by Kara-Leah Grant There are two ways to live life. One is as a victim, getting upset and angry at what life throws at you, and trying to change the people and circumstances around you to make life easier. The second is as a Master, taking whatever life throws at you and using it to change yourself, making yourself stronger and more resilient so life becomes easier and easier. If you've been wasting energy on trying to change people around you, or wasting energy on reacting to the … [Read more...]
How to Liberate Yourself from the Tyranny of Desire in Romantic Relationship
by Kara-Leah Grant When I was twelve years old I started a long short story - more of a novellete - about a young woman snatched from her home who finds herself in this other-worldly detention centre for teenagers. She's feisty as all hell, and makes a break for it with one of the other teenagers - a boy. As she and the boy go on the run, most of the action revolves around their relationship, which is fiery as all hell. Their banter is antagonistic, she gets mad at him often and isn't shy … [Read more...]
A Review of Wanderlust Great Lake Taupo 2016
by Kara-Leah Grant Holy Wanderlust. What a trip. It began like it ended last year - with Pete Longworth. We’ve become amazing friends over the last year since meeting at Wanderlust Great Lake Taupo 2015 (one of the best things about this gathering - the quality of friendships you form) and this year, Pete flew out early to hang with me. We drove over on Wednesday, stopping at Kerosene Creek to do a four hour photo shoot. There’s almost a novel in that experience alone. Suffice to say that I p … [Read more...]
No Going Back: On Listening and Not-Listening to That Inner Voice
By Leza Lowitz, Sun and Moon Yoga I never thought I’d open my own yoga studio, let alone do so in a foreign country. Years ago, while I was meditating at a yoga retreat in Haiku, Hawaii, a voice had said, "You must move to Japan and open a yoga studio in Tokyo." Was it my inner voice? The voice of island’s Goddess Pele? It didn’t matter. I didn’t listen. I had no intention of returning to Tokyo, where I’d lived once before. I loved California; there was no going back. Until the day my J … [Read more...]
I Give Up
by Kara-Leah Grant I just wrote some 700 words and I realised that I've been telling the same damn story on this website for the past five years. A story of struggling to earn money through teaching yoga and writing. And now, I'm dropping the story and simply saying: I give up. I've had enough. I don't care anymore. I'm going to stop trying to earn a living from writing and teaching. Oh, I won't stop writing, nor will I stop teaching. These things I will continue to do, always and … [Read more...]
What does it mean to “breathe into it” in yoga?
by Kara-Leah Grant There's loads of phrases which yoga teachers toss around willy nilly that after time cease to have any real meaning. Phrases like: Surrender into the pose Let your heart open Find your centre Honour yourself Let yourself come into a place of... Honour yourself for committing to your practice today... I know, I say these things. Thing is, many of these phrases have value and depth, and - in the right circumstances - apply to the practice. In particular, … [Read more...]
Exploring the Niyamas: How does Ishvara Pranidhana affect our lives?
by Kara-Leah Grant Do we dare, do we dare, do we dare surrender to God? Oh boy - the G-word in yoga. Scary stuff indeed. How on earth does God relate to yoga? Let's start by ditching the word God - although that's what Ishvara refers to, instead we can call it the Grand Ordering Design if we like. It's nothing more than the infinite intelligence throughout the Universe that keeps everything in place - the sun rising, the moon waxing and waning, the tides rising and falling, seeds g … [Read more...]
I’m actually quite a spiritual guy. Oh really?
By Kara-Leah Grant Can we, like, ban the word spirituality already? And spiritual. Like, if someone says, I'm actually quite a spiritual guy, I just want to gag. What the hell does that mean anyway? What does spiritual and spirituality mean? I turned to that font of all modern knowledge to find out. Wikipedia. The term spirituality lacks a definitive definition, although social scientists have defined spirituality as the search for "the sacred," where "the sacred" is broa … [Read more...]
On having the courage to pull the plug at the 11th hour
by Kara-Leah Grant, Musings from the Mat Last week, I wrote the acknowledgements and officially signed off from Forty Days of Yoga, completing the final draft. It was a surreal moment - as if I'd been here before and knew what to do. And of course I have, many times, in my dreams. I've been a writer since childhood and always knew I'd write a book. What I didn't know was how many people would join me on this journey, how supportive they would be and how humbling it would be to receive … [Read more...]
Folding forward into Easy Pose for instant stress-relief
by Kara-Leah Grant The last couple of years I’ve been getting up close and personal with long, slow holds in seated poses. There’s a couple of reasons for this. One is that I’m often exhausted from being a single parent and running my own business - the thought of standing postures or sun salutes sometimes makes me shudder. Giving myself permission to just sit on what mat and see what unfolds from there means I'm far more likely to practice every day. The second is that I’m yang enough - n … [Read more...]