by Neal Ghoshal, Sacred Moves In a nutshell: an exceptionally clear and extremely practical guide to core integration, stability and support I first came across Donna Farhi’s books back in 2004 and was immediately hooked by her accessible, relevant and inspiring writing and teachings. Since then Donna has become my primary Yoga teacher and I have regularly attended her workshops and teacher trainings, eventually moving on to assisting her on events and intensives. I met and studied with … [Read more...]
Search Results for: donna farhi
Donna Farhi on Why Success in Yoga is About Opening Our Hearts, Not Our Hips
By Donna Farhi First published in the March/April 1997 Yoga Journal USA, reprinted here by permission of Donna Farhi. It’s late afternoon and one of my long-time students has come to visit. After a few minutes of chitchat, Sarah relates how inadequate she felt at the Yoga workshop she attended over the weekend. Just about everyone could do the advanced postures except her, and she left feeling that her practice was inferior. I asked Sarah what her life was like when she began practicing Yoga … [Read more...]
Donna Farhi on How to Release the Psoas & Resolve Back Pain
by Donna Farhi, co-author of Pathways to a Centered Body: Gentle Yoga Therapy for Core Stability, Healing Back Pain, and Moving with Ease. A recent collation of several back pain studies in America revealed that 8 out of every 10 Americans will have back problems at some point during their lifetimes, yet only one in ten people find out the primary cause of their pain. A further 54 percent of Americans who experience low back pain spend the majority of their workday sitting, a position that … [Read more...]
Donna Farhi on How to Find True Alignment in Your Yoga Practice
By Donna Farhi, Yoga teacher and author When I first began formal Yoga Teaching Training, yoga postures were taught as a series of check-lists, with a point-by-point focus on each and every body part. While this Simon-Says approach of monkey see, monkey do led to a pretty successful replication of a picture, it seemed to bypass the internal process of feeling one’s own body experience and learning how to find one’s alignment from that felt experience. As the years went on I began to feel … [Read more...]
Donna Farhi on Why Your Yoga Teacher is Not Your Friend
Editor's Note: Since this article was published, several accounts of sexual harassment and assault have been made public by Mark Whitwell's female students. We do not in any way condone Mark's behaviour. You can read more about the accounts here. Donna Farhi, author and yoga teacher, as interviewed by Kara-Leah Grant Donna Farhi is a world renowned yoga teacher who has been practicing yoga for thirty nine years, and teaching it since 1982. She lives here in New Zealand but teaches intensives … [Read more...]
An interview with Donna Farhi
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...]
Don’t Despair the Tear
By Veronica King, Teaching Yoga and navigating a labral hip tear. Monday night, advanced yoga class. Parsvakonasana, a warm-up pose early in class, and as I anchored my legs and rotated my body upwards, I felt a rip inside my groin. I nearly screamed, tears streaming down my face through the rest of the class, wondering if this was the last yoga class I might ever do, knowing something BAD had just happened. It turns out that labral hip tears are common amongst dancers, yogis, … [Read more...]
Touch as a form of yoga communication, the benefits and the pitfalls
YogaNZ Online Forum 2021 In recognition of 'International Yoga Day 2021' (globally celebrated on June 21st) Yoga New Zealand hosted an online panel discussion. The topic of discussion was 'Touch as a form of yoga communication, the benefits and the pitfalls'. Yoga New Zealand invite the global yoga community to view this forum and engage in this important yoga conversation with us. Facilitated by Dr Felicity Molloy, you will hear a variety of perspectives from five of New Zealand's … [Read more...]
Karla Brodie and Neal Ghoshal: Talk about the powerful practice of Restorative Yoga
by Sandy Farquhar, Contemporary Yoga Restorative Yoga practices are now part of many Yoga classes. Karla Brodie and Neal Ghoshal have a combined 35 years of experience teaching Restorative Yoga in classes and courses, to individuals and through in-depth retreats, as well as tailored workshops and teacher trainings. Ahead of their next Restorative Teacher Training they share their passion for Restorative Yoga with fellow teacher and CY administrator, Sandy Farquhar. Sandy: … [Read more...]
Expand Your Yogic Tool Kit: Inspiring teachers share their most supportive practices….
by Cara Butler As we all continue to process and progress through this global pandemic together, I find myself wondering how it has affected personal yoga practices. I know mine has personally shifted but I was curious to hear from those around me with more experience and wisdom, so I reached out to five of the best teachers we have in Aotearoa to share their guidance with you all. This is what I asked of them...... ‘Taking into consideration all that has occurred over the past 18 … [Read more...]