Top Ten Best Yoga Articles of 2017

by Lucinda Staniland. Every yoga teacher brings a unique constellation of skills, interest and life history to their teaching practice, and Wellington yoga teacher Cathy Gamba is no exception.Cathy’s on her way to becoming a clinical psychologist, has deep roots in the practice of mindfulness and is acutely aware of the connection between physical health and mental health.She’s also French, and is stoked to be teaching an upcoming yoga retreat in New Caledonia, a French-speaking Pacific … [Read more…]

by Lucinda Staniland. I’m a perfectionist. I love getting things exactly right. So when I got interested in meditation, I had a lot of questions about how I should be doing it: How long should I meditate for? Eyes open or closed? Should I focus on the breath or chant a mantra? Visualise chakras or empty my mind completely? I tried all these things. But somehow, no matter what I did, I felt like I was never quite getting it right. Meditation always felt like hard work to me. It was … [Read more…]

by Lucinda Staniland. Meet Amy Ippoliti—yoga teacher, author, earth activist and founder of 90 Monkeys, an online professional development school for yoga teachers. One of the first things I noticed when I watched this video interview with Amy was her irrepressible enthusiasm for the practice of yoga. Yes, there’s no doubt in my mind that this woman loves yoga, and loves sharing it with the world.And yet, while Amy is incredibly open hearted and enthusiastic, she also cultivates a sharp … [Read more…]

by Lucinda Staniland. We want to generate more meaningful and constructive dialogue in the yoga community, especially around the hard questions we face, and to create a space for the community to share their stories and perspectives.So here it is: The Yoga Lunchbox’s first edition of our Influencer Roundup, The Community Speaks.This week we asked a handful of influential people in the yoga community to respond to the following question: What’s the greatest challenge facing the yoga … [Read more…]

by Neal Ghoshal. As the popularity of Yoga continues to expand, more and more people are being drawn into practices beyond Yoga asana (posture), into breath work, into meditation, into the subtler aspects of the tradition. One of the practices that is becoming increasingly lauded is Yoga Nidra. I first came across Yoga Nidra back in 2003 when learning to teach at the Ashram Yoga School in Parnell, Auckland. Ashram Yoga, a Satyananda style inspired Yoga school, included Yoga Nidra … [Read more…]

by Lucinda Staniland. Meet Leslie Kaminoff, a Yoga educator with forty years experience in the study of Yoga and the breath. Leslie studied with T.K.V Desikachar, a teacher renowned for his emphasis on the therapeutic aspects of yoga, and he is the co-author of the bestselling book Yoga Anatomy.In Leslie’s conversation with Kara-Leah Grant, I was struck by his particular brand of what I would call respectful realism.This is a man with a deep belief in the power of the work that he … [Read more…]

By Sandi White. Two weeks ago I set out on a quest to conquer forty days of home yoga practice. It wasn’t something I had ever really thought I could or would do. However, after reading Kara-Leah Grant’s book, Forty Days of Yoga, I felt compelled to start.I am now two weeks into my journey and this is what I have discovered so far. 1. Yoga may not change my life experiences, but it can help me to deal with them. This past week I have been dealing with a range of … [Read more…]

by Lucinda Staniland. Most of us come to yoga with a whole lot of misconceptions about what yoga is. I was no different. Here are some of the mistakes that I made, and lessons that I learnt, as a new yoga student. 1. Asana does not equal yoga. When I started doing yoga I was awed by the strength and grace of the physical practice I saw my fellow students doing. I couldn’t wait for the day when I too would move with such beauty. I fell in love with asana.But asana (physical postures) is not … [Read more…]

By Donna Farhi. First published in the March/April 1997 Yoga Journal USA, reprinted here by permission of Donna Farhi.It’s late afternoon and one of my long-time students has come to visit.  After a few minutes of chitchat, Sarah relates how inadequate she felt at the Yoga workshop she attended over the weekend.  Just about everyone could do the advanced postures except her, and she left feeling that her practice was inferior.  I asked Sarah what her life was like when she began practicing … [Read more…]

by Donna Farhi, co-author of Pathways to a Centered Body: Gentle Yoga Therapy for Core Stability, Healing Back Pain, and Moving with Ease. A recent collation of several back pain studies in America revealed that 8 out of every 10 Americans will have back problems at some point during their lifetimes, yet only one in ten people find out the primary cause of their pain. A further 54 percent of Americans who experience low back pain spend the majority of their workday sitting, a position that … [Read more…]