by Kara-Leah Grant It's just three weeks until the International Yoga Conference and Festival at Kawai Purapura so I took the opportunity to have a chat to one of the many highly respected yoga teachers who will be at the festival - Swami Shantimurti. Swami Shantimurti is the senior teacher at Auckland's Ashram Yoga. He's been teaching since 1978 and has seen the growth and change of yoga in the West. According to the bio on Ashram Yoga's website, Shantimurti has spent extend periods … [Read more...]
Yoga Stops Traffick Complete Event List for New Zealand
By guest author Alanna Krause, Yoga Stops Traffick NZ Global movement Yoga Stops Traffick will sweep New Zealand on March 4 -10, with over 25 events nationwide. Check the events list below for one near you. By attending an event and giving a donation, you can help to end human trafficking and support survivors, many of them children. 100% of donations will go to Odanadi, an organization in India that has rescued over 2000 human trafficking victims and provides a rehabilitation programme … [Read more...]
Why I’m sharing the light and stopping traffick with yoga.
By guest author Alanna Krause, Yoga Stops Traffick NZ The week of March 4 – 10, all over New Zealand, there will be yoga classes, film screenings, yoga malas (108 sun salutations), and many other events for Yoga Stops Traffick NZ, part of the global effort to end human trafficking. I’d like to share a little bit about my journey and how I came to organize this event. The first time I went to India, years ago, I took a train. There was an old man with a long white beard in my car, who was … [Read more...]
ReTreat Yourself – the joys of going on a yoga retreat
by guest author Jan Goldie Retreat is a funny word. It's evolved over time. Back in the day it meant to run away or draw back from the enemy. It was a bit of a cop out. Nowadays, we focus on the second half of the word. Treat! To go on a retreat is to find a safe place, a haven. Perhaps to get away from a different kind of enemy; the worries and stresses of everyday life. So when I was offered the chance to join my Mum and sister at my second Ashram Yoga weekend, a Revival Retreat … [Read more...]
Auckland Yoga Teacher: Yogitaratna Chaitanya
Yogita's passion for yoga leaps off the page in this teacher profile. She is the only yoga teacher in the country teaching Vyayam Yoga, which is a moving style of yoga that formed the foundation for many martial arts. Her yoga teacher training was thorough, as she spent five years of studying at the Traditional Vyayam School in the Moorish city of Granada, Spain with Shrî Swami Shankaratilakânanda. There she learned about all aspects of yoga, and was particularly impressed by the way in which … [Read more...]