Inspiring Each Other
“From just one spark we can create one fire. And from one fire we can create one light. From that one light, we create vision and that vision is how we share just one spark. […]
Practising Ahimsa (non-harming) in the Garden
People think I know a lot about yoga because I’ve been doing it and teaching it for so long. I do know some things, but yoga is a big subject, so there is still plenty of learning for me. […]
Yoga For When You’re Just Plumb Tuckered Out
I woke up this morning feeling weary. That’s a bad sign because it could have meant that’s as good as I was going to feel all day. I’ve said before in these posts that yoga teachers are not at all immune to exhaustion. So, my current condition has given me cause for reflection.
There are so many words for being bone-tired that you might wear yourself out just reading this partial list:
frazzled
pooped
bushed
sapped
drained
spent
prostrate
enervated
A phrase for extreme fatigue that seems to be popping up more and more is ‘adrenal exhaustion’. […]
Yoga: The Circle Game
via pinterest
After class today, a yoga student and I were discussing the different ways that yoga is currently presented. He’s experienced classes where the teaching came across as shallow… insubstantial. I think I understood what he meant, but it made me think about my own teaching approach.
So much of what yoga teachers present involves the doing of asanas. I’m one of those teachers. Ninety percent of what I ask the students to do involves physical exercise. […]
Singly or Ensemble, Yoga is Good
I was practising yoga in the Yoga Shed early on Monday with my friend and student, Julie. It was a pleasure to share the experience of doing yoga practice with Julie which I often get to do with others from our household. We’re fortunate to have our own yoga studio a few steps from the house, so I can just roll out of bed and onto the mat, even while I’m still in my pyjamas.
Some mornings, I practice on my own, single-mindedly, silently, and happily. When I have company, we might enjoy a chat about things non-yogic. […]
Phone a Friend (Now!)
(Please be prepared for a little whinging in this post. With any luck we’ll end up commiserating.)
As a yogi, I try to maintain a state of equilibrium. One of the places where my inner calm is severely tested is when I phone a business and encounter a voice recording and have to make a selection from a menu. Whereas, in my ancestors’ past, the flight/fight reflex was provoked by real life danger, now all it takes for me to start to getting stressed is a choice of what number to press on my keypad. […]
Did You Have an Adventure Today?
We on the mid-north coast of New South Wales, the region that’s known as the Manning Valley, are incredibly privileged to live and in such a stunningly beautiful area.
Today I got to explore the coastal part of it that includes Khappinghat Nature Reserve and Creek, and Saltwater National Park.
Friends John and Julie took Daniel and me on an adventurous bike ride up and down dirt tracks and bush trails for 2.5 hours.
It was tough for me – not being a regular cyclist – and also, I was the only one in the group who’s sporting titanium/ceramic hips […]
40 Years Later: Remembering My Yoga Start
The global community of writers is growing by leaps and bounds because of the Internet and its darling child, social media. Everyone has a book in ’em, as they say, or an article, or at least a post.
I declared myself a writer in 1996 when I received an advance from Simon and Schuster Publishers to write Teach Yourself Yoga. I’d been journal writing from when I was a mere sprout, but with the launch of the book, I became a Published Author. […]
Yoga: Head to Toes Embodiment
The miracle that our human body is goes unnoticed most of the time. A yoga teacher has the privilege of bringing people home to their bodies in the way she conducts classes – and hopefully to a sense of wonder and appreciation about our embodiment. Over the years I’ve done several studied of anatomy and physiology. One of the reasons I love those sciences is that they present a map for one way of understanding our bodies. […]
Take Your Own Sweet Time – Might as Well!
Try to imagine a life without timekeeping. You probably can’t. You know the month, the year, the day of the week. There is a clock on your wall or the dashboard of your car. You have a schedule, a calendar, a time for dinner or a movie. Yet all around you, timekeeping is ignored. Birds are not late. A dog does not check it’s watch. Deer do not fret over passing birthdays. Man alone measures time. Man alone chimes the hour. And, because of this man alone suffers a paralyzing fear that no other creature endures. […]
Yoga Practice: What’s It For?
comfortinstylemag.com via Pinterest
If you have been doing yoga fairly regularly, has your practice improved over the years? What I’m talking about is your ability to do more and more advanced asanas over time.
Isn’t this what motivates many people when they take up yoga classes? They have noticed a gradual deterioration of certain physical abilities and they’ve heard that yoga might be able to fix this decline and even improve their condition.
It is true that there are myriad benefits that accrue from doing yoga routinely. […]
Yoga = Art
Years ago I had the bright idea of doing a yoga demonstration at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. I think that asana practice is a beautiful art form and people enjoy viewing it. I was too shy to pull off this caper on my own, so I talked Annie Cocksedge of Centennial Yoga into joining me.
Off we trundled on a sunny but chilly spring day with our yoga mats. I wish I had a photo of us from back then, but here’s a pic of the Art Gallery. […]