health, longevity, enlightenment, great body. None of these is guaranteed, even … [Read more...]
How yoga helped me to… become curiouser and curiouser
This is the fourth post in a series of yoga stories from readers. Tell us how yoga changed your life and go in the draw to win a yoga prize package. Submitted by AF of the North Island I can't go back to yesterday - because I was a different person then. - Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland I was newly single and reeling from my first ever broken heart. I was over-worked and highly stressed. I was in my third year of business (owner/operator) and trying desperately to not fail at … [Read more...]
Exposing oneself to the news – what’s the real story?
by guest author Alys Titchener My reflections from one of the Yoga Off The Mat sessions. It’s the toughest homework assignment so far, as far as I’m concerned. All sorts of defenses and red lights are flaring as the instructions settle; I have to tune in to what’s going on in our world; listen to the news, read the papers or news sites online, and then watch my reaction to these stories. I pull a face, obviously not happy with this prescribed task. And for so many reasons! I … [Read more...]
Is regular yoga practice a good way to lose weight?
by guest author Jude Mahood, nutritionist and yoga teacher I often get asked whether yoga practice is a good way to lose weight. I would love to be able to reply, unreservedly, “Yes. Yoga melts away the kilos’. It would certainly be great for business, but it wouldn’t be ethical because it is not 100% truthful. In my experience, people inquiring about yoga and weight loss really want to know about the physicality of yoga in regards to calorie-burning. Fair enough since how much you … [Read more...]
How yoga helped me… balance my Type-A personality
This is the third post in a series of yoga stories from readers. Tell us how yoga changed your life and go in the draw to win a yoga prize package. Submitted by Lisa Morrison of Otago: From my very first class 8 years ago, I was totally and utterly hooked on yoga! There are no exact words for the feelings I experienced during and after a class, but it sort of felt like I'd 'come home to myself'; a feeling of blissful contentment. This was just the tonic for me as I was a type A … [Read more...]
Learn the practice of neti and experience a clear head space
by Guest Author Do you suffer from allergies? Sinus problems? Frequent headaches? Nasal infections? How is the autumn effecting you? Find your nostrils are blocked, affecting your pranayama? Looking for a way to gently clear the mind before meditation? The practice of Neti is for you. Neti is one of the easiest and quickest shatkarmas* to learn. Its mastery can be accomplished within a couple of goes then effortlessly incorporated into your daily life. You can do Neti in the … [Read more...]
How yoga practitioners can integrate Ayurveda into their practice
by guest author David Timbs Ayurveda means ‘knowledge of life’ and Yoga means ‘union’ or “a system of exercises practiced to promote control of the body and mind.” From Dass Vishnu, Ayurveda and Yoga, Ancient Sister Sciences: Ayurveda and yoga are sister Vedic sciences that have been united for thousands of years for the sake of healing body, mind, and consciousness. Generally speaking, Ayurveda deals more with the health of the body, while yoga deals with purifying the mind and … [Read more...]
How yoga helped me… find steadiness and beauty within my body
Submitted by Zoe of the North Island (not her real name) The sexual abuse of the body started before I turned 4. I say it that way because although it happened to all of me, separating from the body it happened to became a way to survive. I could vanish into the wallpaper or the light shade in an effort to tolerate the intolerable. By the time I was in my mid-twenties my life was coming unraveled. A fiercely honed intellect wasn't sufficient for living a fully engaged life. A … [Read more...]