by Kara-Leah Grant, Musings from the Mat I'm making video tomorrow, of me teaching, to you, a home yoga student who wants to be inspired in your practice. I've done this before, a couple of years ago, when I started the Yoga Exploration Series. This is more of the same, yet different. Then, I stopped filming because I didn't have the audio quality necessary and was getting complaints from people about not being able to hear what I was saying. That project went on the back-burner while I … [Read more...]
Home Yoga Practice Questions: Do I Need a Home Practice if I’m Regularly Going to Yoga Class?
by Kara-Leah Grant, author of Forty Days of Yoga It's easy when you regularly go to yoga classes to dismiss the idea of home yoga practice - after all, you don't need it right? You're already practicing in class 2 or 3 or maybe even 5 or 6 times a week. However, even if you are going to class, there is much to be gained by also doing a home yoga practice. It doesn't have to be every day, and it doesn't have to be long. Ten minutes is enough. Even such a small amount of time can have … [Read more...]
Home Yoga Practice Questions: Can I Practice Yoga with A Herniated Disc?
by Kara-Leah Grant, author of Forty Days of Yoga This week's Home Yoga Practice questions comes from Catherine in India. She writes: I have practiced yoga for many years and for the last 6 months have been doing a regular home practice. However last month I had an MRI scan due to persistent backache and discovered that I have a slipped disc. My doctor has asked me to stop yoga - forward bends are a definite no - and his opinion is that I should walk and swim as exercise (which I have been … [Read more...]
Sun Salutations Video Series: Transition Time! How to Link the Postures Together
by Kara-Leah Grant In recent months, we've looked at all the different asanas or postures that make up a standard sun salutation. We've explored each of these postures in-depth, and explained them on video. Now it's time to took at the transitions between the postures. Because this is what makes sun salutations such a fantastic yoga sequence - especially for home practice. Each pose flows effortlessly into the next posture, creating a complete circle where you end up where you started, … [Read more...]
Home Yoga Practice Questions: What Should I Do in My Practice?
by Kara-Leah Grant, author of Forty Days of Yoga Home yoga practice - it's awesome and everyone's getting into it, right? But you know what's missing? A teacher. That's what. I mean, at the end of the studio class, you can always go up to the yoga teacher and ask whatever burning question is on your mind. But when you practice yoga at home? Who you going to ask? Me, that's who. Yep, every week or two, I'll be selecting a reader question to answer on video, and sending out a … [Read more...]
Sun Salutations Video Series: How to do Downward Dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana)
by Kara-Leah Grant It's one of the most common and most popular of all yoga postures, yet like the other postures we've looked at in recent months, Adho Mukda Svanasana is far from being a beginner's yoga pose. No, downward dog is one of those postures which, when done badly, can do more damage than it does good. Fortunately, it's also a posture we usually get to spend serious time in - most sun salutations will allow five breaths in a downward dog, and it's a posture we return to again and … [Read more...]
Is Awakening the Evolutionary Destiny of Humanity?
WIN a copy of Kara-Leah’s new book ‘Sex, Drugs & (mostly) Yoga - Field Notes from Kundalini Awakening’, publishing in November 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 I once knew a yoga teacher who would joke how awakening would never happen to her - she wasn’t far enough along the path, or didn’t know enough, or … [Read more...]
Sun Salutations Video Series: How to do Upward Dog (Urdhva Mukha Svanasana)
by Kara-Leah Grant Like Chatranga Dandasana, Urdhva Mukha Svanasana is a posture we usually only spend a breath or two in during yoga class. It's a posture of transition and movement. And it's a posture that's very easily to do badly, creating stress on our lower back and shoulders. For this reason, it's a posture I'm now wary of teaching in a general, drop-in yoga class. Yes, it's a staple of sun salutations and yoga, yet many of the people I see coming to class aren't yet ready to swoop … [Read more...]
Sun Salutations Video Series: How to do Chaturanga Dandasana
by Kara-Leah Grant Chaturanga Dandasana is one of those postures that we often don't spend time in - either in yoga class or in our home yoga practice. It's a one-breath wonder. We're in, we're moving out, that's it. Partly this is because it's a challenging posture and we usually want to get out of it as soon as possible. And part of it is because it's not a flashy yoga posture where we feel like we get somewhere or gain a lot over time. It's easy to see Chaturanga Dandasana as just a … [Read more...]
Sun Salutations Video Series: How to do Standing Forward Fold (Uttanasana)
by Kara-Leah Grant For years and years and years this posture has been my nemesis. I hated it. I sucked at it. It challenged me in every way. When I first started yoga, back in 1995 at a ten-week Iyengar course, I was so incredibly tight that when we went into a standing forward bend, I couldn't even reach forward and touch my knees. I had no forward movement in my pelvis at all - my hamstrings were just way too tight. And that's the first part of the body that must be freed up for a … [Read more...]