by Kara-Leah Grant There are days when I spend too much time commuting, too much time on my computer, and have far too many balls in the air. My mind feels like it's going a million miles a minute, flitting first from one thing, then to the next. Sometimes this monkey mind is shadowed by anxiety or fear, lurking deep in the belly and driving me out of my body and up into my head. It's exhausting. And on days like that, I know exactly what kind of yoga I need to do - yoga to still the … [Read more...]
Sun Salutations Video Series: How to do Downward Dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana)
by Kara-Leah Grant It's one of the most common and most popular of all yoga postures, yet like the other postures we've looked at in recent months, Adho Mukda Svanasana is far from being a beginner's yoga pose. No, downward dog is one of those postures which, when done badly, can do more damage than it does good. Fortunately, it's also a posture we usually get to spend serious time in - most sun salutations will allow five breaths in a downward dog, and it's a posture we return to again and … [Read more...]
Be Radical: Jettison the More is Better Mindset
by Kara-Leah Grant, Musings from the Mat Today, I sat down with a spreadsheet and whipped up a calendar for my month. I blocked out the hours when Samuel is in childcare and I wrote down all the weekly and monthly tasks I need to do to keep my business running. It was a sobering exercise. Even allowing for extra childcare hours by paying a family friend to hang out with Samuel two afternoons a week, I am trying to do more than I have hours available for. Even adding in evenings three times a … [Read more...]
Is Awakening the Evolutionary Destiny of Humanity?
WIN a copy of Kara-Leah’s new book ‘Sex, Drugs & (mostly) Yoga - Field Notes from Kundalini Awakening’, publishing in November 2018. Guaranteed to take you on an intimate journey into the depths of the Kundalini experience. Click here to sign up for the book launch list and go into the draw to win one of THREE print copies. by Kara-Leah Grant I once knew a yoga teacher who would joke how awakening would never happen to her - she wasn’t far enough along the path, or didn’t know enough, or … [Read more...]
Sun Salutations Video Series: How to do Upward Dog (Urdhva Mukha Svanasana)
by Kara-Leah Grant Like Chatranga Dandasana, Urdhva Mukha Svanasana is a posture we usually only spend a breath or two in during yoga class. It's a posture of transition and movement. And it's a posture that's very easily to do badly, creating stress on our lower back and shoulders. For this reason, it's a posture I'm now wary of teaching in a general, drop-in yoga class. Yes, it's a staple of sun salutations and yoga, yet many of the people I see coming to class aren't yet ready to swoop … [Read more...]
Are We Drowning Under a Deluge of Perfect Yoga Images?
by Kara-Leah Grant, Musings from the Mat As many of you know, Wanderlust is coming to New Zealand and Australia next year - first with one-day city-based events, and then in 2015 with the whole four day festival she-bang. I'm one yoga teacher who's been selected as a Wanderlust Wayfarer. Wayfarers are a network of teachers who spread the word about Wanderlust to their local communities. As part of my role, I had to send in my bio and a photo of me. Should be easy right? I'm all over the … [Read more...]
What if Non-Attachment is Merely a By-Product of Liberation?
by Kara-Leah Grant, Musings from the Mat I'm sitting at my computer listening to a great DJ mix on Soundcloud, doing my daily work for The Yoga Lunchbox. Formatting and editing articles, dealing with advertisers, answering emails, posting on social media. Underneath the surface, as I work, I'm aware of a shift in my energy. This shift happened a few weeks ago. Maybe a month. I'm not quite sure. Whatever it was that had been driving me incessantly to publish on the internet - ever since … [Read more...]
Drinking Alcohol: A Big No-No for Serious Yogis?
by Kara-Leah Grant, Musings from the Mat It was one of those behaviours or activities that started softly, softly, slipping in under the mat and under awareness. A shared bottle of wine once a week. A shared bottle of wine twice a week. A bottle of vodka in the house - a cocktail before dinner four or five times a week, then a glass or two of wine. Never more than two or three drinks in a night, never every night of the week. But still... As time went by, this behaviour began to tug at my … [Read more...]
How to Change the World No Matter Where You Are or What You Do
by Kara-Leah Grant, Musings from the Mat This month marked nine years since I returned from overseas, after having two psychotic episodes and ending up in Vancouver's Lion's Gate Hospital's Acute Psyche Ward. I was a mess. Eight years prior to that, I'd left New Zealand after completing a journalism certificate, heading overseas to seek fame and fortunate. I'd been runner up to Dux at high school, invited into two Honours subjects at University and voted Most Likely to be Prime Minister of … [Read more...]
Can We Manifest our Way into True Love? (How about Yes!)
by Kara-Leah Grant, Musings from the Mat Six months ago, I decided I wanted to step into relationship again. No big deal right? But when you're a single mother in your late 30s living in a small town with only 300 people... the chances don't sound very high. Factor in a serious commitment to yoga and conscious relationship - whatever that means - and it seemed the chances were even less. But I wanted a relationship, wholeheartedly, and so I did what I could to open up to this … [Read more...]