by Kara-Leah Grant, Musings from the Mat It's post-Bali yoga teacher training with the crew from Power Living and I am totally spaced out. I don't know whether I'm coming or going. One minute I was in conversation with Duncan & the PLAY crew poolside at Potatohead in Seminyak, then I was in a taxi and off to the airport, flying for eight hours overnight, arriving the next day in Auckland, driving 2.5 hours to Tauranga to pick up Samuel, sleeping some more, and driving four hours to … [Read more...]
Search Results for: Shiva Rea
How to Cultivate your Core and Radiate through Your Limbs {video}
by Kara-Leah Grant Welcome to the second in this series of Yoga Explorations. This week we're going to continue building on our sequence while exploring a second pair of breath movements. Tuning into these two breaths - inhaling and cultivating the core, exhaling and radiating through the limbs - helps us to find strength and integrity in postures. But for many of us, tuning into the breath movements within the pose can be difficult. We struggle to keep our awareness on the breath … [Read more...]
Kundalini Awakenings: Symptoms, Process, Benefits, Support & Help
WIN a copy of Kara-Leah's new book 'Field Notes from Kundalini Awakening', publishing in 2018. Guaranteed to take you on an intimate journey into the depths of the Kundalini experience. Click here to sign up for the book launch list and go into the draw to win one of THREE print copies. by Kara-Leah Grant Whether you've had a Kundalini Awakening, are curious about the process of awakening Kundalini, think you might have some of the symptoms of a Kundalini Awakening or are looking for … [Read more...]
Getting back on the bandwagon: The evolution of a home practice
by Kara-Leah Grant, Musings from the Mat I'm practicing again, most days. Happened as soon as I arrived in Glenorchy and put Samuel back into childcare. It happened because I made it a priority. It happened because I knew I needed it. Craved it even. It happened because I wanted it. It wasn't that I'd ever stopped practicing - I still was. Every day I taught yoga, I practiced asana. At home, I practiced bits and pieces or asana here and there, a seated session after dinner, a … [Read more...]
Yoga Explorations # 3: Music can move us into our practice
by Kara-Leah Grant Joy's been on my mind this week. Mostly because I was noticing a lack. Understandable - my life has been intense, on many levels, over the last few weeks. Seems just when I think I've got one area or aspect mastered, the stakes are upped again. That's cool. I can deal. But if I don't watch it, I can also get way too serious. Fortunately, I also have a magic tonic. Anytime I start getting too somber, too depressing, too serious, too stressed out, too hung up on life's ups … [Read more...]
Free your pelvis and the rest will follow
by Kara-Leah Grant Years of yoga practice and yoga teaching has taught me that our ability to freely move our pelvis is a key aspect to unlocking our spines, and releasing any chronic low back issues or holding patterns. I've also learned that it's not always the muscles, ligaments and tendons that are locking our pelvis in place. It can be our minds. Yes, the psyche can affect the way that our pelvis moves. Fortunately, over time, yoga practice can unlock both the physical body and the … [Read more...]
Dude, where’s my teacher?!
I've been totally short-changed on my yoga journey. Never once have I had a Real Yoga Teacher. You know - the kind you have an on-going relationship with.. the kind who supports your yoga journey parsing out morsels of wisdom and insight at the exact moment you need them... the kind who's interested in your development and answers all your questions. Nope, thanks to some cruel twist of fate, I've been left to blunder through the mine field of yoga all by my lonesome. Partly this … [Read more...]
Why I almost gave up teaching yoga
After spending two weeks in LA fulfilling a dream and doing Prana Flow yoga teaching with Shiva Rea, I thought I'd come home all fired up to teach kick-arse yoga classes. Instead, getting out of my car on a dreary Monday evening in Dunedin to teach my one and only yoga class a week at The Dunedin Yoga Studio, I felt... irritated. Yup. Ir-eeeeeee-tated. I dragged my feet up the stairs (all three flights - so worth the climb for yoga when you're next in Dunedin). And then I felt like … [Read more...]
My third eye’s a’twitchin’ – does that mean she’s awakening?
WIN a copy of Kara-Leah's new book 'Field Notes from Kundalini Awakening', publishing in 2018. Guaranteed to take you on an intimate journey into the depths of the Kundalini experience. Click here to sign up for the book launch list and go into the draw to win one of THREE print copies. By Kara-Leah Grant My third eye has been twitching all afternoon, a sensation which started during my recent trip to LA for teacher training with Shiva Rea. The last time I can remember it doing this I was … [Read more...]
Integrating Tantra practices into daily life
One of the most amazing experiences of my Prana Flow teacher training with Shiva Rea was our morning meditation and lecture sessions with Chris Tompkins, something I'll go into detail about in a future post. I've long wanted to establish an early morning practice, and having to be there most mornings at 7am for 12 days has done this. I was able to witness the effect of just sitting and connecting to the Self, the effect of using bija mantras every morning, and the way it set my entire day … [Read more...]