by Kara-Leah Grant I was in the car, catching a ride to Day 3 of a three-day workshop with Ana Forrest & Jose Calarco. Nikki - giving me a ride - and I were talking about mountains and the energy they embody. I was sharing my recent experiences in Glenorchy, where I would sit outside at sunset and do my practice. My practice! My 1000 Day practice... The one I was up to Day 617 on... The one I... DIDN'T do yesterday. In that moment, I remembered. And shock hit. A wave of shock … [Read more...]
10 Things I’ve Noticed After Practicing Yoga Every Day For Two Weeks
By Sandi White, Breath and Beyond Two weeks ago I set out on a quest to conquer forty days of home yoga practice. It wasn’t something I had ever really thought I could or would do. However, after reading Kara-Leah Grant’s book, Forty Days of Yoga, I felt compelled to start. I am now two weeks into my journey and this is what I have discovered so far. 1. Yoga may not change my life experiences, but it can help me to deal with them. This past week I have been dealing with a range of … [Read more...]
How to Activate Your Chakras, Unlock Your Asana Practice & Make Your Heart Sing
By Premaloka, Yoga on Waiheke Join Premloka for her Awakened Heart Yoga Retreats and Workshops: Raglan, New Zealand 28th-30th October 2016 Kovalam, India August/September 2017. Find out more here. Would you like more Happiness in your life? Would you like your practice to not only be connected to the physical body, the mind, and your breath, but to also transform you emotionally? Through working directly with the chakras and then connecting with the Bhavas (the body’s emotional … [Read more...]
Home Yoga Practice: What Counts if You Are a Yoga Teacher?
by Kara-Leah Grant A few months ago I wrote an article stating that if you teach yoga, you must have a daily self-practice. That article was widely shared, and read. And it triggered some strong reactions. There were comments, and emails where people shared with me the reasons why they couldn't practice yoga every day. Some of these teachers were only teaching one class a week, on top of working 50+ hour jobs, and they were often teaching disadvantaged groups. They felt like what they were … [Read more...]
How I Dropped the Ball on Day 338 of My 1000 Day Practice
by Kara-Leah Grant Today is Day 138 of a 1000 Day practice I'm doing. It should be about Day 500. But earlier this year, on Day 338 something happened and I dropped the ball. I've been doing Forty Day practices for nearly a decade now. At first, it took great dedication, commitment and mindfulness to practice yoga every day for forty days in a row, especially when I was doing the same practice each day. I learned so much about myself, how my mind worked, and where I was sabotaging … [Read more...]
The Difference between Practicing Yoga Postures and Having a Yoga Practice
by Kara-Leah Grant There are many people doing yoga poses today, but there are far less people who have a yoga practice. Postures are everywhere - Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, advertising, magazines, yoga classes, yoga retreats, yoga teacher trainings. However, postures do not make a yoga practice. A yoga practice requires at least two other important elements before it can serve it's purpose - that of self-realisation, or of waking the practitioner up from the dream of Maya … [Read more...]
Learn How to Practice Yoga By Yourself with MYOGA Online School
by Melissa Billington, MYOGA Online School My partner loves chess and when he asked me to play I said I’d be willing to try, but that backgammon is my game. Chess seems too complicated - too many things to keep track of and too many possibilities. I like the mix of math, chance and skill that backgammon requires. And it plays out quickly. However, I really like this guy so I sat down with him and he explained the name of each piece and where it could move. It was tedious and I was still … [Read more...]
Home Yoga Practice Question: How do I Work with Alignment When I Can’t See Myself? {video}
by Kara-Leah Grant This week, Bianca had this question. I always find it difficult to keep my hips balanced without a mirror....where should I feel that I'm balanced? I often get corrected when it actually felt right to me. Seeing it though in a before and after picture I was way off. How do I know where balanced alignment is in my home yoga practice? - Bianca It's a great question and one that will apply to many people, so I thought I would answer it in this short article and … [Read more...]
Restorative Yoga: Exploring Supported Child’s Pose In-depth
By Neal Ghoshal, Sacred Moves A little while ago I wrote an article on the eight essential principles of Restorative Yoga. Since then I've been continuing to delve deep into this beautiful practice. Deep rest is always calling! I'm happy to be sharing some more … and one of the most profoundly restful of the Restorative postures is Supported Child's Pose (Salamba Balasana). This is a posture which many find deliciously comforting and relaxing, perhaps because it tunes us into a time when … [Read more...]
How to use Feldenkrais Technique to Free up Your Yoga {video}
by Kara-Leah Grant I first came across Feldenkrais in a yoga teacher taught by a friend in Wellington - Oli Wiles. He was smitten with the technique and skilfully wove it through his yoga teaching to great benefit. Now that I've been practicing yoga for almost two decades, I've also become very interested in how the body opens up, or doesn't open up. From my own experience I can see that it's not a simple equation of doing x, y, or z posture enough times and achieving your optimum range of … [Read more...]