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Patanjali’s Five Key Attitudes for Committing to Your Yoga Practice

January 13, 2016 by Kara-Leah Grant 1 Comment

by Kara-Leah Grant Today was Day 300 of a Tantric yoga practice I'm doing, which got me reflecting on what it takes to commit to yoga. Every day, no matter what, I sit and do this particular yoga practice, which consists of seated spinal rotations with pranayama, chanting with visualisation and mudra, and meditation. My intention is to do 1000 days in a row - that's almost three years of dedicated, committed practice. If I miss a day, I have to start again on Day 1. It's taken me over fifteen … [Read more...]

Filed Under: The Foundations Tagged With: committment, Forty Day Practices, patanjali, tantra, Yoga Sutras, Yogic texts

When Overwhelming Thoughts Take Over Your Restorative Yoga Practice

November 27, 2015 by Guest Author 1 Comment

By Nityda Bhakti, The Yoga Wellness Space Yoga is a practice of turning inward or pratyahara (withdrawal of the senses). It can be hard to do this at times in a more rigorous yoga class, especially for those still learning the poses and therefore needing to fix their focus to others in the room in an effort to get their bodies into the right position. Restorative yoga allows us the space to hold poses for longer, with the support of props, so that we don’t have to use physical effort to do … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Practices Tagged With: breathwork, centering, distracting, emotions, grounding, how to yoga, meditation, mental health, mindfulness, overwhelming emotions in yoga, practice, pranayama, pratyahara, restorative yoga, stress management, stress reduction, tolerating discomfort, yoga chitta vritti nirodha, yoga for anxiety, yoga for depression, yoga for trauma, yoga skills, yoga therapy

Discard Your ‘Intentions’, just do Your Yoga and Pass the Ketchup

November 10, 2015 by Guest Author Leave a Comment

By David Cary I came to yoga in the early 2000s quite by accident. At the time I was struggling with ‘a big move’. Yoga was calming, and of course being in a room graced by a sprinkling of beautiful people did help. I finished one term, and, not knowing, moved to the next level class. Was that a mistake! Suddenly it was filled with lentil eaters, ujai breathers, spiritual people and other misfits from the fringes of society. And it was hard. That was the end. A year or so later, I found … [Read more...]

Filed Under: The Foundations Tagged With: calm, meditation, yoga, yoga teacher

Is Laughter Yoga Really Yoga or just Another Fad?

August 10, 2015 by Guest Author Leave a Comment

Laughter Yoga at Prana

by G-Love aka Gareth Edwards "I loved the laughing yoga, but it's not really yoga." I hear something like this every time I run sessions in a yoga context like a teacher's studio, yoga retreat or festival. For me this is the best possible response, because it means we did yoga together and nobody noticed. Like a mother who sneaks fresh vegetables into her children's meals, I managed to get a bit of goodness inside us all without battling the whine of 'aww but mum, I don't want to eat veggies … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Practices Tagged With: Gareth Edwards, laughter yoga, positive psychology

Further Yoga Lessons in Bone Compression and Anatomical Limitations

August 4, 2015 by Kara-Leah Grant Leave a Comment

My poor ankle flexion means my knees don't move forward at all - compared to Taisuke beside me with beautiful ankle flexion.

by Kara-Leah Grant This week in my Ashtanga practice I've been exploring and playing with two joints in particular - my ankle joints and wrist joints. Thanks to a Yin Yoga workshop, I've identified that I have a limited range of movement in both of these joints - less than the normal range. The only posture that my limited ankle mobility appears to impact in the Primary Series (I'm up to Bhujapidasana (Shoulder-Pressing Pose)) is Utkatasana (Chair Pose). Prior to the realisation about my … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Physical Practices, Practices Tagged With: ankle flexion, ashtanga, Bhujapidasana, bone compression, wrists extension, Yin Yoga

How Bone Compression Prevents Me from Doing Bhujapidasana

July 21, 2015 by Kara-Leah Grant 7 Comments

My natural wrist extension, with internal force only.

By Kara-Leah Grant I've been aware of the role that bone compression plays in our range of movement since watching a series of Paul Grilley videos on YouTube. Yet despite knowing this intellectually, it wasn't until I attended a Yin Yoga Workshop with Karin Sang and Markus Henning Giess of Yin Therapy that I realised how bone compression was impacting my yoga practice. Over the course of the day, Markus lead us through several bone compression tests so we could determine our natural range of … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Physical Practices, Practices Tagged With: bone compression, Karin Sang, Markus Henning Giess, Utkatasana, wrist extension, Yin Therapy, Yin Yoga

Is Meditation Dangerous?

July 7, 2015 by Kara-Leah Grant 4 Comments

by Kara-Leah Grant I got a call from a journalist at the Waikato Times who wanted to interview me for an article on the 'pros and cons' of meditation. I wasn't sure if I could help her out - after all, I don't teach meditation - however it turned out she wanted to interview me about my experience of awakening and psychosis. Ah... I was to be the con in the article. Yes, meditation is dangerous, it can send you crazy! I pondered whether to do it or not. I understand journalism and how most … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Meditation Practices, Practices Tagged With: awakening, dangerous, media, meditation, psychosis, Relationship

What Are We Really Doing in Asana? Online Interactive Workshops on Injury Prevention in Yoga

July 2, 2015 by Kara-Leah Grant Leave a Comment

by Kara-Leah Grant Last August, I interviewed Matthew Remski almost a year ago about his project What Are We Really Doing in Asana?, investigating yoga and injury. He's been doing great work and has interviewed hundreds of yoga practitioners about their history of yoga injury - a topic that was largely taboo or silent until this conversation began. The articles that Matthew has written, and the interviews that he's done, are all going towards a book that he's writing. But in the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Reviews Tagged With: asana, Matthew Remski, online workshop, yoga injury

Donna Farhi on How to Find True Alignment in Your Yoga Practice

June 22, 2015 by Guest Author Leave a Comment

By Donna Farhi, Yoga teacher and author When I first began formal Yoga Teaching Training, yoga postures were taught as a series of check-lists, with a point-by-point focus on each and every body part. While this Simon-Says approach of monkey see, monkey do led to a pretty successful replication of a picture, it seemed to bypass the internal process of feeling one’s own body experience and learning how to find one’s alignment from that felt experience. As the years went on I began to feel … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Physical Practices, Practices, Teaching Insights Tagged With: alignment, biological blueprint for movement, embody, empowering, human developmental movement patterns, instinctual alignment process, teaching, workshop, yoga postures

Home Yoga Practice Question: How do I Work with Alignment When I Can’t See Myself? {video}

June 11, 2015 by Kara-Leah Grant 1 Comment

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...]

Filed Under: Home Yoga Practice, Home Yoga Practice Video

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