By guest author Nanditha Ram, author of Blissful Mom, Blissful Baby I have borrowed the title of one of my favourite novels to serve as title of this article. It's a post modern philosophical product of the 1980s, The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera. I've borrowed it because it brought to my mind, in a round-about sort of way, a connection with yoga and weight... and our modern day crisis of how we view the self. Yoga is a great weight busting practice. A truly reliable way to … [Read more...]
A young man, a desire to meditate, and India circa 1979
By guest author John Guthrie April 1979, Kundabodha, a Meditation hermitage in Sri Lanka. This young man had been travelling for some time. Having already begun to learn the disciplines of Hatha Yoga, he now had a burning desire to learn meditation. In particular Buddhist meditation had an appeal to him. What drugs could not do, then no doubt meditation would succeed. After all, in much of what he had read in those recent times, the authors wrote that the illusory nature of mind … [Read more...]
The great debate – Which is better, Yoga or Pilates?
by guest author Jude Mahood, Suburban Yoga, Dunedin I recently heard someone describe Yoga/Pilates fusion (or Yogalates as it is often called) as the coming together of natural soul mates. I couldn’t agree more. But there are still many people out there who think that bringing Pilates principles into their Yoga is somehow tainting or contaminating. There is nothing wrong with being purist in our thinking, but it’s also important to maintain an open mind. When we close our minds, we close … [Read more...]
Yoga: Contortions, distortions and misunderstandings
By guest author Nanditha Ram, author of Blissful Mom, Blissful Baby I recently read an article in The New York Times about the dangers of yoga entitled How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body. Let me play devil's advocate for a second and say, "yes, it can". Indeed, anything taken to the extreme, has the seeds of the opposite sown in it. And so it is with yoga too. Too much of a good thing... Still, the very idea that yoga is dangerous is preposterous. That said, the way in which we practice an age … [Read more...]
Sacred Feminine and Yoga: Honouring the forces within. Part 3
by guest author, Swami Karma Karuna, Anahata Yoga Retreat All cultures of the ancient world worshipped the principles of the Mother, Shakti or Devi. Although it may have been called by different names, the concept of a force which bestows life, nourishes, loves, comforts, supports and transforms has always been present. In Christianity, we know her as Mother Mary. In Japan, she was Amaterasu, the sun-goddess; in Greece, she is Demeter, the corn-goddess, Aphrodite, the goddess of passion and … [Read more...]
Healing the black hole: John Ogilvie’s story from drug addict to yoga teacher
John's article first appeared in Australian Yoga LIFE by guest author Ana Davis John Ogilvie is one of those rare people you meet with whom you feel an almost instant heart connection. There is a glint in his eyes that tells of an inner-spring of joy and a hint of boyish cheekiness. His presence is one of yogic lightness that makes it difficult to imagine him ever having plumbed the depths of despair and spiritual emptiness that characterise a destructive drug addiction. Nowadays John … [Read more...]
What’s it like teaching yoga in prisons?
by Adhyatma, Satyananda Yoga Teacher and author of Broken Warriors - Reaching out to prisoners with yoga [Editor's Note: The Yoga Lunchbox is proud to support the Yoga Education in Prisons Trust through offering free listings of YEPT fundraising events. Plus $1 from every print copy of Forty Days of Yoga goes to YEPT. It's awesome work they're doing! You can make a tax-deductible donation here.] We thought it was time for an update on the activities of Yoga Education in Prisons … [Read more...]
How Yoga helped me… to see my body in a different light.
by guest author Anna Coventry, Anna Coventry Yoga When you look in the mirror, what do you see? A unique and beautiful person inside and out? Or someone who needs to lose weight, tone up and get some more sleep? A lot of women - and more guys than you would think - suffer from body image issues. It’s unfortunately very common and it is very destructive to a person’s wellbeing and happiness. For a long time I suffered from poor body image that led me to see myself in a distorted and … [Read more...]
Sacred Feminine and Yoga: It’s all about balance. Part 2
by guest author Swami Karma Karuna, Anahata Yoga Retreat The Tantric view of creation is that there are two forces called Shiva and Shakti representing the male and female aspects of creation, which exist within each and every person. Shiva, also called Purusha, is the masculine force and is pure ‘consciousness'. Shakti or Prakriti is the feminine force that is pure ‘energy’. One cannot exist without the other and both are within each of us. This duality is also described in the word 'Ha' 'Tha' … [Read more...]
I can’t do that. Actually, maybe I can. Hey, I can do it!
by guest author Sara Foley, Smells Good, Feels Good I'm not really sure how to begin this post, except to say: These ideas that you have about what you can and can't do, the things that are too hard or to big to begin - often these ideas are formed in a time of perceived failure. We don't think to ourselves; Oh, right, maybe I am not ready to do that yet, or maybe if I try that a different way it will work, or maybe I need some help to do that, or even let's sleep on that and try again … [Read more...]