by Angelena Davies “Hello Overwhelm my old friend, I’ve come to talk to you again, Because a vision softly creeping, Left its seeds while I was sleeping.” I often break into song when I feel her coming again. Overwhelm. With her short breath, her pinched shoulders, her scratchy throat, her distracted conversations (“Mum, are you listening?”) her constant pull to the list, the bloody list, her tumble of thoughts, thinking thinking thinking, her creepy whispers of “That’s … [Read more...]
What Does it Mean to be an Awakened Heart Warrior in Troubled Times?
Photo Credit: Pete Longworth by Kara-Leah Grant, Prefer to listen to an audio version of this article? Click here to listen on Dropbox. The news isn't getting any better. Extinction is looming for 1 million plants and animals, thanks to human activity, says the UN. Trump's Administration heralds melting sea ice as opening new opportunities for trade. And global beverage giants continue to bottle New Zealand's water at aquifer-destroying rates. Storms are worse. Refugee numbers are … [Read more...]
The Power of Just Being: Reflections on a Silent Retreat
By Sandra Palmer, I am a talker, a chatterbox even. So, I received some surprised responses (shocked, disbelieving and even amused!) when I informed people that I was attending a seven-day silent retreat. Some friends were plainly envious and thought it sounded divine. Many were curious: But why? They asked. Why would you do this? What is the purpose of being silent? Others wanted to know how hard it would be for me. I did not have answers to these questions. I was too … [Read more...]
Climate Change, Extinction & How to be an Agent of Change
Photo Credit: Pete Longworth by Kara-Leah, It can be scary and painful to see the truth of the moment as it is. But many of us have been learning how to do this in our personal evolution as awakening human beings. We've been learning how to work with fear. How to sit with grief, shame and guilt. We've learned that by doing this, we can then release the wounds, the traumas and historical pain and free ourselves from the past - our own past, and the past of our ancestors. What's this … [Read more...]
A New Beginning for The Yoga Lunchbox: Meet Our New Supporters, ExerciseNZ
by Kara-Leah Grant, After 10 years of championing The Yoga Lunchbox, I'm SO happy to be handing over the torch to a new team. Yes, that's right! I'm officially moving on from my role at The Yoga Lunchbox and handing over to our new Supporters: ExerciseNZ. ExerciseNZ are a non-profit organisation with the mission of proactively supporting a sustainable exercise and fitness industry in New Zealand and they're super stoked to be able to support The Yoga Lunchbox to serve the yoga community here … [Read more...]
How Your Unconscious Beliefs Shape Your Body & Mind
by KeiShana Coursey, Opti-mum As a midwife and yogi who has walked alongside women and observed (with curiosity and kindness) their navigation through all that is birth, it appears to me that the mind doesn’t mind what you believe about sensation, only that it will loyally serve you to create whatever it is you’ve unconsciously chosen to believe. Let me explain… I became very interested in the vast difference between the individual experience of labour and birth when observing the stark … [Read more...]
Exorcism: An Invitation to Work Consciously with Fear
by Kara-Leah Grant This week, I took part in an exorcism. But let's just call it a healing, because that word exorcism caries all kinds of connotations that can stop us from bringing our hearts and awareness into the moment. There was nothing to fear in this healing, except, of course, fear itself. More than ten years ago, I took on an energy, an entity, a being of the subtle realms... it's not something I've talked about much because, you know, crazy. Yet it wasn't crazy for me. It was … [Read more...]
The Difference Between Being a Victim and Being Victimised
by Freya Vajra, Fierce Mystic I was chatting with a good friend of mine the other day, about all this Agama/sex cult stuff. For those of you who don’t know, one of the biggest Neo tantra schools in the world, Agama, recently got outed by Be Scofield for a whole load of sexual assault and misconduct by the heads of the school. It’s a school I have trained at and didn’t stay at because the waft of dogma and abuse was so strong. My friend, who spent a number of years there, was saying how she … [Read more...]
Being an Awakened Heart Warrior: An Interview with Kara-Leah
by Lucinda Staniland, Last week, Kara-Leah sat down with Erika Bélanger of the On and Off Your Mat podcast to dive deep into conversations about yoga, leading retreats and what it really means to be an Awakened Heart Warrior. Over the years, Kara-Leah has spent hundreds of hours interviewing interesting yogis, but this is the first time I've heard her being interviewed herself! Tune in to hear Kara-Leah answer the following questions: How does having a daily home practice has impacted … [Read more...]
Are Plant Medicines Part of Traditional Yoga?
by Daniel Fow, Cardinal Points: Healing Arts "The Mystic States (Siddhis) are attained by yogic practices from previous lifetimes, or by special plants, mantric repetition, asceticism, or by meditation." - Yoga Sutras of Patanjali The ancient Rishis and Yogis often spoke of an ancient plant medicine known as Soma which would be made into a tea. Upon drinking it, the third eye would awaken and mystical states would occur, even the state of samadhi or enlightenment. The use of Soma as a plant … [Read more...]