by Kara-Leah Grant, Musings from the Mat The day we arrived at Anahata Yoga Retreat, nature and God were both sodden, and the retreat was wrapped in the clouds. I hadn’t thought to check the driving conditions before arriving at Anahata, and Samuel and I were traveling in my long, low, loaded-up station wagon. I made it round the first muddy gravel corner and thought. “Nope, there’s no way I’m going up there.” There was a sense of defeat in letting the road stop me now, after I’d got … [Read more...]
Search Results for: "karma yoga"
Off the mat and into the kitchen
by Valerie Love One of the most rewarding things about practicing yoga is not the physical benefits of the postures on the body, but the way in which the practice of yoga helps to build awareness of oneself and how we interact in the world. The practice of karma yoga, the yoga of service, is just as important as a physical asana practice. As Alan Finger writes in his book, Chakra Yoga: "The success of your yoga practice is not measured by how well you can do the poses or how long you … [Read more...]
How to make your office practice your yoga practice
by Gabrielle Harris Are you too busy at work to become liberated? Would aliens snatch you up out of your office desk for analysis because of that mindless look on your face? Do you want to incorporate more yoga into your daily work life? Here are a few simple tips to turn your office day into a yoga day. One of the definitions of yoga is to become disconnected from the connection to suffering. Going to work can potentially be a breeding ground for suffering. This is where we play out our … [Read more...]
An interview with Swami Samnyasananda, a consultant neurophysiologist
Article courtesy Anahata Yoga Retreat Swami Samnyasananda is a consultant neurophysiologist whose research explores the effects of pranayama, meditation and relaxation on the heart, brain and autonomic nervous systems. He is a Certified Yoga Teacher, Life Member and Fellow of the World Society for Clinical Yoga (Lucknow, India), and has over 30 years of experience in classes, personal tuition & clinical counselling in yoga, meditation, relaxation and stress management (M.B.T.I. … [Read more...]
An Interview with Swami Muktimurti on the Yoga of Sound
Supplied by Anahata Yoga Retreat Anahata Yoga Retreat, just outside of Nelson, is once again hosting Swami Muktimurti from Mangrove Mountain, Australia during the Navaratri (9 nights) celebrations. An expert in Mantra, ancient Sanskrit and singing, Swami Muktimurti and Swami Muktidharma (NZ Acharya) are presenting a retreat focused on Nada Yoga, or the yoga of sound, during this auspicious astrological time. We caught up with her during this retreat to gain some more insight on this … [Read more...]
The beginner’s guide to yoga: Part 2
Part 1 of this series in the Beginner's Guide to Yoga gave you a heads-up on things to be aware of before rocking along to your first yoga class. You might have been to a few classes now and so have got your head around the right clothes to wear, how to fuel your body before and after class, how to position yourself on your mat and how to forget about what other people are thinking. Now it's time to start investigating the process of posture (asana) a little more deeply. It's so easy to … [Read more...]
A yogic exploration of winning the Big Wednesday jackpot
The single most destructive desire present in the human race is the desire "to make money". In the name of "making money", we make slaves of other people, we rape and pillage the earth, we abuse animals, we create inferior products designed to break down and crowd our landfills, we compromise our internal values, we trample over colleagues, we burn ourselves out, we spend more time working than with our family, and we write it all off as "just business". All this because of our burning … [Read more...]
Is asana practice a totally over-rated part of yoga?
Think yoga, and likely you'll think of a person bending their body into a posture. You'll imagine the cover of Yoga Journal and think, that's yoga. Except it's not. It's one aspect of Yoga - Hatha Yoga, or physical yoga. Yoga has many paths one can walk, including Bhakti Yoga, Raja Yoga, Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Tantra Yoga, Mantra Yoga... some of these paths don't involve twisting and turning of the body at all, yet they are still yoga. … [Read more...]