by Kara-Leah Grant Back in 2001, movement specialist Tom Myers published a book called Anatomy Trains. In it, he put forward an idea that was to forever change the way that people understood "stretching" - a systems-oriented view of our musculo-skeletal anatomy. That is, that when we stretch, we're not just stretching separate and individual muscles, but that we're also working with fascia, which is a webbing overlaid and connecting all muscles. This book was born out of the work that Tom … [Read more...]
A selection of useful resources to kick-start (or supplement) your yoga practice. You will find videos, articles, how-to guides, and more. Enjoy!
The First Step to Consciously Heal Anything
by Ben Ralston The first step in truly healing anything - which means uprooting the cause of the problem - is to take responsibility for the problem. Many of us begin this journey by getting on the yoga mat. However, sometimes, that’s not enough. At the root of all our problems - everything that needs healing today - is trauma. At some point in our lives (or in the lives of our ancestors) a trauma was experienced that wasn’t completed. As a result, we now experience problems - like anxiety … [Read more...]
A Review of Wanderlust Great Lake Taupo 2016
by Kara-Leah Grant Holy Wanderlust. What a trip. It began like it ended last year - with Pete Longworth. We’ve become amazing friends over the last year since meeting at Wanderlust Great Lake Taupo 2015 (one of the best things about this gathering - the quality of friendships you form) and this year, Pete flew out early to hang with me. We drove over on Wednesday, stopping at Kerosene Creek to do a four hour photo shoot. There’s almost a novel in that experience alone. Suffice to say that I … [Read more...]
Top Ten Best Yoga Articles of 2015
by Kara-Leah Grant I love checking the data and seeing which articles came up tops out of the 100+ that The Yoga Lunchbox published in 2015. After awhile, you start seeing the patterns. First are my personal articles which detail my breakdowns and breakthroughs on everything from men to my yoga practice to my relationship with teaching and money. People love these articles and respond with lots of comments and messages, and of course, views. Then there are the articles that I write … [Read more...]
My Private Yoga Session with Vincent Bolletta
by Kara-Leah Grant Ever since I interviewed Vincent Bolletta last year I've wanted to do a private yoga session with him. I knew from that interview that this was a man who knew his yoga inside out, on the energetic and physical level. Over the last few years, I've worked with a couple of teachers, both teaching in the Ashtanga lineage, Peter Sanson and Paul Scrivener. The problem is, I'm not an Ashtangi yogi and while I deeply respect the intelligence of the Ashtanga sequence, it's not … [Read more...]
A Review of Prana Box – Your Monthly Subscription Self-Care Package
by Kara-Leah Grant I am not a luxury kind of woman. At least, I can really enjoy luxuries when they present themselves to me, but I don't tend to seek them out or spend money on them. Part of that is because I run a tight ship, choosing freedom, passion and creativity over money - although I'm not suggesting that these things are in any way mutually exclusive either! It's just the way the cookie has crumbled over the last few years for me. ... but I digress! This week a box of luxury … [Read more...]
Win a Scholarship to The Great Emptying Out Spring Yoga Retreat
by Kara-Leah Grant One thing has become very clear to me over the past year or so - how very complex our lives have become, and how full we are as human beings. Very few of us have space on a daily basis to just sit and chill - without a phone, without a book, without the TV on, without a hundred and one things running through our minds, without even a practice we feel like we should be doing. When Helen Thomas and I sat down to discuss how we should theme our yoga retreat, my … [Read more...]
Russell Brand’s ‘Revolution’ – A Book Review, of sorts {Video}
by Kara-Leah Grant If you prefer video over reading, click here to jump to the end and watch my video review of Revolution. The article doesn't review the book so much as give relevant background. Russell Brand first entered my consciousness when I saw a clip of him via Facebook being interview on MSNBC (below). In the eight minute interview, he reduced one female interviewer to a quivering heap of hormones with his mere presence while stepping outside the proscribed boundaries of a … [Read more...]
What Are We Really Doing in Asana? Online Interactive Workshops on Injury Prevention in Yoga
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...]
A Review of the Shakti Mat – A Modern Bed of Nails
by Kara-Leah Grant Running a popular yoga website means I get all kinds of emails from people wanting me to review or share about their yoga-related products and services. My favourite so far was the press release from a company launching a range of yoga shoes. Because we all know you wear shoes while practicing yoga right? So I was sceptical when Jonathan from Shakti Mat New Zealand emailed me ask said he'd send me a free Shakti Mat if I did a review about it. Road-testing, assessing and … [Read more...]