by Kara-Leah Grant On Friday, a friend who is a talented healer, did some energy release work on my shoulders.He stood behind me, pressed into each shoulder and breathed. It was a simple technique and yet I could feel pressure evaporating into the ether.Afterwards he shook his head. You had half a ton of pressure in there. I know this. I feel it and I see it in my body when I watch myself on video - this held tension that isn't so much about the muscles but the underlying … [Read more...]
The videos and articles in this section explore the basis of what yoga really is, and describe ways of how to go about practicing it yourself.
How Many Years of Yoga Practice Does it Take to Get Flexible?
by Kara-Leah Grant This is an impossible questions to answer - at least, to answer definitively, but I'm still going to give it a damn good crack. And with good reason.Despite the fact that yoga has nothing to do whatsoever with flexibility - that flexibility is side benefit of one's yoga practice and no measure of the depth or strength of one's yoga practice - yoga and flexibility are intimately intertwined in the modern idea of yoga.There's good reason for this.We are … [Read more...]
The Well-Seasoned Yogi: Eleven Tips for Older People on Getting Started with Yoga
In celebration of the launch of The No-More-Excuses Guide to Yoga, I’ve invited some friends and colleagues to write articles relating to the theme of the book’s subtitle: Because yoga is for every body. Given that yoga has enormous benefits for staying youthful - that is, being able to move freely even as you age - it's strange that we don't see more media images of older people practicing yoga. It sends the message that yoga isn't for older people which so isn't true. Today's guest author, … [Read more...]
An Overview of Patanjali’s Eight Limbs of Yoga
This article is an edited extract from K-L's new book, The No-More-Excuses Guide to Yoga, from the section called Yoga History, Philosophy and Concepts.It's a huge topic area, but in seven chapters, there is a succinct overview of much of the territory you might come across in yoga class - including Patanjali's Eight Limbs of Yoga. by Kara-Leah Grant, author of The No-More-Excuses Guide to Yoga One of the most famous of the yogic texts is The Yoga Sutras. These were either written … [Read more...]
Launching a Foundational Guide to Yoga for Beginners and Beyond
Pre-orders now open. Shipping September 24. See below.by Kara-Leah Grant Cast your mind back to your very first yoga class. What did it take to get there? Did you have to overcome any fears or hesitancy? Were you nervous? Did a friend take you? Was it a great class - or a bad experience? Did you keep going to yoga, or did you walk away for a few weeks, or months, or years before finally going back? Did it take you a while to find the class and the teacher that was right for you? Most … [Read more...]
How to Find Your Perfect Yoga Class After Relocating
by Andrea Leber, author of BEST of YOGA: Melbourne I’ve lived in Germany, France, Hungary, and Malaysia, then spent seven years in the UK and finally, two years ago, moved to the other side of the world: to Melbourne.Apart from the usual challenges relocating always throws at you (no matter how often you’ve gone through the whole process!) if you’re a dedicated yogi, one particular challenge is finding a new place to roll out your mat.No, not just any yoga studio, but somewhere that … [Read more...]
How to Uncover the Treasures of the Chakras through Yoga
by Kara-Leah Grant Back in 2000 I was living with chronic back pain including agonising spasms, searing sciatica on the right side and a right foot that was half numb, meaning I walked with a limp.I had no faith in doctors because I'd had a spinal fusion eight years earlier (aged 16). I'd felt like like the doctors I'd seen then or since didn't understood my back or what was causing my pain.Yet I dutifully took myself off off to the Whistler Medical Clinic to get x-rays and see if … [Read more...]
Breaking Down, Hitting Blocks and Finding Beginner’s Mind in Ashtanga Yoga
by guest author Pip Bennett At the beginning of this year, I chose love and moved to Costa Rica (from NZ) to be with my partner. In doing so, I left everything I knew behind. Work, family, friends, culture.I have found it hard making the changes. Everything is different. Even on my best days, the smallest things can piss me off or make me miss home. Most of the time I can’t even work out what it is that is so difficult. I have a suspicion that whatever it is, it lies within me, rather than … [Read more...]
Pranayama – It’s Your Medium to the ‘Super Soul’
by guest author L. Farrah Furtado India… the place that heightens the sense of penetration into another worldly reality, or the world beyond this one; a world within a world.I am currently in Mysore, India taking a pranayama, mudra and philosophy course at the Krishnamachar Sri Patanjala Yoga Shala with the famous Guruji, B. N. S. Iyengar. (Not to be confused with B. K. S. Iyengar).This entails taking an hour class with him every day and practicing pranayama six days a week for four … [Read more...]
How Understanding the Kleshas and Gunas Helps Your Asana Practice
by Kara-Leah Grant Asana is a powerful tool to access our psyches, release tension in the body and help us understand the hidden aspects of Self. Practicing asana gives us the opportunity to observe our relationship with the postures, with our bodies, with our minds and with our breath. This relationship is what reveals ourselves to ourselves.In other words, paying attention to questions like this is how we use asana to awaken.Are you liking the pose? Disliking the pose? Or are … [Read more...]