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.
When Your Back Needs Rebooting – Restorative Yoga
Sometimes my body does my bidding without complaint, and other times she is just 68-years old cranky.
After 2-1/2 hours of weeding, shovelling, and mulching in the garden, my lower and upper back and hips were demanding some nice treatment.
Thank goodness I had a few of these restorative poses up my sleeve. […]
True Confessions From a Yoga Teacher T.V. Watcher
Many yoga practitioners spurn watching television and some don’t even like reading the newspapers. In the spirit of full disclosure, I’ll just say that I’m not one of them. In fact, I watch a lot of programming. I am discerning. My interest in good programming started way back with a couple of brilliant shows called, “The West Wing” and “The Sopranos”*.
I felt sad last night when I heard that James Gandolfini, the star of the “The Sopranos” had passed away. […]
Arguing with Your Yoga Poses
yogashaktiravena.it via pinterest
When you do your yoga practice, either in class or at home, have you been paying attention to the ‘push-pull’ energy that certain poses have for you?
What I mean is that spontaneous feeling of contraction you experience mentally or physically when your teacher says that you are going to do chaturanga dandasana (the yogi’s push-up pose), for instance, or ardha chandrasana (half-moon pose, pictured above).
Sometimes the push feeling might register as strong aversion, like a tightening in your gut or a furrow between your brows.
On the other hand, at times, you […]
Yoga Practice: Being Durable and Vulnerable
As a blogger ensconced in my little Mitchells Island retreat, I walk a thin line between being open and revealing in my writing but not so much that I come across as neurotic and narcissistic.
Really, I do rein myself in at times. Also, I don’t want you to lose confidence in me because I don’t show up as the epitome of a strong, well-balanced yoga teacher (which I’m not, certainly not at all times…ask my husband). […]
Cultivating Pure Awareness – The Aim of Yoga
I started off my day listening to a mindfulness meditation recorded by Jon Kabat-Zinn. The time I put aside in the early morning is special because I meditate with my husband. […]
It’s All Yoga Practice: Disappointment vs. Depression
I came back five days early from an aborted holiday up north, defeated by fairly continuous rain. Daniel and I were going to venture into a camping adventure on Fraser Island, Queensland – a magnificent World Heritage site. […]
Time Out or Time In?
I’ve been enjoying a break from our routine life on Mitchell’s Island this week, visiting such varied places as Uki, inner city Brisbane, and Sunshine Beach, Queensland. I’ve also had downtime from sitting at my computer, and as a result had some insights.
Out of necessity from being on the road, I’ve begun disconnecting from some of the social media and blog sites that send me regular updates through my email.
I hear people say that they don’t have time to keep up with the plethora of information, advice, marketing and entertainment that shows up in their inbox. […]
Context for Yoga Teaching
After I completed two long days of teaching yoga therapy in Byron Bay, I had pause to stop and reflect on my efforts.
The night before my 14-hour teaching day, I typically had sleep difficulties, culminating in just three hours of sleep. It’s not the first time this sort of pre-teaching insomnia has occurred. Part of it has to do with what a quiet lifestyle I ordinarily have in the country contrasted with suddenly meeting 13 new students in a new venue. But I also admit to being somewhat of a perfectionist, still, after all these years. […]
Gone Fishing….
Gone fishing…. No, not really. Not quite.
I’m heading north for a couple of days of teaching, and then a week of driving around in Queensland with Daniel. It’s his 65th birthday on Saturday and he deserves to be celebrated — perhaps by finding some undiscovered bit of paradise.
What’s different about this holiday is that we have not made a single booking or any real plans. […]
Guts
Am I a bad yoga teacher? Sometimes I think it’s just stupid to be teaching triangle pose to a student who has a physical complaint that’s causing them mental distress.
Sometimes I just want to say, Whoa, let’s just sit down for a minute and see what’s up. In this moment, what’s going on? Instead of glossing over what appears to be a strong feeling or a difficult attitude.
