by Kara-Leah Grant, Musings from the Mat It's post-Bali yoga teacher training with the crew from Power Living and I am totally spaced out. I don't know whether I'm coming or going. One minute I was in conversation with Duncan & the PLAY crew poolside at Potatohead in Seminyak, then I was in a taxi and off to the airport, flying for eight hours overnight, arriving the next day in Auckland, driving 2.5 hours to Tauranga to pick up Samuel, sleeping some more, and driving four hours to … [Read more...]
How to Open Your Wide-Legged Forward Bends using Variations {video}
by Kara-Leah Grant Welcome to the fifth article and video in this series of Yoga Explorations. You've now learned how to spontaneously allow the body to move within the structure of a posture, as well as two breath pairs - the Ascending and Descending breath, and cultivating the core and radiating from the core breath. Last week you learned how to use core cultivation to open the body in Lunges and Lunge variations. This week, we take a look at the Wide-Legged Forward Bend and ways to … [Read more...]
Forty Days of Meditation and Manifestation – Did It Work?
by Kara-Leah Grant I've just finished a Forty Day Meditation and Manifestation practice. It's something I completely made up. I'd been wondering for many months about combining daily meditation with a conscious manifestation process because I'd observed in my own life that the first key step for creating anything new is always getting clear. Usually, before I write, I meditate or walk first. This helps to shift me into the ground of being, and out of my head. Out of this space, creativity and … [Read more...]
How to Open the Front of the Body using Core Cultivation {video}
by Kara-Leah Grant Welcome to the fourth article and video in this series of Yoga Explorations. You've now learned how to spontaneously allow the body to move within the structure of a posture, as well as two breath pairs - the Ascending and Descending breath, and cultivating the core and radiating from the core breath. This week, we start to put it all together even more, using these tools to work with a posture to find alignment. In particular, we'll be exploring Lunge and variations … [Read more...]
If All Ambition Falls Away, How Does Anything Get Done?
by Kara-Leah Grant, Musings from the Mat It's a crisp, clear, clean autumn morning in Napier, New Zealand. Almost a frost, but not quite. Cold enough for me to see my breath as I stood waiting for the jug to boil. I have entire day stretching out before me with no appointments and no yoga teaching. My only commitments today are to The Yoga Lunchbox and writing. Something's missing though. Something that's been with me for a long, long time. Possibly since childhood. Actually, … [Read more...]
How to Use Breath Movements to Free the Body’s Spontaneous Movement {video}
by Kara-Leah Grant Welcome to the third in this series of Yoga Explorations. You've now learned two breath pairs - the Ascending and Descending breath, and cultivating the core and radiating from the core breath. We're going to take that understanding, and use Downward Dog and Three Legged Dog to look at how tuning into the breath can allow our body to move spontaneously within the structure of a posture. As I mentioned in the first article on the Ascending and Descending breath, … [Read more...]
What do I do when a Student Complains about Wrist Pain and Wants to Leave Class?
by Kelly Fisher, Urban Yoga Kelly is our resident yoga teacher mentor, answering questions from readers about how to teach and what to do when issues come up. You can email Kelly your question here. The Yoga Teacher's Question: “There it was yesterday: my first and rather frustrating setback in my teaching experience. I have a student who suffers from a lot of wrist pain. She comes along to my 45 minute class that is short, sharp and energetic. Because I know she requires special … [Read more...]
What are Vasanas and How Do They Affect Your Yoga Practice?
by Kara-Leah Grant, Musings from the Mat Earlier this year I took a short workshop with Duncan Peak from Power Living. In the workshop he mentioned the term 'vasana', defining it as character traits or tendencies and he talked about how our practice stirs up these tendencies and brings them into consciousness. Now I'd never heard of vasanas, and struggled to remember the term after the workshop, which happened the day before Wanderlust. The day after Wanderlust, I was driving from … [Read more...]
How to Cultivate your Core and Radiate through Your Limbs {video}
by Kara-Leah Grant Welcome to the second in this series of Yoga Explorations. This week we're going to continue building on our sequence while exploring a second pair of breath movements. Tuning into these two breaths - inhaling and cultivating the core, exhaling and radiating through the limbs - helps us to find strength and integrity in postures. But for many of us, tuning into the breath movements within the pose can be difficult. We struggle to keep our awareness on the breath … [Read more...]
How to Work with the Ascending & Descending Breath {video}
by Kara-Leah Grant This is the first in a six-part series of Yoga Explorations which takes you through a creative Mandala Surya Namaskar - or a circular sun salutation. The focus on this series is in teaching you how to use the breath to explore and play within your home practice. It's about giving you the confidence to step outside the usual linear flow of your practice and see what it is that your body needs moment to moment. There is a huge difference between a home yoga practice and … [Read more...]