by Kara-Leah Grant, Musings from the Mat Six weeks or so into regular Mysore-style classes with Peter Sanson and I've having some serious insights and openings - not just on the physical level, but also on the emotional, mental and energetic level. But of course - how could it be any other way? These things are all intertwined and I've known this for a very long time. Before I found Peter, I'd been searching for a yoga teacher for a decade or so, while doing a home practice and sporadically … [Read more...]
How To Overcome Your Fears During Yoga Teacher Training
by Kelly Fisher, Urban Yoga Kelly works as a mentor for students wanting to move toward teacher training, currently training as teachers, or fresh out of training. In these articles, she shares some of the questions she's asked. You can ask her your questions by sending her an email. Question: I am in teacher training and I feel as if my teachers aren't giving the structure or guidance I was expecting to find my "voice". They kind of just throw us in it and then critique us … [Read more...]
The Basic Principles of Building a Home Yoga Practice
by Kara-Leah Grant As a yoga teacher, my goal is to inspire my students to practice yoga at home. It's great when people get themselves to classes three times a week, but the true benefits of yoga really start to unfold when you commit to just showing up on your mat by yourself and seeing what happens. In a class, your focus is both internal and external. You're listening to the teacher and watching the demonstrations while also paying attention to what's going on inside of you. When you … [Read more...]
What is Love? Deep Acceptance of the Other, and Opening to Vulnerability
by Kara-Leah Grant, Musings from the Mat I've been pondering the nature of Love over the last year or so, holding many deep conversations with my wonderful girlfriends and reflecting over two decades of short and long-term relationships. I've got plenty of material to draw upon! And you know what? I think I've got it. I know what love is - and what it is not. Love is a deep acceptance of the other person. Out of that ground of deep acceptance arise actions that create one's day to … [Read more...]
How Compassion Makes Yoga Relevant
by John Guthrie Sitting quietly, the dawn chorus yet to begin, I think of that one word, compassion. The image of a hermit in a cave somewhere comes to mind, and I reflect on this as the embodiment of compassion. Away from the world, yet radiating out the peace that arises from compassion, which has been birthed in the depth of their silence. A place that could just as well have its roots in suffering. There are those whose compassion has arisen from personal suffering. In the last … [Read more...]
There’s More to Us Than Meets The Eye: Exploring The Five Koshas
By Trish Brown, co-director of Dru Yoga Australia If you have ever suspected that there was more to you than just your physical body, yoga philosophy reveals that you are right. According to ancient yoga texts, we are indeed much more than just the physical, being made up of five distinct layers known as the koshas. The koshas are often compared to the layers of an onion. If you can see the physical body as the outer layer, traveling inwards through more subtle layers of energy, emotion and … [Read more...]
What’s the Difference Between Modern and Traditional Ayurveda and How Does it Relate to Yoga?
By Vaidyar Mani and Nicky Hewett, Ancient's Best - Ayurveda & Yoga The word Ayur-Veda specifically means the “Science or Knowledge of Life or Longevity”. In other words, it means ‘how we are to live and manage our life’. An appropriate term to describe Ayur-Veda is ‘The Yoga of Life’. It is a system that - when correctly understood, applied and practiced - leads one to Yoga, our ultimate goal or Dharma. It is a wholly Spiritual system and discipline. As Kara-Leah wrote recently when … [Read more...]
Home Yoga Practice Questions: Can I Practice Yoga with A Herniated Disc?
by Kara-Leah Grant, author of Forty Days of Yoga This week's Home Yoga Practice questions comes from Catherine in India. She writes: I have practiced yoga for many years and for the last 6 months have been doing a regular home practice. However last month I had an MRI scan due to persistent backache and discovered that I have a slipped disc. My doctor has asked me to stop yoga - forward bends are a definite no - and his opinion is that I should walk and swim as exercise (which I have been … [Read more...]
How Yoga Helped Me Overcome Depression
by Caren Baginski I remember the first time I took an antidepressant. It was my third year of high school and I couldn't swallow pills, so I had liquid Prozac in a tiny cup. It didn't taste like anything, but during that time nothing did. I looked intensely at that drug for an hour before I took it, tears streaming down my face, feeling like a big fat failure. I remember the last time I took an antidepressant. I had moved to a new state, was on Zoloft, and weaned myself, thinking I … [Read more...]
Yoga Injuries and Pain During Yoga Class – What’s the Story?
by Kara-Leah Grant, Musings from the Mat Matthew Remski is currently researching asana-related injuries in an attempt to understand what we are actually doing with yoga, and how we can know the value or safety of the postures we practice. After taking the time to read his first article on the subject - What Are We Actually Doing in Asana - I found myself asking questions about my practice and the pain I sometimes experience in yoga. In particular, Matthew says: I would like to explore … [Read more...]