What’s the point of doing a lateral stretch when someone’s dog just died or they’re in pain in their body or they’ve been depressed for some time. […]
Persistent, Pushy or Plucky?
Why do people try to keep it together? And, sometimes they have to work very hard at it, too.
I do it myself. I was reminiscing tonight about how I took up bicycle riding again eight months after I’d had hip replacement surgery. I hadn’t ridden a bike for 20 years. I was using the bike at the Burning Man Festival, covering miles of desert on and off over several days. […]
Yoga and Wet, Windy, Wintery Weather
Like most people, we wanted real estate with a beautiful outlook. So, we had our home built on the top of a rise. We can see mountains to the west, wildlife in the forest, green pastures and distant water views.
What we also got as a result of being so elevated is full exposure to the blustery wet winds that have been hammering Mitchells Island today.
I wouldn’t trade our magnificent outlook for the windless quiet of a sheltered dell. I love being able to see broad horizons and big skies. […]
Do You Suffer from Yoga Teacher Burn-out?
I led a workshop a while back for the Yoga Australia Association to address the issue of ‘yoga teacher burn-out’. It was an experiential session. We had an energetic discussion about how stressed teachers get in their lives and we tried to get to the bottom of why we behave in such a driven way at times.
While we didn’t get to any handy solutions, it made a difference to hear individuals talk about burn-out. […]
Self-Care and Yoga Therapy
Next week I’ll be teaching in the Byron Yoga Therapy Course which I’ve had the honour of doing for the last four years.
What is yoga therapy? In one sense it’s a contradiction in terms because the basis of Patanjali’s meditation yoga is that an individual is whole and complete and doesn’t needing ‘fixing’. […]
How to Avoid 'Is-This-All-There-Is?' Syndrome
You might be aware that I live in a little community of three couples on five acres in the country. When we located to this rural setting after having lived for decades in the city, we met our new neighbours and joined a choir, a book club and other groups.
I felt that I had to let our new acquaintances know very gently that my living situation was unusual, to say the least, at my age and stage in life: six people living under one roof. […]
Pawanmuktasana: Every Part of the Body/Mind is Nourished
I went back to school in the year 2000. I was definitely a mature age student, but about two-thirds of my class were too. We were enrolled in a yoga teacher training.
After having taught yoga for 15 years, I decided to learn some new things. […]
Something Lost, Something Found
ilovefunnypics.com via pinterest
Years ago I saw a movie called “Something’s Got to Give”, starring Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton as seniors who were experiencing a bumpy road in dealing with the process of ageing.
One of the sight gags that ran through the movie was the both of them, sequentially, misplacing their reading glasses. The audience, an older crowd, laughed out loud each time the actors lost their glasses.
I’ve just spend 20 minutes today looking for my reading glasses and they haven’t turned up as yet. […]
Do Muscles Have Memories?
I’ve been using the expression ‘muscle memory’ in my yoga classes to explain how students remember to do certain movements. People learn to embody certain movements over time. ‘Neuronal pathways’ is another term for what links the brain to the body’s ability to do activities.
I decided to check out my word use with Dr. Google. […]
Practice is not about being perfect. It’s about being you.
Kathy Cooper Yoga Mats via Pinterest
I’ve uncovered a new offence that I’m capable of. I’m calling it creation-envy. What occurs for me when I hear of a great idea or turn of phrase is that I find myself wishing I’d thought of it or said it first.
Occasionally, I’ll hear another yoga teacher say something in class that is so perfectly verbalised that I just have to ‘borrow’ it. […]
Decisions, Decisions, Decisions
(via Pinterest)
Having just completed teaching one workshop, I’m now mentally preparing for teaching in the Yoga Therapy Intensive in Byron Bay.
However, I’m following my own advice to the driven, stressed-out people who take up yoga to relax: chill a little. You may have had the experience of being so intensely productive that you use up all your reserves and end up flat on your back, unable to do anything.
So, for the time being I’m dawdling. […]