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...]
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.
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...]
Hamish Kenworthy on Why He Doesn’t Regret a Single Moment of Opening Up
by Lucinda Staniland, The first time Hamish Kenworthy came onto my radar was in 2016 when The Yoga Lunchbox conducted a search for The Best Up and Coming Yoga Teachers in Australia and New Zealand. We were flooded with hundreds of recommendations from yoga students, but some of the most touching, enthusiastic and sincere testimonials were for one Hamish Kenworthy of Apollo Power Yoga in Christchurch. Hamish's students all described his extraordinary energy, his jokes and sense of humour, his … [Read more...]
Yoga Teacher, Heal Thyself
by J. Brown, Originally published on J. Brown Yoga. There is a performative aspect to teaching and promoting group yoga classes that sometimes leads to a denial of the teacher’s actual state. The conventional dynamics at play between teachers and students, both interpersonal and economic, are presenting obstacles to the kinds of exchange that encourage effective yoga transmission. Maintaining integrity often means having the courage to buck trends in order to reconcile our intentions with … [Read more...]
Can Yoga Teacher Scandals and Transgressions be an Opportunity for Growth?
by Kara-Leah Grant The guru model is dead in modern Western Yoga. And the list of scandals involving gurus, or teachers, or swamis just seems to be growing longer. Where the hell are all the enlightened and perfect teachers? They don't exist. Our teachers - known and unknown, big and small, experienced and fresh, revered and loved, skilled and talented, wise and powerful - they are also human. Which means that our teachers, like us, have unconscious shit that can get in the way of their … [Read more...]
The Key Elements to A Successful Yoga Teaching Career
by Kara-Leah Grant It's been more than a decade since I started teaching yoga, and so embarked on a yoga teaching career. That career has included teaching group classes, workshops, retreats, presenting at festivals, writing yoga books, delivering corporate seminars, and publishing this online yoga magazine. I began as a sole trader and taught yoga on the side while working other jobs. In April 2011, after becoming a single parent, I started my own company and doubled-down on my desire to … [Read more...]