by Kara-Leah Grant, Musings from the Mat Earlier this year I took a short workshop with Duncan Peak from Power Living. In the workshop he mentioned the term 'vasana', defining it as character traits or tendencies and he talked about how our practice stirs up these tendencies and brings them into consciousness. Now I'd never heard of vasanas, and struggled to remember the term after the workshop, which happened the day before Wanderlust. The day after Wanderlust, I was driving from … [Read more...]
Search Results for: spiritual
What If The Whole World Practiced Yoga?
by guest author Laura Green What if there were a world where everyone practiced yoga? Human beings, being imperfect as they are, would probably still manage to mess things up. But, on the whole, life would be far better. Anger Management Violence, wars, envy, hatred, greed – they would all be reduced if everyone practiced yoga. Wouldn't it be great if we lived on a planet where, every time someone started feeling these urges, they practiced yoga? Some anger empowers us, urging us on to … [Read more...]
The Eight Essentials of Restorative Yoga
by guest author Neal Ghoshal, Sacred Moves A few years ago I enrolled on my second Yoga Teacher Training course for a year at the Yoga Academy Auckland - I was on a mission to learn more about this practice and to equip myself with as much knowledge as I could. If I was going to teach Yoga, then I wanted to be good at it. About half way through the year, course tutor Jude Hynes gave us a new practice, brought out some Yoga bolsters from the cupboard and introduced us to the wonderful world of … [Read more...]
The Basic Principles of Building a Home Yoga Practice
by Kara-Leah Grant As a yoga teacher, my goal is to inspire my students to practice yoga at home. It's great when people get themselves to classes three times a week, but the true benefits of yoga really start to unfold when you commit to just showing up on your mat by yourself and seeing what happens. In a class, your focus is both internal and external. You're listening to the teacher and watching the demonstrations while also paying attention to what's going on inside of you. When you … [Read more...]
How Compassion Makes Yoga Relevant
by John Guthrie Sitting quietly, the dawn chorus yet to begin, I think of that one word, compassion. The image of a hermit in a cave somewhere comes to mind, and I reflect on this as the embodiment of compassion. Away from the world, yet radiating out the peace that arises from compassion, which has been birthed in the depth of their silence. A place that could just as well have its roots in suffering. There are those whose compassion has arisen from personal suffering. In the last … [Read more...]
What’s the Difference Between Modern and Traditional Ayurveda and How Does it Relate to Yoga?
By Vaidyar Mani and Nicky Hewett, Ancient's Best - Ayurveda & Yoga The word Ayur-Veda specifically means the “Science or Knowledge of Life or Longevity”. In other words, it means ‘how we are to live and manage our life’. An appropriate term to describe Ayur-Veda is ‘The Yoga of Life’. It is a system that - when correctly understood, applied and practiced - leads one to Yoga, our ultimate goal or Dharma. It is a wholly Spiritual system and discipline. As Kara-Leah wrote recently when … [Read more...]
What is an Ayurvedic Consultation and Treatment Plan All About?
by Kara-Leah Grant, Musings from the Mat I went and had an Ayurvedic Consultation recently with the fine folk at Ancient's Best here in Blenheim. I've had a subtle sense of certain bodily functions not performing at optimum for awhile now. Nothing wrong or broken as such... but just a knowing that things need looking at. It's not the kind of thing you can go to the doctor for though - doctors are great at broken arms and clearly defined illnesses and disease but show up with a vague … [Read more...]
How Living Your Yoga Can Mean Taking Parenting Lessons From The Rock (Dwayne Johnson)
by Kara-Leah Grant First night in Napier, staying at my Uncle's house. The TV's on. I haven't lived with a TV for three years. It's novel. I sit to eat my dinner and catch the beginning of a movie. By the time I've finished my dinner, I've grasped the plot and I'm chuckling at the weirdness of the Universe. The movie is about a high-achieving, selfish, self-centered football player who discovers - when she shows up on his doorstep - that he has an eight year old daughter. The plot revolves … [Read more...]
The Terror of Single Parenthood
by Kara-Leah Grant, Musings from the Mat Three years ago this New Year's Eve I took my year old baby boy and left my mentally unstable and addicted partner. I had zero dollars in my bank account, and an ambivalent attitude towards motherhood - something I had chosen under duress because of the pathetic belief it would make my partner happy. Stupidity to the nth degree. It did not make him happy. Instead, a child was brought into an already unstable and messed up relationship. And … [Read more...]
Is Awakening the Evolutionary Destiny of Humanity?
WIN a copy of Kara-Leah’s new book ‘Sex, Drugs & (mostly) Yoga - Field Notes from Kundalini Awakening’, publishing in November 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 I once knew a yoga teacher who would joke how awakening would never happen to her - she wasn’t far enough along the path, or didn’t know enough, or … [Read more...]