By Veronica King, Grassroots Yoga & Health As a tantric yogi I have always enjoyed saying yes to life, all of it! For years I’ve had boundless energy to work, play, practice and party. All in equal measure. But over the last few years I noticed a significant shift, my tank that was always full, was not topping up and suddenly I had a completely empty tank. I was depleted, exhausted, facing a health crisis. So I sat with the question, what depletes me and what nourishes me? … [Read more...]
Tantra and Purpose in the Time of the Pandemic
by Una Hubbard, Meditation and Yoga with Una As I write this we’re over halfway into the “Year of the Pandemic”, or what boils down to the “Year of Great Upheaval and Uncertainty”. If you’ve been on Facebook you’ve no doubt seen the many memes declaring 2020 the year we all would just as soon forget. It’s as though we’re all holding our breath until this Covid thing is over. We’re biding our time, waiting it out. And at some point in the future, there will be a fix …. and then we’ll be … [Read more...]
Day 617 of my Thousand Day Practice. Ball dropped, Again!
by Kara-Leah Grant I was in the car, catching a ride to Day 3 of a three-day workshop with Ana Forrest & Jose Calarco. Nikki - giving me a ride - and I were talking about mountains and the energy they embody. I was sharing my recent experiences in Glenorchy, where I would sit outside at sunset and do my practice. My practice! My 1000 Day practice... The one I was up to Day 617 on... The one I... DIDN'T do yesterday. In that moment, I remembered. And shock hit. A wave of shock … [Read more...]
When Kundalini Awakens. Now What?
WIN a copy of Kara-Leah's new book 'Field Notes from Kundalini Awakening', publishing in 2018. Guaranteed to take you on an intimate journey into the depths of the Kundalini experience. Click here to sign up for the book launch list and go into the draw to win one of THREE print copies. by Kara-Leah Grant Recently, I sat down cross-legged to do my daily Kashmir Shaivism Tantric* practice as I have done every day for the past 150+ days. More if you count my first attempt at hitting 1000 Day … [Read more...]
Patanjali’s Five Key Attitudes for Committing to Your Yoga Practice
by Kara-Leah Grant Today was Day 300 of a Tantric yoga practice I'm doing, which got me reflecting on what it takes to commit to yoga. Every day, no matter what, I sit and do this particular yoga practice, which consists of seated spinal rotations with pranayama, chanting with visualisation and mudra, and meditation. My intention is to do 1000 days in a row - that's almost three years of dedicated, committed practice. If I miss a day, I have to start again on Day 1. It's taken me over … [Read more...]
How to Use Breath Movements to Free the Body’s Spontaneous Movement {video}
by Kara-Leah Grant Welcome to the third in this series of Yoga Explorations. You've now learned two breath pairs - the Ascending and Descending breath, and cultivating the core and radiating from the core breath. We're going to take that understanding, and use Downward Dog and Three Legged Dog to look at how tuning into the breath can allow our body to move spontaneously within the structure of a posture. As I mentioned in the first article on the Ascending and Descending breath, … [Read more...]
How to Cure a Hangover With Yoga or a Spiritual Practice
by Kara-Leah Grant I know, you practice yoga, you're not supposed to drink, and you're definitely not supposed to drink to excess. But it happens. And when it does, best you know how to handle it. Fact is, we live in a culture that drinks heavily, and it can be hard to break out of that mindset. Yoga most definitely helps, and so does being kind to yourself as you transition away from regular heavy drinking to mindful samplings of delicious beverages. What can help even more is applying your … [Read more...]
Integrating Tantra practices into daily life
One of the most amazing experiences of my Prana Flow teacher training with Shiva Rea was our morning meditation and lecture sessions with Chris Tompkins, something I'll go into detail about in a future post. I've long wanted to establish an early morning practice, and having to be there most mornings at 7am for 12 days has done this. I was able to witness the effect of just sitting and connecting to the Self, the effect of using bija mantras every morning, and the way it set my entire day … [Read more...]