by Kara-Leah Grant Recently, I moved back to Glenorchy, a small mountain town where I've lived a few times previously. I was exciting about the move, and also feeling some anxiety. Preparing to write my third book, Love's Shadows, I felt called to come home to the mountains. Yet it also meant moving my son, now seven and at school, yet again. We were meant to be staying put in one place now he'd started school. I was meant to be done with moving around. I was meant to be embracing a … [Read more...]
What Does it Mean to Love Unconditionally?
by Kara-Leah Grant Recently in our Heart of Tribe Facebook Group, one of the participants asked me to elaborate on what it means to love people - especially family - unconditionally. “For me, to do this fully would at times be to my own detriment. Sometimes it's just too much 'stuff', too much drama. What do we do when we can't hold that space for them? Or worse...when their stuff is just toxic. And how to discern when to do this and when you just...can't/shouldn’t.” That first … [Read more...]
The Only Two Things Your Children Really Need From You
by Ben Ralston I’ll tell you straight: I didn’t have a clue what to do when my son was born. I had good instincts, I’d read a number of books and done my due diligence, but the stress of the situation I found myself in overwhelmed me. I didn’t have the internal resources to be able to cope because I wasn’t yet a man. I was really a 30 something year old scared little boy, and I found myself way, way, way out of my depth. This is true for the vast majority of Fathers: they aren't men … [Read more...]
How Love’s Shadows Invite Us Into Deep Intimacy
by Kara-Leah Grant I didn't expect to feel this way when he arrived in my life. But this man who I'd been friends with for four years online before finally meeting in person landed in my heart with the softness of a blown dandelion flower gone to seed. Looking back, I asked myself, when did I know? When did I realise that we had this connection, this intimacy, this opening into relationship? Was it when he stayed at my house after getting off the plane? Was it when he got off the … [Read more...]
Jonni Pollard on the Nature of Unbounded Consciousness and Awakening {video}
by Kara-Leah Grant I first met Jonni Pollard at Wanderlust Great Lake Taupo in 2015. He was leading the mass meditation at 7pm on the Saturday night. I'd bumped into the other Jonnie from Wanderlust - Jonnie Halstead - hovering nervously around the Mothership, which turned into the mainstage and dance floor in the evening. Jonnie with an E confided in me that this dude from Melbourne - also called Jonni - was about to lead a mass meditation and he wasn't sure how it was going to go down. Yes, … [Read more...]
The Gifts of Applying Ahimsa to Daily Life
By guest author Mike Kuplevatsky The fundamental nature of happiness and our relationship between our inner world and the external world most often intertwine. Without realizing it, our happiness is often governed by the external world. For example, if someone frowns at us, honks a horn at us, calls us crazy, disagrees with with some of our viewpoints or thinks badly of us, our happiness most often instantly becomes interrupted. That can play out into violence towards ourselves or to … [Read more...]
Why I’m Bringing Yoga & Meditation to Teenagers with The Soul Laundry
By Nina Rogocki, The Soul Laundry About three years ago I was new to Auckland from the UK, and embarking on a new journey that was unexpected but welcome. To settle into my new environment, I found myself a gym, as you do, and I started to attend classes and set my routine. One afternoon in a daze, I got in the lift and ended up on the wrong floor. The doors of the lift opened up to reveal a welcoming, warm environment that was quiet and felt like total calm. Upon investigation I realised … [Read more...]
When the Price of Beauty and Presence is Sadness
By Kara-Leah Grant, Musings from the Mat Yesterday we got home from six days away - my son with his father, and me in Napier teaching yoga classes and workshops. I love being on the road, catching up with the many friends I have around the country, teaching at a variety of studios, sharing my passion for yoga in workshops. I love home too but when I'm at home, I'm reminded of the home I don't have, the life I'm not leading. In that life I'm coming home to a man I love, who loves me. … [Read more...]
If All Ambition Falls Away, How Does Anything Get Done?
by Kara-Leah Grant, Musings from the Mat It's a crisp, clear, clean autumn morning in Napier, New Zealand. Almost a frost, but not quite. Cold enough for me to see my breath as I stood waiting for the jug to boil. I have entire day stretching out before me with no appointments and no yoga teaching. My only commitments today are to The Yoga Lunchbox and writing. Something's missing though. Something that's been with me for a long, long time. Possibly since childhood. Actually, … [Read more...]
What is Love? Deep Acceptance of the Other, and Opening to Vulnerability
by Kara-Leah Grant, Musings from the Mat I've been pondering the nature of Love over the last year or so, holding many deep conversations with my wonderful girlfriends and reflecting over two decades of short and long-term relationships. I've got plenty of material to draw upon! And you know what? I think I've got it. I know what love is - and what it is not. Love is a deep acceptance of the other person. Out of that ground of deep acceptance arise actions that create one's day to … [Read more...]