by guest author Cailen Ascher, owner of CALMbiz If you’re currently in, or fresh out of, yoga teacher training, chances are you’re thinking about landing your first teaching job. When I was first ready to teach, I dreamt about the kinds of classes I’d have, the sequences I’d prepare, and the kinds of students I’d love to serve. Then I was faced with an all-too-common predicament: No one would hire me because I didn’t have experience. But, to get experience, I needed to teach… It’s your … [Read more...]
How to put down the weight of your aloneness and ease into the conversation
by guest author Lucinda Staniland Your great mistake is to act the drama as if you were alone. As if life were a progressive and cunning crime with no witness to the tiny hidden transgressions. To feel abandoned is to deny the intimacy of your surroundings. Surely, even you, at times, have felt the grand array; the swelling presence, and the chorus, crowding out your solo voice. Put down the weight of your aloneness and ease into the conversation. - David Whyte - Community … [Read more...]
Is our addiction to Spirits a symptom of an UnSpirited society?
by Melissa Billington MYOGA’s second focus in the deeper part of winter has been on the 7th chakra - Sahasrara - a place of surrender, acceptance, unity consciousness and spirit. As I let my vision be filled by these ideas, I became more and more aware of society’s mass disconnection from a sense of anything larger than ourselves – from Source - and how this shows up in our levels of medication and self-medication. It is no accident that alcohol is called ‘spirits’ - it shares the same … [Read more...]
How to embrace uncertainty and channel agency
by Lucinda Staniland Let me start by telling you a story. Once upon a time, I thought that one day I would grow up, get everything sorted out, be thin and nice and beautiful, understand how the world worked, and finally be a complete human being. One day, I thought, one day it will happen. I started yoga at seventeen and was going through tough times - so far my hypothesis had not proved true. I was a teenager, but I was more confused than ever, and life only seemed to have gotten … [Read more...]
Help Yoga Education in Prisons Trust fund a free yoga manual for prisoners
By guest author Adhyatama of Kalpa Taru, Wellington Some of you may know I have been teaching Yoga up at Rimutaka prison for the last year and Waikeria and Springhill for the four years before that. I drive up to Rimutaka every Tuesday and spend a couple of hours in a Unit with serious violent offenders teaching asana (postures), breathing techniques to calm and relax them and Yoga Nidra. All I can say is that I just love it, and I love them! That may sound weird but honestly what magic … [Read more...]
Hope for the world – Swami Muktidharma speaks
by Kara-Leah Grant The last time we had Swami Muktidharma on YLB, he shared the story of dreaming about his guru before meeting him. To our western minds, it sounds magical and mystical. But in the world of yoga, and yogis, it's commonplace. Yoga deals with many different layers of reality, and indeed, is a way of seeing clearly what reality actually is, beyond our limited sense of the material world. It's that ability to see deeper, and wider, that makes sitting in the presence of Swamis … [Read more...]
How teaching yoga can trigger your issues
by regular columnist Elissa Jordan, Adventures in Teaching I’m feeling utterly dejected this morning. Getting out of bed - struggle. Getting to work - struggle. Talking to people - struggle. What’s got me so down? While teaching last night one of my students remarked about what a difference there was between the Wednesday and Monday night classes. Wednesday, my class, on the night was six people. Monday, another teacher’s class, was overflowing. No real judgement was made - good or bad - … [Read more...]
How to help kids stay longer in yoga poses
by guest author Gopala Amir Yaffe, Rainbow Kids Yoga The benefits of the Yoga Poses increase as you stay longer in them. But staying for a long time in the poses is not easy for kids simply because, for them, it is totally boring… unless you do some of the following: Counting You can count to 10 when you bake a Yoga Pizza (Seated Forward Bend with legs apart), when you go under a yoga tunnel with your imaginary car while in the Yoga Bridge Pose, count down to launching a Yoga Spaceship … [Read more...]
How to deliver consistent care as a covering yoga teacher
by regular columnist Elissa Jordan, Adventures in Teaching I was covering a class last week for a very popular Wellington based teacher. She had given me a set sequence to follow and wished me luck. Turns out I would need a small smattering of that luck. I sat myself behind the desk, ready to check clients in as they arrived. All was going well until a very flustered lady came rushing in. She stopped short: ‘Where’s Nicole*?’ I explained that she was away on holiday. Whose going to be … [Read more...]
How to help kids do yoga better
by guest author Gopala Amir Yaffe, Rainbow Kids Yoga When you teach yoga to anybody, remember this: Open your eyes, your ears, your mind and your heart, and really look. Look at who is standing in front of you and start from where they are. If you start from where they are, there are no limits to what you can achieve together. If you start from where you expected and planned for them to be, or from where someone told you they are, or from where the book says…man, you’re in trouble! … [Read more...]