by Melissa Billington How you’re looking is how you’re going to see it. And how you’ve seen it is how you think it should be. Unless you see it and change it. A story is not just a story. It’s your view to life itself. Your interpretation creates your world. This is a quote from my play, PocaHAUNTus—shapeshifting history into Herstory, that I’m in the middle of writing. Writing this play has been an enormous challenge because one of the main premises is the relativity of truth, as the … [Read more...]
Why We Need to Take Our Yoga Practice Back to The Basics
by Melissa Billington, Ear2Earth Yoga is a self-regulating practice. It’s a yoke, a disciplined and regular practice that harnesses our innate animal power/prowess and enables us to see our own self-sabotaging habits and tendencies. And, armed with that awareness and new tools for transformation, we are empowered to change those tendencies and habits of self-sabotage into tendencies and habits of transmutation and transformation. We can become the opposite of our deepest darkest fear, … [Read more...]
From poison into potion: Why forty days of yoga is alchemy of the soul
by Melissa Billington We come into the new year with a desire to re-create ourselves, to arise out of last year and make a new start. While I personally consider Spring the new year and the place for emergence since 1582, with the advent of the Gregorian calendar, we observe the start of the new year as January 1. The Celtic calendar sets November 1(May 1 in the southern hemisphere) as the new year. They see going into the dark as the necessary first step to creation, like the child in … [Read more...]
Chakra One & Two: Feeling secure and letting go, the essence of Hanumanasana
by Melissa Billington Hanumanasana, often called the splits, is the extraordinary experience of moving in two opposing directions at the same time, without falling apart, or holding the breath, or injuring ourselves. In practicing this great leap of Hanuman, we learn to engage actively and consciously, while releasing actively, consciously and bravely. AT THE SAME TIME! Which brings me into two chakras - Muladhara, root support and Svadisthana, one’s own sweetness or … [Read more...]
Is our addiction to Spirits a symptom of an UnSpirited society?
by Melissa Billington MYOGA’s second focus in the deeper part of winter has been on the 7th chakra - Sahasrara - a place of surrender, acceptance, unity consciousness and spirit. As I let my vision be filled by these ideas, I became more and more aware of society’s mass disconnection from a sense of anything larger than ourselves – from Source - and how this shows up in our levels of medication and self-medication. It is no accident that alcohol is called ‘spirits’ - it shares the same … [Read more...]
What’s the point of winter – whether of the soul or of the seasons?
by guest author Melissa Billington, Creatrix of the Powa Centre & MYOGA Driving into Wellington there’s a big billboard by the docks that reads, “Cancel Winter.” It’s advertising warmer climes, in this case, Nelson. I know we can travel and many with means become snowbirds following the warmth of the sun around the globe. Yet I wonder if we’re missing something crucial by avoiding the dark and the cold and the seemingly difficult. I’ve lived in equatorial countries and the monotony … [Read more...]
How to cope with post-pregnancy poopiness
by guest author Melissa Billington, POWA Centre, Wellington Creating a baby is such a natural thing, yet it can change your world so irrevocably and unexpectedly that it’s no wonder women struggle after the intensity of birthing to feel centred, balanced and “themselves” again. Not only is a new human created, but a new mother is created as well. As much as you read and research and reconnoitre with other women and mothers, no one and nothing can prepare you entirely for the reality … [Read more...]
What if yoga is like religion?
by guest author Melissa Billington, from MYOGA For years I’ve seen the fear people have around Yoga, some claiming it’s a cult or a religion and refusing to take part because they would be seen by the upholders of their own religion as hypocritical or blasphemous. Many yoga styles and schools are based in a religion and there is even Christian yoga. While many more styles and schools stick to their claim that yoga is an art, a philosophy, and a science, but not a religion. The word … [Read more...]