by Kara-Leah Grant As a yoga teacher, my goal is to inspire my students to practice yoga at home. It's great when people get themselves to classes three times a week, but the true benefits of yoga really start to unfold when you commit to just showing up on your mat by yourself and seeing what happens. In a class, your focus is both internal and external. You're listening to the teacher and watching the demonstrations while also paying attention to what's going on inside of you. When you … [Read more...]
What is Love? Deep Acceptance of the Other, and Opening to Vulnerability
by Kara-Leah Grant, Musings from the Mat I've been pondering the nature of Love over the last year or so, holding many deep conversations with my wonderful girlfriends and reflecting over two decades of short and long-term relationships. I've got plenty of material to draw upon! And you know what? I think I've got it. I know what love is - and what it is not. Love is a deep acceptance of the other person. Out of that ground of deep acceptance arise actions that create one's day to … [Read more...]
Home Yoga Practice Questions: Can I Practice Yoga with A Herniated Disc?
by Kara-Leah Grant, author of Forty Days of Yoga This week's Home Yoga Practice questions comes from Catherine in India. She writes: I have practiced yoga for many years and for the last 6 months have been doing a regular home practice. However last month I had an MRI scan due to persistent backache and discovered that I have a slipped disc. My doctor has asked me to stop yoga - forward bends are a definite no - and his opinion is that I should walk and swim as exercise (which I have been … [Read more...]
Yoga Injuries and Pain During Yoga Class – What’s the Story?
by Kara-Leah Grant, Musings from the Mat Matthew Remski is currently researching asana-related injuries in an attempt to understand what we are actually doing with yoga, and how we can know the value or safety of the postures we practice. After taking the time to read his first article on the subject - What Are We Actually Doing in Asana - I found myself asking questions about my practice and the pain I sometimes experience in yoga. In particular, Matthew says: I would like to explore … [Read more...]
Sun Salutations Video Series: Transition Time! How to Link the Postures Together
by Kara-Leah Grant In recent months, we've looked at all the different asanas or postures that make up a standard sun salutation. We've explored each of these postures in-depth, and explained them on video. Now it's time to took at the transitions between the postures. Because this is what makes sun salutations such a fantastic yoga sequence - especially for home practice. Each pose flows effortlessly into the next posture, creating a complete circle where you end up where you started, … [Read more...]
Home Yoga Practice Questions: What Should I Do in My Practice?
by Kara-Leah Grant, author of Forty Days of Yoga Home yoga practice - it's awesome and everyone's getting into it, right? But you know what's missing? A teacher. That's what. I mean, at the end of the studio class, you can always go up to the yoga teacher and ask whatever burning question is on your mind. But when you practice yoga at home? Who you going to ask? Me, that's who. Yep, every week or two, I'll be selecting a reader question to answer on video, and sending out a … [Read more...]
What is an Ayurvedic Consultation and Treatment Plan All About?
by Kara-Leah Grant, Musings from the Mat I went and had an Ayurvedic Consultation recently with the fine folk at Ancient's Best here in Blenheim. I've had a subtle sense of certain bodily functions not performing at optimum for awhile now. Nothing wrong or broken as such... but just a knowing that things need looking at. It's not the kind of thing you can go to the doctor for though - doctors are great at broken arms and clearly defined illnesses and disease but show up with a vague … [Read more...]
How Living Your Yoga Can Mean Taking Parenting Lessons From The Rock (Dwayne Johnson)
by Kara-Leah Grant First night in Napier, staying at my Uncle's house. The TV's on. I haven't lived with a TV for three years. It's novel. I sit to eat my dinner and catch the beginning of a movie. By the time I've finished my dinner, I've grasped the plot and I'm chuckling at the weirdness of the Universe. The movie is about a high-achieving, selfish, self-centered football player who discovers - when she shows up on his doorstep - that he has an eight year old daughter. The plot revolves … [Read more...]
The Terror of Single Parenthood
by Kara-Leah Grant, Musings from the Mat Three years ago this New Year's Eve I took my year old baby boy and left my mentally unstable and addicted partner. I had zero dollars in my bank account, and an ambivalent attitude towards motherhood - something I had chosen under duress because of the pathetic belief it would make my partner happy. Stupidity to the nth degree. It did not make him happy. Instead, a child was brought into an already unstable and messed up relationship. And … [Read more...]
Sometimes We Have to Say Goodbye to What We Love
by Kara-Leah Grant, Musings from the Mat Oh I am sad. Sad, sad, sad... By the time you read this article, I will have left Glenorchy, headed north once again on a new adventure. It's been just over a year since I came back to spend some time with my Mum and write a book. Right now, I'm sitting at my desk in front of a window all but taken over by a plum tree, but I can still spy the snow-capped mountains in the distance. It's a perfect Glenorchy day - 28 degrees and clear blue skies. The … [Read more...]