by Sonya Simpson, When Donna Farhi was mentioned as a speaker at the Hauora Yoga conference I knew that I would move heaven and earth to attend. She is a teacher from my yoga lineage, she wrote the book Yoga Mind, Body & Spirit that I carry around all dog eared and tatty (the book not me… well, sometimes me as well) and I feel that it is a rare thing that brings her out of her cosy place of residence to speak with us in Auckland. The Hauora Yoga Conference was just that rare … [Read more...]
Search Results for: donna farhi
Yoga Therapy in New Zealand: A Panel Discussion
One of the many conversations we explored at the inaugural Hauora Yoga Conference was about yoga therapy in New Zealand. This conversation took the form of a panel discussion with with a range of esteemed local and international yoga experts: Donna Farhi, Katie Lane, Jac Wilson, Leanne Davis and Felicity Molloy, and hosted by the wonderful J. Brown. In addition to being an outstanding MC, J. also recorded the entire discussion and uploaded it to the J. Brown Yoga Talks … [Read more...]
On Forgiveness, Redemption & #MeToo in the Yoga Community
by Donna Farhi, Now that the finger has been let out of the dam, there’s been a deluge of #metoo stories coming from our Yoga community. When we do start naming names, what then? In the past, even when teachers have been revealed for serious breaches of conduct, many of those same teachers were immediately forgiven without skipping a beat, and continued onwards with their glorious careers, seemingly unscathed. A recent article in a New Zealand newspaper by Michele A’Court called “Redemption … [Read more...]
Note to a Younger Self: Systemic Abuse & Individual Response in Yoga
by Donna Farhi, On December 16, 2017, the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse delivered a landmark report; the conclusion of an extraordinary five year investigation into systemic and decades long abuse within the Catholic Church. The upshot of this broad sweeping report is the conclusion that the Catholic Church can no longer continue to operate within the protective insularity of it’s own institution and may soon be forced through new government … [Read more...]
Being Wonder Woman: Yoga & Feminism
By Sam Loe, Originally published on samloe.yoga I will admit that I thoroughly enjoyed the Wonder Woman movie featuring Gal Gadot. I loved watching a super-goddess with powers of courage, strength and age-defying perfection on the big screen. It makes a change from the usual Hollywood, male-dominated super-heroes anyway. In fact, I went to see it with a bunch of my good girlfriends last year and we came straight home from the cinema and raided the kid's dressing up box and used the … [Read more...]
Deepening • The Yoga of Life
9 Questions To Ask Before You Host a Travelling Yoga Teacher
by Kara-Leah Grant Hosting a travelling yoga teacher can be a successful and profitable venture for a yoga studio - if done right! It can use up "dead time" in the studio. It opens up an additional income stream. It can bring in students that don't usually come to the studio, some of whom may come back. It can increase the exposure and awareness of the host studio in the marketplace. It can educate and inspire the studio's student base. And it can be the beginning of an … [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...]
What Is iRest® Yoga Nidra Meditation and How Can It Help You?
by Neal Ghoshal, Sacred Moves As the popularity of Yoga continues to expand, more and more people are being drawn into practices beyond Yoga asana (posture), into breath work, into meditation, into the subtler aspects of the tradition. One of the practices that is becoming increasingly lauded is Yoga Nidra. I first came across Yoga Nidra back in 2003 when learning to teach at the Ashram Yoga School in Parnell, Auckland. Ashram Yoga, a Satyananda style inspired Yoga school, included Yoga Nidra … [Read more...]
How to Maximize Your Potential as a Yoga Teacher
by Neal Ghoshal When I started teaching Yoga thirteen years ago I thought I'd be showing anybody who turned up to class a few Yoga postures and hopefully they'd enjoy themselves. Yet Yoga seems to have its own plans and it's own drive. Teaching Yoga has lead me on unexpected journeys and to unforeseen places. And it appears to be the same with many who come to Yoga - at first, we do not realise the power and the beauty of the practice to transform our lives. A few years down the line we … [Read more...]