by guest author Peter Fernando, Meditation and Mindfulness Are you wanting to start your own home meditation practice? The number one piece of advice I have for you is: Just do it! Having said that, a recent question that came in asked for more details, so in response to that reader, here's... Six Useful Home Meditation Tips 1) Don't meditate in front of the TV (even when it's off), or in front of the computer. If you take some time to create a meditation-only space in your home, it's … [Read more...]
Who knew? There isn’t just one right way to do things. Even in Yoga.
by regular columnist Elissa Jordan, Adventures in Teaching One of my Dad’s favourite stories to tell about me as a little girl is the one about my favourite word: why? I carried the word with me everywhere until it was a scraggly, worn-out dirt-encrusted version of itself. There’s some discrepancy as to whether or not this was, in fact, my first word. Dad says yes. Mom thinks it was second, after no. Either way, right from the start I’ve wanted to know the why behind things. Not one to be … [Read more...]
Be a Tree: Interpretive Yoga for Adults
It’s Autumn: trees are delighting us with a riot of colour, littering the ground with jewels from their branches. We can take a hint from Mother Nature and enjoy a similar process ourselves, letting go of old, stagnant, nonessentials. Releasing has many more nuances than just ‘getting rid’ of something. Pay attention to Nature move through a full cycle of gestation, birth, growth, and decay and you’ll see letting go as making space. Indeed, Spring blossoms and leaves come to be … [Read more...]
How to fit well-being into your holiday season
Ah, 'tis the season to be jolly, and merry, and over-indulge, because by golly you've earned it. 'Tis also the season to rush around like crazy, attending parties and drinks, buying presents and gifts, and squeezing as much fun and leisure into your holiday break as possible. In short, 'tis a time of madness, when long established patterns of well-being - think solid eating habits and regular yoga practice - fall by the wayside like Christmas wrapping paper on Boxing Day. To make it … [Read more...]
What’s it like to do 108 sun salutations in a row?
by Kara-Leah, Mention doing 108 sun salutations in a row to most people, even regularly practicing yogis, and their eyes widen as their mind says "No way!" Yes way! Not only can your average yoga practitioner easily complete 108 sun salutations, but it's such an energizing practice, that at the end of 108, some people actually feel like they want to do more. Remember, yoga is not "exercise". It doesn't wear out the body, but energises the mind, body and soul. Sun salutations open and … [Read more...]
How to set an intention for your practice
by guest author Kelly Fisher, Urban Yoga, Wellington From a yogic point of view, the process of setting a sankalpa (an intention) goes a little like this. Step one: Set a positive intention, focusing on the results you want, rather than thinking about what you don’t want (as tends to be the case when we set New Year’s resolutions). Step two: Let it go. The Universe conspires on our behalf. Where energy is placed, the Universe augments it. At a workshop I recently attended, Anusara … [Read more...]