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...]
Inspiring stories of how the practice of yoga has changed and shaped people's lives.
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...]
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...]
Yoga Nidra for Sobriety – A journey to wholeness.
By Veronica King, The Yoga Nidra Project As a tantric yogi I have always enjoyed saying yes to life, all of it! For years I’ve had boundless energy to work, play, practice and party. All in equal measure. But over the last few years I noticed a significant shift, my tank that was always full, was not topping up and suddenly I had a completely empty tank. I was depleted, exhausted, facing a health crisis. So I sat with the questions: what depletes me, and what nourishes me? I … [Read more...]
Journey to Wellbeing : How Yoga & Meditation helped me find the way
by Matt Calman, The Longest Day I regard it as a minor miracle I became a yogi. For as long as I can remember, in the four-decade-long pre-yoga phase of my life I was horribly inflexible, and unable to get within a foot of touching my toes. My main pastimes in my 20s included playing rugby and drinking beer with my teammates. In my mind, activities such as yoga and ballet dwelt at the opposite end of the spectrum from my modus operandi. If anyone had suggested to the younger me that I … [Read more...]
Yoga May Not Cure Disease, But It Can Help Us To Live Joyfully With Our Illnesses
by John Guthrie, International Yoga Teachers Association of New Zealand The whole notion of disease is an interesting subject. Those of us who take on yoga as a part of our lifestyle can easily find ourselves striving to be absolutely whole and well; after all, why shouldn't we? To have a strong healthy body fit that enables us to integrate the various limbs of yoga is a noble endeavour indeed. But is perfect physical health always a guaranteed result of a yoga practice? And have we failed as … [Read more...]
How I Found Space & Presence in the Aftermath of a Miscarriage
by Eimear Gray, Anam Cara Yoga Four weeks out things are, well, okay. I suffered my second miscarriage at 8 weeks. (So early on, thank God. One consolation at least, I guess. So it’s said anyway, or rather whispered). Now, four weeks out, I’m getting there slowly, and when I mean getting there I mean functioning with a tad more happiness, rather than the just plain awful, harrowing, unrelenting pain of the “miscarriage week”, or indeed weeks. It began as a “suspected” miscarriage and it … [Read more...]
Time to Thrive: How I Learned to Take Deep Care of My Body, Heart & Mind
by Kelly Fisher Our lives are so out of synch with nature; it's no wonder that sub-par health and even chronic degenerative diseases are the new norm. Diabetes, autoimmune disorders, adrenal issues, thyroid conditions, weight issues, menopausal issues, post-partum issues, insomnia, perpetual exhaustion… the list goes on. Chances are you know someone who suffers from at least one of these things, and maybe a few of you know someone for each of the above. Even those of us who consider ourselves … [Read more...]
Is It Normal To Feel Tired All The Time? How I Embraced Darkness & Found Deep Rest
by Lucinda Staniland I’ve been practicing yoga for eight years, and while I’ve experienced many benefits from a regular practice, deep sleep hasn’t been one of them. Despite my daily home yoga practice—and the deep relaxation and release that it enables—until recently, a really good night’s sleep was an elusive thing for me. Let me get this straight; I've never been an insomniac. I've never experienced the terror of a full blown sleep disorder or extreme sleep deprivation. But I do know what … [Read more...]
Why Yogis Need The Deep Lessons of Karma Yoga
by Ram Davies, Sivananda Yoga Centre I was lying in bed in an apartment in South Beach, Florida, reading Meditations and Mantras by Swami Vishnudevananda, when it dawned on me: I don’t enjoy where I am and what I’m doing. Straight away I put the book down and emailed a yoga teacher that I had trained with the previous year. I asked him if I could stay at the ashram for a four month period as part of the karma yoga program. I heard back from him the following day, quit my job, and booked a … [Read more...]