by Kara-Leah Grant, Musings from the Mat Earlier this year I took a short workshop with Duncan Peak from Power Living. In the workshop he mentioned the term 'vasana', defining it as character traits or tendencies and he talked about how our practice stirs up these tendencies and brings them into consciousness. Now I'd never heard of vasanas, and struggled to remember the term after the workshop, which happened the day before Wanderlust. The day after Wanderlust, I was driving from … [Read more...]
Mind-food: Cultivating Sattva through food
By guest author Carmen Howell of The Sadhana Studio These days meditation and yoga are my vices - positive habits which have evolved and have slowly woven into my bodily intelligence. When I find myself transforming and experienceing the discomfort that can often be present with transformation, rather than slipping back into the grip of unsupportive habits - such as enslaving myself to a diet, convincing myself that vitamins are the cure for my lack of energy, punishing my body by over … [Read more...]
“How’s puku?”: Unlock the wisdom of the belly
by Valerie Love For most transplants to New Zealand, the first words they learn in Maori are "Kia ora” (hello) or “Haere mai” (welcome). But for me, it was “puku", which means belly or abdomen. Although I’m originally from the United States, my partner is from Wellington. And from the very start of our relationship, she's always asked me, “How’s puku?” as a way of checking in on how I’m doing as a whole. And it’s an important question. Because the answer to “How’s puku?” reveals so … [Read more...]