By guest author Anna Guest-Jelley, Curvy Yoga When I began practicing yoga in the late '90s, it didn’t occur to me that yoga would have any impact on my body image. In fact, I wouldn’t have wanted that at the time because I was spending my days bouncing between diets, waiting for the day I’d finally have the perfect body I’d always wanted. Who needs a positive body image when they have the body of their dreams, right? Ha! What I got instead, much to my initial chagrin and later delight, was … [Read more...]
Archives for August 2014
Ashtanga: Why it’s so Important to Trust the Process
by Kara-Leah Grant, Musings from the Mat One of the great gifts of sharing my internal processes of life so honestly on-line is that I learn from myself. Often, a few years after I’ve written an article, I will re-read it and see the illusions that I was labouring under at the time. Yes, the article is usually about an insight into a difficulty, but there is always another layer or level of illusion. Through re-reading my own articles I’m able to watch myself wake up and become more … [Read more...]
Because Yoga is for Every Body – Right? Not just the Young, Slim, Bendy and Gorgeous
by Kara-Leah Grant I'm casting my mind back to Auckland, New Zealand in 1995 and it seems a long, long time ago. I had just dropped out of my second year at Uni - ostensibly because back issues and serious sciatic pain made it impossible for me to sit for lectures, but there were other, deeper reasons too. (i.e. my habitual response when facing serious challenge - run!) Regardless, I was in chronic back pain. A good friend suggested we go and do a ten week beginners Iyengar yoga course that … [Read more...]
How Al Gore Shocked Me & What He’s Got to do with Yoga
by Lisa Wade I turned up to be transformed. To give my all to Al Gore’s Climate Reality leader’s training program that promised to take me from being a leader to an exceptional leader, all in the name of the environment. I was expecting slogans, fanfares and maybe a few cheerleaders. When Al Gore mentioned Ghandi I yawned, yep here comes the cliché machine, tick. Then he spoke of Satyagraha, truth force; “Ghandi said the greatest power in the world is truth”. I sat up because I’d … [Read more...]
Ashtanga: I Don’t Want to Break My Knees
by Kara-Leah Grant My knees ache. They have been since about April of this year - about three months into a regular Mysore-style Ashtanga practice, two or three times a week. I also do a regular home practice of vinyasa, prana-led asana (slow and steady), meditation and pranayama. I've been able to do Half Lotus for some years now, including Standing Bound Half Lotus (without the forward fold). I have never had any prior knee issues or pain. Although my grandmother (maternal side) and mother … [Read more...]
Matthew Remski: What Are We Really Doing in Asana? {Video Interview}
by Kara-Leah Grant Matthew Remski is a yoga teacher, writer, Ayurveda practitioner therapist and author of Threads of Yoga - A Remix of Patanjali's Sutras. For years he's been concerned about injuries in yoga, but had not been concerned enough. Like many of us, he believed that yoga injuries were the result of poor instruction on the part of the teacher, or overwork on the part of the student. But over time, Matthew began to notice that even well-instructed poses, executed mindfully, … [Read more...]
Peering into the Darkness with Ashtanga Yoga
by guest author Pip Bennett I’ve had some dark, dark clouds following me around these past couple of weeks. One day at a work lunch I found myself judging everyone for how happy they were. I was thinking, they are only happy because they have such-and-such. If I had those things, I would be happy. They don’t understand what it is like to not have choice, be in a difficult situation. Oh dear. I’ve listened to enough Buddhist teachings to know that these thoughts are not true. Things … [Read more...]