by Erica Viedma, Mindful Movement “What can we do when fear comes up for us or for our students during the practice?”. Geeta Iyengar replied, “When fear arises, you must lift your chest. You must lift your heart.” A Posture of Courage by Christina Sell The third week of our national lockdown and many yoga teachers around New Zealand, (and the world), have started teaching online. Some teachers are on Facebook Live or pre-recorded classes. I even attended a yoga class based in … [Read more...]
Yoga doesn't just exist in yoga studios. It can also be out there in the community, reaching and serving a wide range of people. Join the conversation about making yoga accessible to all.
Spirit Festival NZ 2020
by Sonya Simpson, An Interview with Franko and Nikki I first shared space with Franko at Soul in Titirangi where he was leading Kirtan to a small and humble gathering. It was, to be honest, quite dazzling, and I left telling everyone who would listen to get along when they could to be part of the experience – because in my words “he wouldn’t be doing it for long”, he had far too much star quality to stick around offering something so… well… humble. I was wrong. A year or two later he … [Read more...]
Cathy Gamba on Mindfulness, Deep Rest & Teaching Yoga in New Caledonia
by Lucinda Staniland Every yoga teacher brings a unique constellation of skills, interest and life history to their teaching practice, and Wellington yoga teacher Cathy Gamba is no exception. Cathy's on her way to becoming a clinical psychologist, has deep roots in the practice of mindfulness and is acutely aware of the connection between physical health and mental health. She's also French, and is stoked to be teaching an upcoming yoga retreat in New Caledonia, a French-speaking Pacific … [Read more...]
The Community Speaks: How Has Yoga Changed Your Relationship With Your Body?
by Lucinda Staniland Bodies are strange things. They are our home—our only means of experiencing and connecting with the world—and yet many of us are profoundly disconnected and cut off from the lived experience of the body. Add to that our collective obsession with the superficial experience of the body, and the relationship becomes even more confusing and complex. We wanted to know how the yoga community are responding to this challenge, so we asked a group of NZ and Australian yoga … [Read more...]
The Community Speaks: What’s The Greatest Challenge Facing The Yoga Community Right Now?
by Lucinda Staniland We want to generate more meaningful and constructive dialogue in the yoga community, especially around the hard questions we face, and to create a space for the community to share their stories and perspectives. So here it is: The Yoga Lunchbox's first edition of our Influencer Roundup, The Community Speaks. This week we asked a handful of influential people in the yoga community to respond to the following question: What's the greatest challenge facing the yoga … [Read more...]
New Editor Appointed to The Yoga Lunchbox
by Kara-Leah Grant Almost six years ago I put an ad in Student Job Search for a Personal Assistant who could help me run The Yoga Lunchbox. The winning applicant was Lucinda Staniland, a young university student who loved yoga. She had a beautiful, open-hearted way about her and was eager to learn. I hired her on the spot, and began the process of teaching her all about Wordpress, Mailchimp, Social Media, and mentoring her in the process of writing articles. Over the last six years, … [Read more...]
The Hottest Yoga & Consciousness Festivals in NZ & Australia
By Lucinda Staniland & Kara-Leah Grant The explosion of yoga in the last decade has also seen an explosion of yoga festivals. Of course, festivals focused on consciousness have been happening for much longer - Prana Festival here in New Zealand had a 25 year history. While it is sadly no more, there are many other festivals that you can attend where you have a high chance of engaging with more conscious folk. This is a list of some of the festivals coming up over the summer festival … [Read more...]
The Best Up-and-Coming Yoga Teachers • New Zealand & Australia
by Kara-Leah Grant & Lucinda Staniland Phew! What a job! We had 243 nominations for 93 teachers for New Zealand & Australia's Best Up-and-Coming Yoga Teachers. Based on the written testimonials from students, and some research of our own, we whittled the 93 down to 22 teachers. Those last 22 teachers we asked three questions: What does teaching yoga mean to you? How do you live your yoga? What's your home yoga practice like? These are the results, in alphabetical … [Read more...]
How I Reconnected with My Inner Goddess at The Great Emptying Out Retreat
By Victoria Bruce I first stumbled across the 2016 Great Emptying Out Yoga Retreat on Facebook and after reading the theme of the retreat – Self-Love – I knew I needed to attend. Why? Because I had a shitload of stuff to empty out and filling that void with some self-love sounded like a brilliant idea. At thirty one years of age, as a journalist and solo mummy to an amazing little soul called Emilie, I often feel like I should have my shit together by now. Yet despite being equipped with … [Read more...]
The Only Two Things Your Children Really Need From You
by Ben Ralston I’ll tell you straight: I didn’t have a clue what to do when my son was born. I had good instincts, I’d read a number of books and done my due diligence, but the stress of the situation I found myself in overwhelmed me. I didn’t have the internal resources to be able to cope because I wasn’t yet a man. I was really a 30 something year old scared little boy, and I found myself way, way, way out of my depth. This is true for the vast majority of Fathers: they aren't men … [Read more...]