By Guest Author Jacinta Aalsma, Yoga Circle The biggest obstacle for me when I moved from Auckland to Whangarei, was leaving behind my yoga studio, yoga community and yoga friends. My yoga studio is my safe place and my yoga friends felt like my family. On the other hand, I knew this move was eventually a good thing for me to do. So here I am in rural New Zealand; my home practice and me. Suddenly I spent heaps of time at home, instead of at yoga studios. My partner prices himself lucky, … [Read more...]
Search Results for: city country
How yoga can ease the shift to a brand new city
by guest author Elissa Jordan I miss Jaqui. I was a happy Canadian girl living in London. I had my push bike and my belly dancing and my charity job. I had friends and I had my yoga. Then I met a Kiwi boy and fell in love. And now I'm in Wellington. A whole new chapter with thrilling opportunities and possibilities. It's an exciting time. And in every yoga class I go to in Wellington I am met by my mat, my openness to the teachings and a stranger leading the practice. And so I miss … [Read more...]
Building Resilience with Yoga and Meditation
By Swami Karma Karuna, Anahata Yoga Retreat What is Resilience? No matter who we are, the state of the bank balance, or which country we live in; the twists and turns of life, deaths, jobs, relationship stresses, natural disasters, and trauma can affect us all. Change influences each of us differently, altering our biochemistry, thoughts, and emotions. Resilience is our ability to come back to our centre, to rebound from adversity, and to respond to a challenge in a creative … [Read more...]
A Review of Sex, Drugs and (mostly) Yoga: Field Notes from a Kundalini Awakening
by Susan Pryor, Kara-Leah Grant's third book, Sex, Drugs and (mostly) Yoga: Field Notes from a Kundalini Awakening, is an epic auto-biographical journey spanning fourteen years of Kara-Leah's life. The journey begins in an acute psyche ward in Vancouver where Kara-Leah found herself after her first psychotic episode involving hallucinogenic drugs. Kara-Leah, a practicing yogini, went from being a freedom-loving 29-year-old engaged to-be-married party girl indulging in various … [Read more...]
Growing a Strong & Resilient New Zealand with Yoga
by Ali Hale Tilley, Perhaps the biggest highlight of my year in 2018 was presenting at the Hauora Yoga Conference, held at AUT’s beautiful North Shore campus. Thanks to the energy and efforts of Persephone Singfield, Richard Beddie and the Exercise NZ team, the Haoura event gave yoga presenters like me a chance to contribute to the Aotearoa yoga community. During the pōwhiri, our AUT hosts welcomed presenters. Throughout the hongi, the feeling of electricity and mana flowing through … [Read more...]
A Review of the Hauora Yoga Conference 2018
by Lucinda Staniland, On a rainy Saturday morning in Auckland, I found myself in a packed auditorium, with around 85 yoga teachers and students, and several hundred fitness professionals, listening to renowned international yoga teacher Donna Farhi give a keynote presentation on interoception and kinesthesia. As Donna lead us through ten slow diaphragmatic breaths, the whole audience dropped into deep, yet focused, stillness. There were so many magical moments like this at the Hauora Yoga … [Read more...]
The Best Guide to NZ Retreat Centres
Will Power Living Ravage the Wellington Yoga Scene?
by Kara-Leah Grant The same month that the new owners of Power Living Wellington signed a lease on their Johnston street premises, unbeknownst to them, Hot Yoga Wellington signed a lease on their second premises just around the corner on Featherston Street. Two new yoga studios, both featuring heat, one with the capacity for 60+ students in class, in a city already bulging at the seams with yoga studios and teachers. Has the market finally reached saturation? Will Power Living, with the … [Read more...]
Hamish Kenworthy on Stepping into Your Power with Yoga Teacher Training {audio}
by Kara-Leah Grant Meet Hamish Kenworthy, New Zealand's first certified Baron Baptiste teacher and Budokon teacher. Hamish runs Apollo Yoga Studio in Christchurch, and is leading a 200 hour Power Vinyasa Yoga Teacher Training in Methven & Maruia Springs in 2016. I was very curious to speak to him because Baron Baptiste was an early and powerful influence on my yoga practice. I bought his book Journey into Power back in about 2002 or so and soaked it up, using it as a reference for my home … [Read more...]
No Going Back: On Listening and Not-Listening to That Inner Voice
By Leza Lowitz, Sun and Moon Yoga I never thought I’d open my own yoga studio, let alone do so in a foreign country. Years ago, while I was meditating at a yoga retreat in Haiku, Hawaii, a voice had said, "You must move to Japan and open a yoga studio in Tokyo." Was it my inner voice? The voice of island’s Goddess Pele? It didn’t matter. I didn’t listen. I had no intention of returning to Tokyo, where I’d lived once before. I loved California; there was no going back. Until the day my … [Read more...]