by guest author Peter Fernando, A Month of Mindfulness This interview is part of a one hour conversation I had with Zoë, a former Buddhist nun, in April 2012. You can the rest of her insightful and heartfelt reflections on the Month of Mindfulness blog, here. Peter: You seem to have a fluidity in terms of your relationship to spiritual forms. Looking at your path so far, there seems to be a real sense of an understanding of the transparency of forms, as well as a great respect for them. … [Read more...]
Search Results for: spiritual
How yoga helped me… find a truer and happier version of myself
by guest author Keron Martin, entrant in Vitality Link's Yoga Teacher Training Scholarship Competition For the last three years I have been practicing Vinyasa Yoga and it has changed my life, slowly and profoundly. It has led me to a truer and happier version of myself. The calm that Yoga presented to me was so incredible and lasting that I could not wait for the next opportunity to practice - this coming from someone who had always run on two speeds; fast and faster. When I was younger I … [Read more...]
Thinking of Quitting Your Job to Teach Yoga? 10 Questions to Ask First
by guest author Louise Thompson, Positive Balance Are you working in corporate but dreaming of jacking it all in to be a yoga teacher? Do you fantasize of days wafting about from class to class, no rush, and no hurry? It seems like nirvana as you struggle to focus on yet another board presentation. But, (as you can see from Kara-Leah’s excitement over her new job), is it? Is teaching yoga all leisurely days and packed classes and a blissed out existence? Having escaped corporate life … [Read more...]
Today I found my inner witch, and she denounced yoga
by guest author Emma Furness, former owner of The Dunedin Yoga Studio She has been in hiding – except those inevitable moments when repressed witches burst out in frustration, or the times women get together and end up cackling about blood and childbirth and the dirty body. As I felt into my wild, hook-nosed, barefoot old witch, I felt very earthed in my soft, dark, power-filled heart. This was strangely different from what I imagined I would feel once I let her loose to tell her … [Read more...]
10 reasons why I’m excited to choose corporate work over teaching yoga
by Kara-Leah Grant, Musings from the Mat Oh yes loyal Lunchboxers, after weighing up what I need in my life right now, I've decided to forgo trying to earn a living wage as a yoga teacher and website publisher, and instead head back into the workplace. I've been sprucing up my CV, writing cover letters, and getting in touch with recruitment agencies. It feels GREAT! Normally the story we hear is about people getting disillusioned with working for a living, with being in the corporate … [Read more...]
Breaking down my self-made prison through truth
by guest author Seka Ojdrovic-Phillips The practice brought me to Denver for 27 days of karmic hell and dharmic euphoria. The practice reincarnated 28 years of emotional bullshit compost into rich spiritual soil. The practice destroyed the facade of "reality" in terms of conditioning and societal truths. I died in the practice. The practice brought me back to life. I realized this all at about 5:30 in the morning on Week Two of my Forrest Yoga Teacher Training. It was finger-numbingly … [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...]
Dude, Love is the Guru
by Kara-Leah Grant, Musings from the Mat Back at the start of last year I wrote a couple of posts be-moaning my lack of connection to a Real Yoga Teacher and a Guru. Dude, Where's My Guru? Dude, Where's My Teacher? This week I've been reading a most excellent book by Ram Dass (he of Be Here Now) called Be Love Now. And lo & behold, wouldn't you know, it's answered all of my questions about finding a guru, what a guru is, and the relationship we have with a guru. I'm stoked, … [Read more...]
Looking for the man of your dreams? … Don’t!
I’ve found the man of my awakeness by guest author Alys Titchener My flatmate Kara-Leah and I were sitting on our lounge floor one afternoon doing some stretches before dinner. I was deep in thought and before I could censor myself, I blurted out; I feel like I’ve found the man of my awakeness. I wasn’t quite sure what I meant by that, only that this statement arose because what I was experiencing was… not so familiar. What has become familiar about those times I’ve fallen in love with the man … [Read more...]
If you can’t publicly own it, don’t do it (easy to say right?)
Forget the Ten Commandments. Forget even the Five Yamas or Niyamas. Here instead is the Golden Litmus Test. Apply it to all your behaviour. Everything you do. Everything you say. And everything you think. (If you really want to up your game...) Can you publicly own this action, word or thought? Can you publish it in the newspaper? Talk about it on Tv? Answer to it on radio? Yes? Sweet... do it, say it, think it. No? Don't do it, say it, think it... At … [Read more...]