by Jase Te Patu, Awhi Yoga & M3 Mindfulness for Children They say that the practice of yoga is a return to self, our true nature, a return home! Almost four years ago, I packed up my life in Australia and returned to Aotearoa to share my personal love and practice of yoga with our people. Little did I know that that decision was going to be the biggest yoga practice I had ever undertaken. I had fallen in love with yoga, since being in Australia. Yoga was my preferred way as a … [Read more...]
Here you'll find the collected wisdom of a wide range of yoga teachers, who have been generous enough to share the many things they have learned from teaching yoga.
How to Find Your Niche & Make Your Yoga Teaching Career Sustainable
by Rebecca Harford, Adapted Yoga & Pilates As a businesswoman, teacher, mother, wife, friend and family member I have the responsibility and pleasure to support many people. In order to uphold this responsibility, I must be sustainable, along with my business as it supports our students, family and the families of our team. Being sustainable as a teacher means that you can share the best of your experience with your student (s). Being tired, hungry, cold and stressed does not become a … [Read more...]
How to Optimize the Fascial System to Move, Feel & Live Better
by Ian O'Dwyer, SOMA It interests me greatly to observe the various types of exercises and programs that are prepared and delivered by physical trainers, therapists, coaches and yoga teachers with comprehensive knowledge in their areas. Experience has empowered me to appreciate the difficulty in trying to create success for a large number of people with varied movement challenges or goals. As a Movement Practitioner, the question still arises for me “What tissues are we effecting (in … [Read more...]
Growing a Strong & Resilient New Zealand with Yoga
by Ali Hale Tilley, Perhaps the biggest highlight of my year in 2018 was presenting at the Hauora Yoga Conference, held at AUT’s beautiful North Shore campus. Thanks to the energy and efforts of Persephone Singfield, Richard Beddie and the Exercise NZ team, the Haoura event gave yoga presenters like me a chance to contribute to the Aotearoa yoga community. During the pōwhiri, our AUT hosts welcomed presenters. Throughout the hongi, the feeling of electricity and mana flowing through … [Read more...]
Slowing Down & Cultivating Interoception at the Hauora Yoga Conference
By Kylie Rook, New Zealand’s first Yoga Conference, Hauora, far exceeded my expectations. It was really great to see that the New Zealand Yoga Community is already on the G-O S-L-O-W wagon in terms of building interoception, improving vagal tone and allowing students to find what feels right for them. In many cases, this means letting go of the arbitrary alignment cues and even ‘classic poses’ to guide the students into a more felt experience and a deeper understanding of their own … [Read more...]
Finding an Internal Sense of Safe Alignment in Yoga
By Amy Green, To me, the inaugural Hauora Yoga Conference felt like an important step in this country's yoga evolution. The welcoming ceremony set the stage for a different kind of gathering than had ever been done in the NZ yoga community. Here were numerous teachers, speakers, presenters and enthusiasts, brought together to learn and share with one another. It was a gateway for an in-depth, more academic study of our beloved practice. It felt special, intimate…almost like something … [Read more...]
Can the NZ Yoga Industry Form a Cohesive Collective Body?
by Lianne Divine, I haven't had much to do with the NZ Yoga community over the years. I refrained from joining the now disbanded NZ Ayurveda Yoga Therapy Association and have had no Professional Yoga Teacher's body to support my 20 years of Yoga teaching experience and NZ Government Qualification Standard training in a 4 year fulltime Diploma in Yoga and a Diploma in Ayurvedic Medicine. In fact, in spite of all this experience and impeccable qualifications, I still felt I didn't quite make the … [Read more...]
Yoga Therapy in New Zealand: A Panel Discussion
One of the many conversations we explored at the inaugural Hauora Yoga Conference was about yoga therapy in New Zealand. This conversation took the form of a panel discussion with with a range of esteemed local and international yoga experts: Donna Farhi, Katie Lane, Jac Wilson, Leanne Davis and Felicity Molloy, and hosted by the wonderful J. Brown. In addition to being an outstanding MC, J. also recorded the entire discussion and uploaded it to the J. Brown Yoga Talks … [Read more...]
On Forgiveness, Redemption & #MeToo in the Yoga Community
by Donna Farhi, Now that the finger has been let out of the dam, there’s been a deluge of #metoo stories coming from our Yoga community. When we do start naming names, what then? In the past, even when teachers have been revealed for serious breaches of conduct, many of those same teachers were immediately forgiven without skipping a beat, and continued onwards with their glorious careers, seemingly unscathed. A recent article in a New Zealand newspaper by Michele A’Court called “Redemption … [Read more...]
Note to a Younger Self: Systemic Abuse & Individual Response in Yoga
by Donna Farhi, On December 16, 2017, the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse delivered a landmark report; the conclusion of an extraordinary five year investigation into systemic and decades long abuse within the Catholic Church. The upshot of this broad sweeping report is the conclusion that the Catholic Church can no longer continue to operate within the protective insularity of it’s own institution and may soon be forced through new government … [Read more...]