By Sandi White, Breath and BeyondTwo weeks ago I set out on a quest to conquer forty days of home yoga practice. It wasn’t something I had ever really thought I could or would do. However, after reading Kara-Leah Grant’s book, Forty Days of Yoga, I felt compelled to start.I am now two weeks into my journey and this is what I have discovered so far. 1. Yoga may not change my life experiences, but it can help me to deal with them. This past week I have been dealing with a range of … [Read more...]
How Yoga Helped Me at Every Stage of Life
In celebration of the launch of The No-More-Excuses Guide to Yoga, I’ve invited some friends and colleagues to write articles relating to the theme of the book’s subtitle: Because yoga is for every body. Sara is an Australia-based writer and I first met her when I asked for volunteers to be Beta-Readers for Forty Days of Yoga. Little did Sara or I know how that was to be the beginning of a strong connection. Sara is a talented writer and courageously faces into the difficulties of modern … [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...]
Men and Yoga: Creating A Healthy Yoga Habit With 40 Days of Yoga
By guest author John Falepau, Yogi John Who would have thought I’d be doing ten minutes of yoga every morning before a bowl of porridge and a cup of coffee?I’ve always been an early riser, getting up and off to work. Not that long ago I got up to heave heavy weights before going to work. There’s still a heavy weight of sorts, throw in a yoga mat, and here I am.Getting on my man mat every morning is the start of my day, and it’s what I look forward to when I turn in the night before. … [Read more...]
September 27 & 28: Te Anau, Committing to Daily Yoga Practice Workshop
We know that daily home yoga practice makes us feel great physically, mentally and emotionally. Yet despite our best efforts, we still struggle to get on our yoga mat.In this hands-on practical workshop you’ll find out why you’re not practicing yoga every day and you’ll design strategies to make daily practice a part of your life. We’ll practice yoga, we'll talk about yoga, & we'll write about yoga... using practice, talking and writing to get to the core of why we're not practicing and … [Read more...]
How to Open Your Heart Chakra in One Simple Step
by Kara-Leah Grant, avid promotor of home yoga practice. It'll change your world (because you are your world). So my gorgeous and most-wonderful man left on Thursday for six weeks. And on Friday I had a brilliant idea.Six weeks!42 days!I'll do a specific Forty Days of Yoga practice while he's away!Perfect!Now what will I do... how about one of my old favourites, a Heart-Opening Kriya (see below for a PDF of this kriya) I learned many moons ago? Nothing like a little … [Read more...]
I can’t do that. Actually, maybe I can. Hey, I can do it!
by guest author Sara Foley, Smells Good, Feels Good I'm not really sure how to begin this post, except to say:These ideas that you have about what you can and can't do, the things that are too hard or to big to begin - often these ideas are formed in a time of perceived failure.We don't think to ourselves; Oh, right, maybe I am not ready to do that yet, or maybe if I try that a different way it will work, or maybe I need some help to do that, or even let's sleep on that and try again … [Read more...]
Write a winning sticker slogan and win a print copy of Forty Days of Yoga
By Kara-Leah Grant Yes that's right - it's less than two weeks to the launch of Forty Days of Yoga at the NZ International Yoga Festival and Conference and I'm ready to give away copies of the book.Especially now I've had my first viewing of the book - via Skype, and not bound as it's only a print proof - but I've seen the book and it's suddenly all that more real.I can't wait to get it into as many hands as possible and spread the power of a home yoga practice. Which got me thinking … [Read more...]
April: New Zealand tour, Forty Days of Yoga Book Launch with Kara-Leah Grant
The New Zealand Tour, Forty Days of Yoga Book Launch with Kara-Leah Grant *****March 29: Auckland, Kawai Purapura Retreat Centre, 12:30pmApril 6: Wellington, Powa Centre, 1 Marion Street 5:30 - 6:30pm Kirtan 6:30 - 7:30pm Book reading and Q & A 7:30pm - onwards Vegetarian Potluck Entry: Koha for Powa Centre Dates TBC: NelsonApril 19: Christchurch, Flow Hot Yoga 5 - 6pm Vinyasa Flow Class taught by Kara-Leah 6pm - 7:30pm Book Reading and Q & A Entry: Usual class … [Read more...]
The Benefits of Practicing Yoga While Watching TV
By Kara-Leah Grant, author of Forty Days of Yoga During class on Wednesday, as we moved from posture to posture, I drew my students attention to the way they were beginning to intuitively move their bodies in counterposes and releases after a more intense posture.They weren't thinking about it, it was just happening as their body moved spontaneously and they followed along.One of my students looked up and exclaimed: That's what's happening when I watch TV now! A-ha! One benefit of … [Read more...]