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...]
How to find your inner teacher and move with intuition and grace
By guest author Maddy Schafer Are you consistently inconsistent? I am. I’m a one DVD yogini. That is, a friend shared her yoga DVD and I got hooked. I quickly memorised the fifteen minute morning yoga series, and started doing it on the floor at work a few days a week. Happily I work in an environment where there is carpet and this is possible. But that isn't the beginning of my yoga story. I don’t know how many years prior it was that I decided to start stretching at work in my breaks. I … [Read more...]
Yoga Explorations #4: The Imperfect Self
by Kara-Leah Grant I'm starting to dig this video making process. Finding my groove, opening up, getting comfortable... all of which makes me feel better about being on video, which makes me better on video. It's kinda like starting yoga. When we first start, or even think about starting, we're uncomfortable, we're closed off and shut down, we're tight, we're afraid, and often these feelings are so strong, we don't start so we don't have to face them. But the only way to learn … [Read more...]
Yoga Explorations # 3: Music can move us into our practice
by Kara-Leah Grant Joy's been on my mind this week. Mostly because I was noticing a lack. Understandable - my life has been intense, on many levels, over the last few weeks. Seems just when I think I've got one area or aspect mastered, the stakes are upped again. That's cool. I can deal. But if I don't watch it, I can also get way too serious. Fortunately, I also have a magic tonic. Anytime I start getting too somber, too depressing, too serious, too stressed out, too hung up on life's ups … [Read more...]
Mind the Gap and It Will Set You Free. Promise
by Gabrielle Harris When I was about nine, Dad bought a strange woman to our house. She was dressed in white and had an exotic name. Our sleep-out was turned into a shrine. Suddenly suburban life was looking up. The lady was handed some cash and I had to give her something of value to myself. I gave her my teddy. I didn’t want to give her my teddy as I was attached to it. It’s good to have attachments when you are nine; it gives you something to work on in later years. Little did I know … [Read more...]
Yoga Explorations #2: Child, a posture of internal wisdom
by Kara-Leah Grant There's nothing flashy about child's pose. It's unlikely to ever grace the cover of Yoga Journal magazine. No one ever gets all excited about how awesome their child posture is either. But child's pose is the rock of a home practice. Its the place we turn to when there is no other place to go, it's the place we go when we want to come home to ourselves, and it's the place when we find our internal source of power. This week, I've been experiencing grief and sorrow. It … [Read more...]
Yoga Explorations #1: Unlock your home practice
by Kara-Leah Grant Last week, I published an article called Free your pelvis and the rest will follow. I'd written this at the request of a long-time loyal reader who was having lower back issues. In the article, I included a short video of me talking about using yoga to heal, and written explanations for seven ways to explore the pelvis and spine. The article was a big hit, and it's now inspired this new series designed to support you in your home practice. For many of, the idea of … [Read more...]
Free your pelvis and the rest will follow
by Kara-Leah Grant Years of yoga practice and yoga teaching has taught me that our ability to freely move our pelvis is a key aspect to unlocking our spines, and releasing any chronic low back issues or holding patterns. I've also learned that it's not always the muscles, ligaments and tendons that are locking our pelvis in place. It can be our minds. Yes, the psyche can affect the way that our pelvis moves. Fortunately, over time, yoga practice can unlock both the physical body and the … [Read more...]
How to Meditate in Four Easy Steps
by Peter Fernando, Meditation and Mindfulness I like to consider what 'meditation' is, from the perspective of a beginner, or someone who's never heard of it. Sometimes the more I think I know about something, the further away I get from really knowing the heart of it! So, having reflected on it, from an experiential place, I reckon this thing called 'meditation' actually just consists of four qualities, or skills in the mind: 1) Focus Take an object, such as the feeling of the breath in the … [Read more...]
What’s Love Got to Do with Meditation?
by guest author Peter Fernando, Meditation and Mindfulness In many traditions, the practice of kindness and love is an integral part of the meditative journey. You may wonder, 'why?' Sometimes the way that the concept of 'mindfulness' is presented can make it seem like a utilitarian technique to become more efficient, or more functional in the world. This is certainly a part of it, of course. But then there's the love thing. You can't go too far into any authentic contemplative tradition … [Read more...]