East Meets More East

East Meets More East

An amazing invitation came across my desk today enveloped in an email from the BKS Iyengar Association of Australia. A China-India Yoga Summit is being held in Guangzhou City June 16-19, 2011, which will feature “the greatest yoga master in the world”, Guruji himself.
Advertised as perhaps the last time that Mr. Iyengar, well into his nineties, will teach for the general public, the Master will be accompanied and assisted by a retinue of hand-picked teachers. […]

Powerless

Sitting at a blank blog screen tonight, wracking my brain for inspiration, I saw my computer and all things powered by electricity in our house shut down, flicker on, then off, and finally just off. So, how am I writing this post? On the iPad, tethered in some way I don’t understand, to Daniel’s iPhone. (And, while on the subject, what is a dongle?)
See, my problem is I don’t really care enough about electronic devices to learn to understand them. As Daniel says about his relationship to yoga, I’m just a consumer. […]

Sunday Sleep-in

I have an ingrained habit of doing yoga practice each morning, and I’m in the fortunate position of not needing an alarm to wake me. I just get out of bed, walk to the studio, and begin. I don’t ever take this privilege for granted.
This chilly Sunday morning, I chose to do what most people do, curl up under the doona, sleep in, get up, make a cup of tea, get back in bed, have a cuddle. […]

What does yoga have to do with digging a hole?

What does yoga have to do with digging a hole?

How hard can it be to dig a hole? Have you ever thought about where people would be without holes dug. Probably still living in caves.
It used to be you could just go ahead and wing it…digging your hole. Now you can do a Google Search and discover “How to Dig a Hole”. It takes 5 steps on wikiHow, as a matter of fact. The first important step is to locate your utility lines, and call your council if you don’t know where they are.*
Today I dug a hole in order to transplant a severely root-bound palm. […]

Stellar Summit

Stellar Summit

Today’s wake-up was at 5 am. Hey, we’re semi-retired, living in the country. Why would anyone wake up at that time if they didn’t have to? For an adventure, of course.
Way before sunrise, rugged up to the eyeballs, we headed out to the beach on Mitchells Island. Even as the car headed in that direction, we saw the objects of our expedition: the brilliant convergence of Jupiter, Venus, Mercury and Mars in the northeastern sky.
You know how amazing Venus looks in the early morning. […]

The Art of Yoga Adjustments

The Art of Yoga Adjustments

A couple of years ago, I wrote an e-book with accompanied with an audio c.d. called The Art of Adjustment. It’s basically a manual for yoga teachers, trainees and keen students. I’m sorry to say the book has languished on the Live Yoga Life site where it is for sale, possibly because I retired from teaching in Sydney not long after it was launched. Well, launched is a rather grand word for what happened. Appeared might better describe its debut. […]

Refreshing Your Savasana

Refreshing Your Savasana

When I teach the yoga relaxation in winter’s chilly temperatures, I see students getting into their lying down positions, pulling socks and jumpers on, and wrapping themselves up in blankets as tight as mummies. Of course we want to keep warm but not at the risk of creating a tense and resistant position.
Here’s some guidelines for teachers to follow in giving their students the optimum set-up for a deep relaxation:
1. Use a folded blanket like a pillow to support the neck and head. Especially with lower backache or sciatica, use a bolster under the knees.
2. […]

Steering by Starlight

Steering by Starlight

The idea of creating our Mitchells Island community of three couples, living in a beautiful home of our design, was hatched about 7-1/2 yrs. ago. The six of us were fairly accomplished at creating a vision and then fulfilling it. I think our project was successful, in some measure, because we harnessed the powerful synergistic energy of the group.
I taught vision-making as part of The Professional Yoga Teacher course at Nature Care College for 10 years. I still hear from trainees who created their 5 year plan and then manifested it. […]

Food for Thought

While in Sydney I came across some useful reading I wanted to share with anyone who is interested in healthy habits , and specifically around eating.
“The Seven Kinds of Hunger” is a chapter from the excellent book Mindful Eating by Jan Chozen Bays, M.D.
In it the author describes why we feel like eating and suggests that if we can tune into the kind of hunger we are experiencing, we can approach eating in an appropriate, mindful way.
Here are the seven:
* Eye hunger – I had an experience of this type of hunger last night when we went […]

The Purpose of Yama and Niyama

The Purpose of Yama and Niyama

When I first learned yoga and for many years, I knew nothing of the yama and niyama. I didn’t know that they are actually stepping stones in the practice of yoga.
With the popularity of hatha yoga these days, it’s common for students to do asanas hoping to make their bodies strong. However, hatha yoga is just one of the eight limbs of the tree, which includes yama and niyama.
The point I made in yesterday’s post is that progress is futile if one’s inner life isn’t evolving. […]

In Good Conscience

In Good Conscience

Oh, how I hate to bust myself. Not as difficult as standing still in a fire ant hill, but still awfully uncomfortable.
Without going into a lot of detail, today I felt some strong emotions and spoke them, tinged as they were with just a smattering of blame. Almost immediately I regretted what I’d said and then had a job to mop up. […]