by Nicole Allan, Raw Yoga Modern Yoga has become like therapy for a lot of us. Far from the traditional goal of gaining enlightenment, most are simply looking for a tool to help us stay sane. When it comes to our sanity there are many factors to consider, for now, I have focused on a societal foundation - The blame/shame model of modern societies. Blame and shame have become so ingrained it’s hard to know where it all began... It is embedded in our thoughts, language and … [Read more...]
Cultivating Unshakeable Peace & Wellbeing with iRest Yoga Nidra: An Interview with Fuyuko Toyota
Fuyuko Toyota, certified iRest® Yoga Nidra Senior Trainer, Retreat Leader and Supervisor and Mentor. by Neal Ghoshal Ten years ago I had the great pleasure to meet Fuyuko Toyota. We were both assisting our teacher Donna Farhi on a long 21-day training and I was immediately drawn to Fuyuko for her warmth, her humility and humour and her deep, compassionate wisdom. Over the three weeks, we developed a beautiful appreciation for each others' teachings, and a delightful friendship … [Read more...]
Why Meditating WITH The Body is So Important
Screenprint by Dyana Wells by Dyana Wells, Open Ground School of Meditation & Somatic Enquiry In the modern world, there is a tendency for us to live exclusively through our conceptual minds. We live in bubble worlds of thoughts and emotions, rather than in the world of direct experience. The body, however, experiences itself and the world directly. It is shaped – moment to moment – by its direct interaction with life. The conceptual mind sees the world through the filter … [Read more...]
Feeling it in Your Bones: How to Explore the Skeleton in Yoga
by Paul Cohen, Bone Yoga I love inquisitive questions, particularly those that change the way we look at our bodies and challenge us to have a different focus and relationship with ourselves. Not just in the gross movement of our structure but also the more subtle engagements including different ways to use our breath to support movement. So what is my fascination with Bones all about? These are some of the questions I like to pose in my yoga classes. What relationship do our bones … [Read more...]
A Return Home – I hoki mai ki te wā kāinga
by Jase Te Patu, Awhi Yoga & M3 Mindfulness for Children They say that the practice of yoga is a return to self, our true nature, a return home! Almost four years ago, I packed up my life in Australia and returned to Aotearoa to share my personal love and practice of yoga with our people. Little did I know that that decision was going to be the biggest yoga practice I had ever undertaken. I had fallen in love with yoga, since being in Australia. Yoga was my preferred way as a … [Read more...]
Yoga of Action! How to Embrace Kriya Yoga for Positive Change
Image by Sofie Zbořilová from Pixabay by Heather Robinson There is something in yoga practice, isn’t there, which brings us in touch with ourselves. It is a fascination often motivating us to practice – a positive action. So... Let’s take positive action with our practice of yoga. And what would that action look like? Finding my mat perhaps, being somewhere out of the normal hubbub of life – in a personal space, or in a group setting. … [Read more...]
Pranayama: It’s Not All Mung Beans & Tofu
Image by Benjamin Balazs from Pixabay by Mary Watson, My passion for Pranayam was fostered during a 3-year sojourn at the Sivananda Yoga Centre/Ashram in Henderson, Auckland, in the mid-1980s; over 34 years later, I still feel excited about it. To this day, the old tradition of unifying body, mind, and breath into one practice continues to teach me. Having the good fortune to learn from my teacher standing/sitting next to me for 3 years, sharing his then 47 years of practice, … [Read more...]
5 Social Media Strategies for Yoga Teachers & Studios
Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay by Travis Mattern, Fitness Education Online I’ll start this off by saying I am by no means a yoga expert! But, the good news for you, is that over the last five or so years my company, Fitness Education Online, has been helping fitness professionals build their Bootcamps and improve their social media presence through some simple hacks. So today I’m going to share with you 5 key strategies you can implement to improve your social media … [Read more...]
Trust in The Flow: How Reflection Can be a Tool for Yoga, Singing & Life in General
Image by Pexels from Pixabay by Sarah Spence ‘Mindfulness’ is a buzz word these days. I ponder whether ‘reflection’ will join it, given that leadership teams in corporate organisations are now given journals to write in. Regardless, let’s celebrate that these kind of tools are making it to the mainstream. The quality of self-observation is key to both yoga, mindfulness and to managing the mind. I discovered reflection as a yogic tool when I showed up at a yoga ashram in Western … [Read more...]
Yoga, the Digestive Fire & Health
by Swami Karma Karuna, Anahata Yoga Retreat Fire is a force of nature. It is used for survival, however, if it is over-activated it can destroy and if it is under activated it goes out. Often fire is associated with flames but this is only the most physical aspect of the fire element. In the yogic view, fire is a powerful and transformative energy existing in the macro cosmos and the micro cosmos. The digestive system is the inner fire within the physical body that sustains … [Read more...]