The Yoga with Eve Grzybowski Blog
I’ve been blogging for 15 years now. At first, I was quite nervous about publishing my thoughts. Because I was shy about writing, my old posts were almost exclusively photos of the view from our bedroom in our Tambourine Bay house.
Remarkably, my original Ville Blog still exists. Does anything on the internet ever go away? It ran from November 05, 2006 to January 12, 2010 and it’s still just where I left it. If you’d like to have a look, the address is http://thevilleblog.blogspot.com.au/.
These days, because there are way too many YSH posts to browse through-over 1200-I’ve put some major themes together in The Vault. I hope this makes it easier to find exactly what you want.
2016: An Astonishing Array of Desert Flowers
We didn’t plan it. Actually, we’ve done remarkably little planning on this our 4-month odyssey around the eastern half of Australia.
But we lucked out!
Apparently the central and southern desert regions of the Northern Territory have had more than their fair share of rain this year–i.e., the whole year’s precipitation to date.
So almost everywhere you look there are sprays and bouquets and even meadows of flowers. […]
Ultimate Nature and the Ultimate Camping Pack-Up
Our camping trip through gorgeous gorges and ranges of the Northern Territory has been more beautiful than I ever expected. The Katherine Gorge area and south to Mataranka and Bitter Springs, from big landscapes to small, rejuvenating springs for bathing, these were stunning. But Alice Springs and the MacDonnell Ranges, and Kings Canyon, and now Uluru, they all should be on everyone’s bucket list–the ultimate nature experience.
The Road to Alice: A Perfect Place to Do Yoga
I never expected in coming to Alice Springs to be able to do a Saturday morning Iyengar-style yoga practice. But maybe I should have because I got to meet up with a beautiful old yoga connection here: Kirsty Robertson.
Yoga at Sunrise, A Cold Beer at Sunset
Yes, I do occasionally have a beer. Especially when the conditions are ripe for it. For instance, Northern Territory winter arvos with sunsets to live for.
On occasion, I’ve been driven to drink a beer at the end of the day by the rigours if long distance driving along with the 30 degree plus dry heat.
What was it that W.C. […]
What is an Outback Australia A-Log?
I’ve been on the road for nearly two months, camping in towns and way out of towns. I’ve stayed in enough places that I (capable of many senior moments) was losing track of where and when.
First Yoga Rule: Be Kind to Yourself
Recently I learned (or learned for the 1,000th time) a Be Kind to Yourself lesson.If you’re like me, you don’t learn these vital life lessons easily. This is why long life can be a good thing. Because you can buy a little more time, and hopefully more wisdom.Recently I was on a two-day boat trip with nine other people. After the first day, one of the passengers got on my nerves. Seriously. A sailing boat doesn’t have much room for seclusion. […]
Put down that yoga book and read a good yarn instead!
I have many discerning book reading friends, I recently discovered.When I tried googling best books of 2015, and 2015, I found myself uninspired and confused. Then I decided to ask my friends. I threw a line out on Facebook.I asked my friends, ‘Any recommendations for well-written, can’t-put-down reads….your personal favourites?’Remarkably, I received more than 70 suggestions from almost as many people.What am I supposed to do with this sort of cornucopia? Obviously, share it in a post.So, here is the list–some from yesteryear, others hot off the press. Some I’ve read, and some I’m not likely too. […]
What This Yogini Has Learned About Camping
Yogini in steep learning curveI have a persona that I rather enjoy presenting to the world–that of being a skilful Yogini. I admit this fact in order to be completely transparent. I know that yoga is meant to help you divest of guises and the ego, but there it is.Now that I’m away from my yoga studio and teaching, that comfortable role has fallen away. I’m faced with this new role, that of a camping traveller.I’m in a big learning curve. Every morning I wake up in unfamiliar surroundings, totally at the effect of weather. […]
Travel Yoga: A Bumpy Road
Practising self-forgiveness along the bumpy roadI thought it would be easy, but no. In two weeks of travel up the coast of NSW, I’ve only managed a few yoga practices. ‘Just do it!’, I’ve advised students over the years. Set up a regular practice. Do it and you’ll reap the benefits. If you do your practice regularly, it will become an unbreakable habit.Well, I’m feeling a little chagrined about the fact that habits are breakable. I’m not fitting in much practice time.Worse, my body is suffering. […]
Eve: Ambassador of Yoga
I was recently selected to be an ‘Ambassador of Yoga’ by the Australian Yoga Journal. The magazine has created a community of 10 ambassadors, two men and eight women. You can see us in the latest issue.
