WIN a copy of Kara-Leah's new book 'Field Notes from Kundalini Awakening', publishing in 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 Whether you've had a Kundalini Awakening, are curious about the process of awakening Kundalini, think you might have some of the symptoms of a Kundalini Awakening or are looking for … [Read more...]
The Emergence of the Gift Economy: Greater Wealth & Abundance for All
by Kara-Leah Grant, Musings from the Mat I've been pondering money, value, gifts, offering and exchange this week. I met with a friend who talked about how she was doing work she was passionate about that barely paid her enough to survive on. This work is about how we create our societies and so benefits everybody. She said that she'd noticed it as an increasing trend - that on one hand we do what we need to do to earn the money to survive, and on the other hand we do our important work. … [Read more...]
Sun Salutations Video Series: How to do Standing Forward Fold (Uttanasana)
by Kara-Leah Grant For years and years and years this posture has been my nemesis. I hated it. I sucked at it. It challenged me in every way. When I first started yoga, back in 1995 at a ten-week Iyengar course, I was so incredibly tight that when we went into a standing forward bend, I couldn't even reach forward and touch my knees. I had no forward movement in my pelvis at all - my hamstrings were just way too tight. And that's the first part of the body that must be freed up for a … [Read more...]
Why Letting Go is a Crucial Aspect of Loving Well
by Kara-Leah Grant, Musings from the Mat It's the summer of 2000 and I've just come back to Whistler, BC after nine weeks living on the side of a volcano in Maui. I'd been on a mad adventure with a man I'd meet waitressing that winter in Whistler - but that's another story. My life is packed full of stories from that time, many of them involving men. I was young, carefree and a permanent traveller. It was four years since I'd graduated my Journalism Course and bailed on New Zealand, … [Read more...]
What does it mean to “breathe into it” in yoga?
by Kara-Leah Grant There's loads of phrases which yoga teachers toss around willy nilly that after time cease to have any real meaning. Phrases like: Surrender into the pose Let your heart open Find your centre Honour yourself Let yourself come into a place of... Honour yourself for committing to your practice today... I know, I say these things. Thing is, many of these phrases have value and depth, and - in the right circumstances - apply to the practice. In particular, … [Read more...]
Sun Salutations Video Series: How to do Mountain Pose (Tadasana)
by Kara-Leah Grant Welcome to the first in a series of articles & videos exploring the foundations of an asana practice through sun salutations. But first... In my ideal universe - besides living next door to Johny Depp and and down the road from Einstein (imagine that dinner party!) - every yoga student would be encouraged to start a home yoga practice the very first time they ever went to a yoga class. Yes, the first time. In fact, every yoga teacher would teach with the … [Read more...]
Oh the obsessive, compulsive, lusting nature of deep desire
by Kara-Leah Grant, Musings from the Mat I went to a party a few weeks ago. A man sat down beside me. We talked. And we talked. And at some point I looked into this man's eyes and thought, damn you're an intelligent, witty bastard. That's always the first step for me. Desire can never arise unless a man is smart and sharp and somehow knowing. But that's not all that there needs to be. I've known intelligent, sharp, witty men before whose company I really enjoyed. I knew they were … [Read more...]
Where Are All the Fat Chicks in Yoga Media?
by Kara-Leah Grant Polarizing headline, no? Am I allowed to use the word fat? How about the word chick? Or would you prefer I lead with something along the lines of: Why are most yoga images of young, slender white women? Also appropriate. But I like the first headline. I like the way it sounds and the way I say it. How you read it and what judgement you place on it is up to you. I pass no judgement on fat. Or on chicks. This is a valid query - as one of my readers pointed out … [Read more...]
Exploring the Niyamas: How does Ishvara Pranidhana affect our lives?
by Kara-Leah Grant Do we dare, do we dare, do we dare surrender to God? Oh boy - the G-word in yoga. Scary stuff indeed. How on earth does God relate to yoga? Let's start by ditching the word God - although that's what Ishvara refers to, instead we can call it the Grand Ordering Design if we like. It's nothing more than the infinite intelligence throughout the Universe that keeps everything in place - the sun rising, the moon waxing and waning, the tides rising and falling, seeds … [Read more...]
Exploration of the no-self: A total waste of time?
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 started this article over two years ago... and never finished it. But thanks to suggestions from a YLB commenter, I found and read a book by Jed … [Read more...]