Image: Pete Longworth by Susan Pryor, Kara-Leah Grant's third book, Sex, Drugs and (mostly) Yoga: Field Notes from a Kundalini Awakening, is an epic auto-biographical journey spanning fourteen years of Kara-Leah's life. The journey begins in an acute psyche ward in Vancouver where Kara-Leah found herself after her first psychotic episode involving hallucinogenic drugs. Kara-Leah, a practicing yogini, went from being a freedom-loving 29-year-old engaged to-be-married party girl … [Read more...]
Proprioception: Some Practical Tips to Reconnect the Disconnected
Legskin tights by Courage My Love Clothing by Sonya Simpson, Early in my yoga teaching career, I guided a group of five website developers in a corporate ‘one-off’ that a young, confident business owner from Sydney arranged. He called it a chance for his staff to do ‘something different’. Within the practice I guided a tall lanky man with an awkward gait through a chilled, gentle practice. He was clearly uncomfortable on the yoga mat. I got the impression that he felt anxious … [Read more...]
The Powerful Benefits of Yoga for Teenagers
by Charlotta Martinus, TeenYoga “All of my friends smoke a spliff every day and/or take medication, either to help them sleep, or to combat anxiety or depression or for ADHD. Those drugs get shared around and sold, especially during exams.”Niall, age 17 In an uncertain world, young people are turning to coping strategies that are available to them. The medications that are designed to support those with anxiety and depression are not licensed for use among those under 18 years old and even … [Read more...]
How to Claim Back the Freedom of your Body with Interoceptive Awareness
By Sonya Simpson, Interoception, sometimes considered the 8th sense, is the felt sense or mindfulness of the body, and Interoceptive awareness is the ability to process the signals you receive from your body. Some examples of this are; levels of energy and how to respond, pain and what to do with it, and sickness and its interpretation. Well-developed interoception has been shown to increase resilience [1], help with emotional regulation [2], improve health and wellbeing [3], support pain … [Read more...]
Top 10 Best Yoga Articles of 2018
LoveLake Festival – rocking the best hugs ever. Demonstrated here by Jase Te Patu and Luke Tomlinson. Photo by Cameron Sims of Plant Culture. by Lucinda Staniland, In the last days of my 2018 work year, I couldn't shake a nagging feeling that I'd forgotten to do something important... After much racking of my brain and searching of my to-do lists, I decided that I'd just have to leave it and moved on to packing my bags and preparing for a family holiday. And finally, just when I … [Read more...]
A Review of the Hauora Yoga Conference 2018
by Lucinda Staniland, On a rainy Saturday morning in Auckland, I found myself in a packed auditorium, with around 85 yoga teachers and students, and several hundred fitness professionals, listening to renowned international yoga teacher Donna Farhi give a keynote presentation on interoception and kinesthesia. As Donna lead us through ten slow diaphragmatic breaths, the whole audience dropped into deep, yet focused, stillness. There were so many magical moments like this at the Hauora Yoga … [Read more...]
How Patanjali’s ‘Atha’ Applies to Everyday Life
by Heather Robinson, In that moment. In that moment something holds me – here on my yoga mat, here I stand ready for practice, here I am connecting …. Then it happens - Did I switch my phone off? Do I need to check?..... Now I follow my breath with its gentle rhythm, compelling and calming me, now I’m connecting…… Or am I?? I forgot to make that phone call, will I remember later? Is my phone off? Sound familiar? You’re not alone! Thankfully, there is guidance and incentive. Millennia … [Read more...]
Could All Yoga Classes be Trauma-Informed?
by Sandra Palmer, Integrative Therapy For most of us reading this article, entering a yoga studio and completing a yoga class will be taken for granted. We may not think twice about wearing tight and revealing yoga clothing. We may be able to follow the yoga teacher’s instructions with ease - some with more grace than others! Sadly, there are many people for whom attending a yoga class is very difficult or even impossible. This is particularly so for those who experienced trauma in their … [Read more...]
Why The 3 Bandhas Are Not Optional in Yoga
by Daniel Fow, Cardinal Points: Healing Arts All of the muscles in the body need to be exercised, stretched and worked with. Most of us know this, and we do yoga, go to the gym, walk, hike, run, or do some sort of work with our skeletal muscles. But these muscles are all generally on the outside surface of the body, either on top of our skeleton or immediately beneath. What we often tend to forget about is the importance of muscles that exist on the inside of the body. The pelvic diaphragm … [Read more...]
Why I Don’t Go To Yoga Classes Anymore (But Maybe I Will)
by Lucinda Staniland I have a confession to make. Even though I practice yoga every day and work for a yoga website, I haven’t regularly attended yoga classes in years. My home yoga practice is consistent and serious, I'm constantly consulting my bookcase of yoga books, and I attend the occasional one-on-one session with a teacher. But yoga classes? That thing where you join a group of people to be led through asana and perhaps some pranayama and meditation? The answer used to be, … [Read more...]