Sometimes an email arrives in your inbox and you have to share it. A well written and important contribution to the conversation around cultural appropriation of Yoga. An invitation to have a difficult conversation. See what arises for you when you read this? What actions can we take to make a difference? How are we complicit? More questions than answers, but that doesn't mean we should not ask them. THE EMAIL: As world celebrates UN Yoga Day on June 21, Hindus upset at trivialization … [Read more...]
Expand your yoga into the dreamscape.
By Sarah Marlow Spence That time a vacuum cleaner sabotaged my kirtan. Yup, an odd situation. So I delved into that dream to figure out what it was trying to tell me. Dreams happen to most of us when we’re asleep, yet dreams can also be daydreams of where you want to go in life, or waking dreams, i.e. what is happening right now in life. When I was a teenager, I found a dream dictionary in the secondhand bookstore, as we did in life before Google. I wondered what the meanings of my busy … [Read more...]
Is Wordle a Yogic practice?
Minds bright spark. Brief Bliss. Faith. Have you been bitten by the wordle bug yet? I sure have. How does this simple five letter puzzle have anything to do with yoga? As a student of Tantra Yoga I choose to look for the experience of yoga in my daily life. Every moment, every interaction is an opportunity to practice the teachings, to apply them to the world. Wordle is no different in this regard. It's now part of my daily practice and I love it. It's deceptively simple yet … [Read more...]
The challenges of Yoga and pain management.
More questions than answers on how we view and work with pain in yoga By Veronica King A recent post about a pain relief ad in a pharmacy sparked a lively discussion around yoga and pain, one which I was interested in exploring further. It seems to have created more questions than answers. A topic dear to my heart as I tore my hip labrum in a yoga class, this injury and the subsequent pain management was to become my greatest teacher. Many teachers and students have been injured in … [Read more...]
Does ambition belong on your yoga mat?
Teaching yoga as your career By Veronica King Luckily my first and most influential teacher always spoke about being a yoga professional. This was her livelihood and treated it with that respect. This helped shape me. As a yoga teacher, I would always treat my career with that same respect. It's not uncommon to feel shy about sharing this. There is in the teaching of any spiritual tradition an ongoing tension between being of service and charging for that service. You have every … [Read more...]
Travelling Yogi
How yoga helped me stay grounded before flying. By Veronica King Feels surreal to be writing this piece on my parent's kitchen table in Adelaide. The trip that was cancelled 3 times due to border changes, it would appear that it was 4th time lucky. The last few years we have been shrouded in fear, separated from our loved ones, and unsure if anything we planned would actually go ahead. As I prepared for this trip, I knew my practice was helping me stay steady and grounded. I’m sharing … [Read more...]
The joys and challenges of practicing yoga online
Students experience of online yoga Part 2 by Sandra Palmer “Since the arrival of Covid 19 into our world, the way we teach yoga has changed. Studios and teachers rapidly adapted to close brick and mortar studios and many immediately started teaching online. Some teachers and students love this online environment and, equally, many people loathe it”. Registered Psychologist and Yoga Teacher, Sandra Palmer shares her insights and experiences on the student’s perspective of … [Read more...]
To Zoom or not to Zoom?
The joys and challenges of teaching and practicing yoga online. By Sandra Palmer Since the arrival of Covid 19 into our world, the way we teach yoga has changed. Studios and teachers rapidly adapted to the closure of their brick and mortar studios and many immediately started teaching online. Some teachers and students love this online environment and, equally, many people loathe it. I refer in this article to teaching online yoga as a valid choice and method of teaching … [Read more...]
Yoga Therapy vs Yoga Class
Isn’t all yoga therapeutic? By Veronica King You can be forgiven if you are a little confused about why the term yoga therapy exists, after all, isn’t all yoga “therapeutic”? Well, the answer is Yes AND No. Let’s look at why the need for this distinction has arisen and its applications and implications. Ultimately this distinction between Yoga Therapy and a Yoga Class is making sure that we practice the Yamas and Niyamas, in particular Ahimsa (not harming others) and Satya … [Read more...]
Don’t Despair the Tear
By Veronica King, Teaching Yoga and navigating a labral hip tear. Monday night, advanced yoga class. Parsvakonasana, a warm-up pose early in class, and as I anchored my legs and rotated my body upwards, I felt a rip inside my groin. I nearly screamed, tears streaming down my face through the rest of the class, wondering if this was the last yoga class I might ever do, knowing something BAD had just happened. It turns out that labral hip tears are common amongst dancers, yogis, … [Read more...]