Like me, you may be wondering what such an ambassador is or does. The editor says that the AYJ will rely on our group to help connect the magazine to ‘the greater yoga society in Australia.’ She adds, ‘We’ll be tapping into their expert knowledge…passion and wisdom.’
Women's Yoga: 5 Reasons to Stop Practicing Yoga Like a Man
Some years ago I attended a yoga teacher–friend’s class and shared a cup of tea with one of his female students after class. When my friend’s student heard that I specialized in yoga for women she confided that she suffered debilitating menstrual pain every month. I asked her if she still attended my friend’s yoga class during her period. She replied that yes, of course she did, she just took a pain-killer as she didn’t want to miss her ‘yoga-fix’. “So how do you feel after you do the class?” I enquired, curious, because my friend’s classes were of the dynamic, yang, make-you-sweat type. “Oh, I feel worse!” she replied, resignedly.
Rainy Weather Blues: Do Yoga
The rainy weather here on Mitchells Island has been extreme. There’s been widespread flooding, including our neighbours’ paddocks. The overflow has spilled on to our property and filled part of our paperbark wetland. We’ve come to expect these occasional wet events. We live on an island, and it’s less than a kilometer from a river channel.
Be a Beginner: It Will Change Your Life
Yoga BeginningsDo you like to be a beginner? At times I think that I don’t, but once I have additional skills and knowledge under my belt, it feels great.The domain of neuroscience and neuroplasticity informs us oldies that we need to keep our grey matter fresh through on-going learning. We especially need the sorts of complicated learning that challenges our brains and creates new neural pathways.The most transformative learning experiences I’ve had have been through the pursuit of yoga.Being a beginner in Iyengar Yoga is still a vivid experience for me. It was mid-week October 1979. […]
In Praise of Legs Up the Wall
What’s not to praise?Legs up the wall is a favourite with many people because it’s a pose that’s guaranteed to sort you out. With a minimum investment of energy, the pose will return you maximum benefits. It is restorative, regenerative and reviving.Even non-yogis seem to find their way to this pose. I’ve seen bushwalkers take a break, lie down and put their legs up a tree. […]
'Ultimate' Yoga is Coming
When ‘Ultimate’ is a nounIn the U.S. where I was born, there’s a word–snowbirds–to describe people who head for warmer climes when the first hint of winter chill infuses the air.For some of us, this is the ultimate lifestyle–never ever having to experience snow, wind and ice. Others might want to enjoy the snow-and-cold experience, but only in the ski fields when winter evenings feature warm fires and mulled wine.My smart housemates, Heather and Rick, just before they flip the calendar to June 1st, routinely head for the north American summer season. […]
Mother Love: Let Me Count the Ways
My Women’s GroupOn Mother’s Day, as I write this post, I’m full of happy memories from the reunion that I shared with my women’s group last week.Let me tell you a little about us.Everyone of our group is a mother and some are grandmothers. Everyone loves their progeny fiercely and has been through all the ups and downs that come with being a mother.We get together once a year and come from all over the place–Broome, Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne, Mitchells Island and Adelaide. We value this time together that we carve out of our busy lives. […]
A Great Combination: Yoga and the Joy of Singing
The Joy There are lots of ways that people express courage. […]
Kindness is the Heart of Ahimsa: Do No Harm
Awareness and AhimsaOne of my first teachers wanted his yoga school to be called ‘Awareness Yoga’. His idea of yoga was all about training people to observe what they are up to on the mat. His style of teaching, like his teacher, B.K.S. Iyengar, conveyed minutiae of information regarding postures. The point was to get students to pay acute attention to physical alignment and to foster a rigorous approach to their practice. He was a good teacher, but had periods of moodiness. Oftentimes his teaching was delivered with an undertone of frustration with his students. […]
Yoga Props Can Be a Lifeline
An unexpected benefit that I’ve derived personally from using props is humility. They are truly supportive and remind me that I don’t have to it all myself. I can yield to a ‘helper’, and in this sort of surrender I’ve learned to let go physically. That has a knock-on effect for letting go emotionally and mentally, and releasing the tight grip of ego.
A New Sangha of Yoga Teachers
A bright ideaOne thing I thought of earlier this year was getting local yoga teachers together for a once-a-month practice. The idea I had was that we teachers would come together with one individual leading a yoga practice, and that that person would nominate the venue. Well, it’s happened. So far, we’ve met three times with an average of six of us at each practice. It’s been a great success, not the least seeing each others’ yoga studios. We meet early…7:30 am for an hour and a half practice and afterwards go out for breakfast. […]