by Kelly Fisher, Time to Thrive Our lives are so out of synch with nature; it's no wonder that sub-par health and even chronic degenerative diseases are the new norm. Diabetes, autoimmune disorders, adrenal issues, thyroid conditions, weight issues, menopausal issues, post-partum issues, insomnia, perpetual exhaustion… the list goes on. Chances are you know someone who suffers from at least one of these things, and maybe a few of you know someone for each of the above. Even those of us who … [Read more...]
How a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis led to daily home yoga practice and teacher training
By guest author Susan Kitson, author of In Search of Health Ed. note: See the bottom of this article for a chance to win a copy of Susan's book. Fifteen years ago I had barely heard of yoga. Eleven years ago I was attending two classes a week in the hopes it would help improve my chances of conception. Now I practice every day. Here's how my yoga journey unfolded: In June ’07 I left Napier with my family for our annual winter break in Fiji. Bliss right? Not so much on this … [Read more...]
March 1 – 3: Yogic Cleansing Weekend with Swami Muktidharma
Increase your vitality and energy using yoga purification practices for body and mind at Anahata Retreat Centre In the same way a car needs a tune up to run smoothly, from time to time our bodies too need an internal cleanse so that the systems in our body are flowing and working optimally. The mind as the most perfect super computer has an inbox where it stores all the information received through the senses. The inbox is overloaded with all kinds of impressions. Mental purification … [Read more...]
How I Completed 500 Hours of Teacher Training In 6 Months and Stayed Sane
by guest author Kate Southward, Yogi's Basket At the beginning of Peter Jackson’s 2005 remake of King Kong there’s a scene where the savage natives tie up damsel-in-distress Naomi Watts as an offering. Then they bash repeatedly on a 3-meter wide gong calling to the beast to come and take his fill. The reverberating gong is haunting, loud and penetrating, as the sprinting monster smashing through the forest gets closer and closer to collect his prize. Eighteen months ago, I was that savage … [Read more...]
Off the mat and into the kitchen
by Valerie Love One of the most rewarding things about practicing yoga is not the physical benefits of the postures on the body, but the way in which the practice of yoga helps to build awareness of oneself and how we interact in the world. The practice of karma yoga, the yoga of service, is just as important as a physical asana practice. As Alan Finger writes in his book, Chakra Yoga: "The success of your yoga practice is not measured by how well you can do the poses or how long you … [Read more...]
Can yoga help cure a cold?
by Valerie Love It’s cold and flu season here in New Zealand. And this past week, I’ve been sick. Somehow, being sick is always hard for me to admit. As Kara-Leah has recently written, yoga has come to be seen as a bit of a cure-all. So a yoga teacher getting sick? What’s up with that? My first instinct - deeply ingrained from my pre-yoga days - is to power through. So last week, as I was sitting at my desk entering data into a spreadsheet for a big project at work, although I felt … [Read more...]
Mindful eating: a powerful practice in transforming your relationship to food
by regular columnist Valerie Love, Yoga on a Plate Six years ago, I went to visit a friend from college who was teaching English in Kyoto, Japan. A day or so after I arrived, she took me to an outdoor market in the city. Wandering together through stalls of artwork, antiques, handicrafts and food, I was drawn to a table where a woman was selling daifuku, sweet rice cakes filled with red bean paste. As my friend spoke Japanese and I did not, she kindly did the work of ordering one for … [Read more...]
Introducing “Yoga on a Plate:” A New Column for the Yoga Lunchbox
by Valerie Love If you asked me to name the things—people not included—that make me happiest, yoga and good food would be at the top of the list. So writing a column that combined my passions for both of those things seemed like a no-brainer. Except that the more I began to sit down and think about it, the more challenging and the more daunting it became. Many of us, whether yogis or not, have complicated relationships with food at some point in our lifetime. For many, these struggles … [Read more...]
How to Eat an Optimum Diet for Maximum Energy Vibration
by Kara-Leah Grant In an ideal world, everything you ate would be organic and locally grown. It would be planted, tended, harvested and stored with love and attention. It would be cooked and presented and eaten with love and attention. Nothing would contain additives, or preservatives, nor would much of it be frozen, dried or tinned. So let's assume this is true - how do you know exactly what to eat? Ignoring the restrictions of eating locally (mountain dwellers wouldn't be dining on … [Read more...]