by Kara-Leah Grant, Musings from the Mat Seven short weeks ago, I wrote about my excitement in choosing corporate work over teaching yoga for making a living. Now everybody's asking me if I've found a job yet. Well, yes. And no. What I've found is the ideal company to work with, and what I've found is my people. What I still haven't found is a full-time salaried job. For one, as I applied for both full and part-time work, I soon realised that I was kidding myself about getting a … [Read more...]
Sometimes Yoga doesn’t have the answer
by Kara-Leah Grant, Musings from the Mat Ok, I admit it, I'm the first person to think that Yoga is a cure-all. Just practice yoga regularly and it will sort out your back issues, your depression, your relationship problems and those last five kilos you just can't shift. It's the wunder-drug of the next generation. Except when it isn't. I've been practicing Yoga - of the physical kind - for about 12 years now. And yes, it's done amazing things for my back. I was living with chronic … [Read more...]
Tossing aside the familiarity of struggle for the mantle of success
by Kara-Leah Grant, Musings from the Mat A friend asked me this week (and I'm paraphrasing and editing for dramatic effect): How come you always write/talk about your struggles with life? Does your life suck that bad? And I explained that I had to write that way... that I loved writing about life, and only had my life to write about, and that meant sharing my struggles with the world - so other people could resonate, realise they're not alone, feel inspired and connect with me as a human … [Read more...]
10 reasons why I’m excited to choose corporate work over teaching yoga
by Kara-Leah Grant, Musings from the Mat Oh yes loyal Lunchboxers, after weighing up what I need in my life right now, I've decided to forgo trying to earn a living wage as a yoga teacher and website publisher, and instead head back into the workplace. I've been sprucing up my CV, writing cover letters, and getting in touch with recruitment agencies. It feels GREAT! Normally the story we hear is about people getting disillusioned with working for a living, with being in the corporate … [Read more...]
Confessions of an ex-relationship manipulator and control freak
by Kara-Leah Grant, Musings from the Mat Ok, the headline is harsh. I admit it. But also true. See, over the last while, I've been working with a relationship pattern (a samskara) of giving away my power by not speaking my truth because I was afraid of the consequences. It's an insidious pattern because it has all kinds of detrimental effects on one's self-esteem, and the relationships one is in. Plus it creates suffering as the desire to hold on to something while betraying oneself can … [Read more...]
Taking yoga off the mat
by guest author Lucinda Staniland A friend asked me the other day: “How did you get involved in all of this?” "All of this” being an all-encompassing voluntary role with the youth climate action movement, plus involvement with other social and environmental justice groups including - but not limited to - Gecko and 350 Aotearoa. I told her, feeling like a complete cliché, that I'd done this yoga-based course called Embodying Your Purpose. It's part of an initiative called Off The Mat, Into The … [Read more...]
Dude, Love is the Guru
by Kara-Leah Grant, Musings from the Mat Back at the start of last year I wrote a couple of posts be-moaning my lack of connection to a Real Yoga Teacher and a Guru. Dude, Where's My Guru? Dude, Where's My Teacher? This week I've been reading a most excellent book by Ram Dass (he of Be Here Now) called Be Love Now. And lo & behold, wouldn't you know, it's answered all of my questions about finding a guru, what a guru is, and the relationship we have with a guru. I'm stoked, … [Read more...]
If you can’t publicly own it, don’t do it (easy to say right?)
Forget the Ten Commandments. Forget even the Five Yamas or Niyamas. Here instead is the Golden Litmus Test. Apply it to all your behaviour. Everything you do. Everything you say. And everything you think. (If you really want to up your game...) Can you publicly own this action, word or thought? Can you publish it in the newspaper? Talk about it on Tv? Answer to it on radio? Yes? Sweet... do it, say it, think it. No? Don't do it, say it, think it... At … [Read more...]
Trust those feelings of yours… they’re trying to tell you something!
by Kara-Leah Grant, Musings from the Mat It's Monday morning and I have a stack of work to do. There's a multitude of emails in my inbox, two Wordpress clients expecting results, my personal website to re-brand, articles to load into The Yoga Lunchbox, numerous tasks for the website, accounts to do, workshops to prepare, classes to prep... The list goes on and on and I haven't even mentioned writing. Which - as you may have noticed in the last few months - keeps getting moved to the … [Read more...]
How dropping my story helped me change my yoga practice
I've been practicing yoga for over a decade now, and I'm still tight and inflexible. That's not quite true of course, but when I compare my flexibility to that of the images of yoga we see in the media, or the popular teachers on DVDs... I fall well short. And I find it perplexing. It doesn't make me feel less than in anyway, and I'm well aware that the point of yoga is not flexibility, rather flexibility is a by-product of practice. But how long does it take to lengthen the … [Read more...]