Screenprint by Dyana Wells by Dyana Wells, Open Ground School of Meditation & Somatic Enquiry In the modern world, there is a tendency for us to live exclusively through our conceptual minds. We live in bubble worlds of thoughts and emotions, rather than in the world of direct experience. The body, however, experiences itself and the world directly. It is shaped – moment to moment – by its direct interaction with life. The conceptual mind sees the world through the filter … [Read more...]
Pranayama: It’s Not All Mung Beans & Tofu
Image by Benjamin Balazs from Pixabay by Mary Watson, My passion for Pranayam was fostered during a 3-year sojourn at the Sivananda Yoga Centre/Ashram in Henderson, Auckland, in the mid-1980s; over 34 years later, I still feel excited about it. To this day, the old tradition of unifying body, mind, and breath into one practice continues to teach me. Having the good fortune to learn from my teacher standing/sitting next to me for 3 years, sharing his then 47 years of practice, … [Read more...]
The Transformative Practice of Yoga Mudras
by Swami Karma Karuna, Anahata Yoga Retreat Whether consciously or unconsciously, the way we gesture or carry ourselves in physical attitudes throughout the day has the capacity to influence health, interactions, physiology and more. Using the body to express something or to communicate a feeling underlies many of our interactions in an unspoken way. Mudras, the ancient science of creating gestures with the hands, head or whole body, is a powerful and subtle yogic practice that is often … [Read more...]
When Yoga Isn’t Enough: The Importance of Varying Your Movement
Photo by Anupam Mahapatra on Unsplash by Lucinda Staniland Movement. It’s a big deal. Humans move often, and in varied ways, and when we don’t do this (like when we sit for 8+ hours a day which is the norm in many countries now) there are consequences. Most of us will have experienced some of these consequences in our own bodies to some extent, whether that's through pain, injuries, disease or other physical challenges. In recent times, yoga has become increasingly … [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...]
How to Use The Power of The Second Chakra to Access Joy
by Sherida Mullings, Purusha Yogi The extra bit of sunlight has not gone unnoticed or unappreciated. While teaching a class the other day, I noticed one on my students squinting as rays of sunlight streamed directly into her eyes. It was 8:10 pm and the sun was just going down. I thought back to just a few months ago when it was dark and depressing at only 6:30 pm and I smiled as I said to my class, “Take a breath and take in the last moments of the daylight.” How glorious it is to feel the … [Read more...]
Donna Farhi on How to Release the Psoas & Resolve Back Pain
by Donna Farhi, co-author of Pathways to a Centered Body: Gentle Yoga Therapy for Core Stability, Healing Back Pain, and Moving with Ease. A recent collation of several back pain studies in America revealed that 8 out of every 10 Americans will have back problems at some point during their lifetimes, yet only one in ten people find out the primary cause of their pain. A further 54 percent of Americans who experience low back pain spend the majority of their workday sitting, a position that … [Read more...]
The Simple Trick That Transformed My Meditation Practice
by Lucinda Staniland I'm a perfectionist. I love getting things exactly right. So when I got interested in meditation, I had a lot of questions about how I should be doing it: How long should I meditate for? Eyes open or closed? Should I focus on the breath or chant a mantra? Visualise chakras or empty my mind completely? I tried all these things. But somehow, no matter what I did, I felt like I was never quite getting it right. Meditation always felt like hard work to me. It was … [Read more...]
Swami Karma Karuna on Yoga Nidra Training & Our Great Need For Restorative Practices
by Kara-Leah Grant Yoga Nidra has long been an important and regular part of my yoga practice. I found it invaluable when I had a newborn baby, as a way to rest and restore in less than twenty minutes. And, even more interesting, after doing it consistently for over a decade, I'm starting to reap some of the more esoteric benefits of the practice that Swami Karma Karuna describes below. For these reasons, I'm delighted to see that Anahata Yoga Retreat is holding a Yoga Nidra Instructor … [Read more...]
A Yoga Poem to Brighten Your Practice: Parivritta Janu Sirsasana
By Leza Lowitz, Sun and Moon Yoga Poems can be a window in to the powerful, but often subtle, transformations that occur as part of the practice of yoga. This poem, taken from Leza Lowitz's collection, Yoga Poems: Lines to Unfold By, is a delicate exploration of the physical and spiritual dimensions of Parivrtta Janu Sirsasana. Also check out Leza's recent article, Living Your Gifts: Six Steps to Awakening a Yogic Heart. Parivritta Janu Sirsasana revolving knee to head Deep in the … [Read more...]