by Kara-Leah Grant I've long been aware that I've had a particular way of operating in the world that doesn't serve me. I'm addicted to getting things done. To being productive. And it comes from being in my head, rather than from being.There are some big gains from this particular behaviour - like prodigal production. Given the limitations of my life, I have produced an extraordinary amount of output. Websites, articles, books, classes, workshops, retreats, videos. This on top of single … [Read more...]
Amy Ippoliti on the Most Valuable Thing You Can Offer in Yoga Class
by Kara-Leah Grant This article was written in February 2014 for Wanderlust NZ & Australia that year. I've re-published it as Amy is appearing at Wanderlust Sunshine Coast October 2015 and it was a fabulous interview.When I first heard that Amy Ippoliti was teaching at Wanderlust NZ and Australia, and saw photos of her, I made the assumption that she was one of the new-breed of yoga teachers - young, hip and cool but not necessarily with any depth of understanding or decade-long … [Read more...]
Russell Brand’s ‘Revolution’ – A Book Review, of sorts {Video}
by Kara-Leah Grant If you prefer video over reading, click here to jump to the end and watch my video review of Revolution. The article doesn't review the book so much as give relevant background. Russell Brand first entered my consciousness when I saw a clip of him via Facebook being interview on MSNBC (below).In the eight minute interview, he reduced one female interviewer to a quivering heap of hormones with his mere presence while stepping outside the proscribed boundaries of a … [Read more...]
The Ups and Downs of Mastering Squat Pose
by Kara-Leah Grant Welcome to the fourth Creative Sun Salutation Abundance flow here on The Yoga Lunchbox.This week we explore a transition posture as we move from the front of the mat to the back of the mat - an important part of working with circular sun salutations.In this particular variation, I'm using a squat to make that transition, which gives us a greater sense of our roots or foundation. Squatting is all about our relationship to the earth - we have to both surrender downward … [Read more...]
How to Cultivate Abundance on the Yoga Mat Part 2 {video}
by Kara-Leah Grant Welcome to the second Creative Sun Salutation flow here on The Yoga Lunchbox.As with the last six-part series, the first two episodes in this series are free for anybody to access, and the final four are for Insiders only. (You can become a member of Inside the Box here.)This week we add on to the beginning of our abundance sun salutation, moving through halfway lift, high plank, low plank, upward dog, downward dog, three-legged dog and knee to nose.Most of you … [Read more...]
Suzanne Sterling on Why What You Love is Key to Your Service {video interview}
by Kara-Leah Grant It's that time of year again... the run-up to Wanderlust, which means I get to interview all kinds of amazing yoga teachers.First up in the series is Suzanne Sterling, in part because she's also a founder of Off the Mat Into the World which is running some events in New Zealand and Australia this October (just been) and December.Interviewing Suzanne meant finding out the low-down both about Off the Mat and how awesome it is, and about her and how awesome she is. I … [Read more...]
Putting the Flow Together: A Complete Mandala Surya Namaskar {video}
by Kara-Leah Grant Welcome to the last article and video in this series of Yoga Explorations.Yes, you've made it all the way to the end and now it's time to bring everything together in one smooth flow.Circular sun salutations work on a few different levels. Usually on our mats we work in a purely linear manner - we move left and right, back and forward. Plus we usually only face forwards, or sideways to one direction.However when we do circular sun salutations we use all four sides … [Read more...]
How to Open Your Wide-Legged Forward Bends using Variations {video}
by Kara-Leah Grant Welcome to the fifth article and video in this series of Yoga Explorations.You've now learned how to spontaneously allow the body to move within the structure of a posture, as well as two breath pairs - the Ascending and Descending breath, and cultivating the core and radiating from the core breath.Last week you learned how to use core cultivation to open the body in Lunges and Lunge variations.This week, we take a look at the Wide-Legged Forward Bend and ways to … [Read more...]
How to Open the Front of the Body using Core Cultivation {video}
by Kara-Leah Grant Welcome to the fourth article and video in this series of Yoga Explorations.You've now learned how to spontaneously allow the body to move within the structure of a posture, as well as two breath pairs - the Ascending and Descending breath, and cultivating the core and radiating from the core breath.This week, we start to put it all together even more, using these tools to work with a posture to find alignment.In particular, we'll be exploring Lunge and variations … [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...]