The Yoga with Eve Grzybowski Blog
I’ve been blogging for 20 years. 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 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.
Side Wise
Source: etsy.com via Alison on Pinterest
This week I came up with a sequence I enjoy doing and teaching. The theme is all about stretching the sides of your body, particularly hips, waist, rib cage, shoulder blades and arms.
Somewhere along my yoga travels, I heard an expression that I like: ” the sides of our bodies are the lonely parts”. I get that. If you think of all the ways a body can move – bending forward, backward, rotating – then, sideways bends are most unfamiliar movements. […]
What’s the Invisible Ingredient That Yoga Schools Offer?
Source: blogs.yogajournal.com via LINDA on Pinterest
I think yoga schools miss the crucial bit of information in their advertising that explains why yoga class attendance can be so enticing. It’s not because of building a body beautiful. And not because all stresses will be dissolved in the arms of savasana (yoga relaxation) at the end of each class. And, it’s not even because any annoying ailments or injuries with which you arrived will miraculously be cured by doing yoga postures.
The thing that is so enrolling about good yoga schools is invisible, in a way. […]
Practice Makes Pleasure
Source: yoga.in via Allied on Pinterest
I can tell when students in my classes have taken up doing home practice. I’m such an old hand at figuring this out that I can even guess at how many practices a week they do.
What is it that gives them away? Well, these students are continuously improving in their poses. How quickly they evolve is in direct relationship to how much personal practice they do.
Another thing is the high level of attention these yoga practitioners have when they attend classes. […]
Child’s Pose For Breathing Space!
I’ve been rather grumpy for the last little while as I’ve been experiencing blogging woes this evening. […]
A Friend for Life: Yoga
Source: Uploaded by user via Aviella on Pinterest
Forty-three years ago, a friend dragged me along to a yoga class. […]
If You Can’t Say Something Nice
Source: levoleague.com via Tiffany on Pinterest
I felt like not posting tonight. I thought I didn’t really have anything to say. I went on the internet to find some inspiration (above), but it wasn’t quite it.
Then, I realised there were things I didn’t want to say… in a public forum.
Sometimes it has to be all right not to say important things. It might end up like serving an underdone meal.
So, I’m letting this stuff cook a little more until it’s ready. […]
What Qualifies as Advanced Yoga?
I’ve been asked by a couple of yoga students to teach them some ‘advanced’ asanas in a private session. These days I teach so cautiously that I rarely give advanced poses. […]
Do You Have a Guru?
I have a guru. One who I didn’t actively seek out as a teacher.
He happens to be my husband. He’s a perfect guru, too. You know someone who throws you back on your own resources and holds a mirror up to you so you can see your own reflection.
Most people don’t like to look in the mirror and I’m no exception. However, how else are you going to see how beautiful you are?
In December last year Daniel suggested a sponto* trip to South Island, New Zealand. […]
The Ups and Downs of Urdhva Dhanuasana
People keep asking me whether I can do everything I used to be able to do before I had my double hip replacement. What a hard question!
Here’s a shot of me in 1990 doing a backbend, pre-hip arthritis.
And, here I am 22 years later teaching my bionic hips how to extend.
Those of you out there with your perfecto-meters will note that as a 68-year old, my shoulders are stiffish, but, hey, I used to be overly flexible.
It’s a funny thing. […]
Here Today, Maybe Not Tomorrow
I’m getting far too good at stopping and smelling the roses. That’s the price I pay to be semi-retired, living in the country. What does semi mean anyway?
I took a small detour on my way to yoga practice this morning to admire and photograph the heavy mists hanging all around our property.
And then, I found myself attracted to the tibouchina that was just bloomin’ its heart out.
Of course, the brugmansia stopped me in my tracks, too.
Finally, just when I thought I was going to get into the Yoga Shed, the butcher bird caught my attention. […]
Short and Sweet Yoga Routine for Travellers
In a few days I’ll be heading north to Byron Bay for the Bluesfest – five days of listening to the likes of Joan Armatrading, Ben Harper, Taj Mahal, Santana, Rufus Wainwright… and more… […]
Know Any Everyday Heroes?
Source: confessionsofapropjunkie.com via Lauren on Pinterest
Sometimes I hear about a person in my circle of friends and acquaintances who is doing it hard and doing it quietly and uncomplainingly. It crosses my mind that these people are really everyday heroes, in their own sphere.
We don’t often recognise these stalwarts for their contributions because we think of heroes as being those who lead forces in battle, tie themselves to trees in old-growth forests, or save lives. I’ll never forget the faces pictured on the front page of the Sydney Morning Herald after the Port Arthur massacre. […]
Best Ways of Cultivating Concentration
Source: flickr.com via Jessica on Pinterest
Yesterday I wrote about how difficult I find it, at times, to pay attention. I’m finding the practice of mindfulness meditation gradually helping me improve my concentration.
Another aid for focussing the mind is the practice of pranayama – attention to the breath. Today I wanted to link back to Patanjali and his Sutra regarding pranayama. […]
Tripping Over Myself
Source: fibromodem.com via FibroModem on Pinterest
Do you have any preferred ways that you use to escape from work or problems in your life?
One simple device I use is to take frequent breaks to have cups of tea or coffee or snacks. I try to eat and drink in wholesome way so I don’t really abuse the above strategy. […]
Hips Are All the Rage
Is there an epidemic of hip replacements going on? I know of three yoginis who will have the surgery done within a month time frame – mid-March to mid-April. To be fair, I also know women who haven’t done yoga who, for various reasons, had to have replacements.
If you’ve been following this blog, you know my story of bi-lateral surgery, performed more than 3 years ago. […]
How Did I Get Here?
I had some time this morning – quite a lot of it, actually – to wander around Bondi Junction, my old stomping grounds. Here’s a photo of the entrance to the Australian School of Yoga on Oxford Street.
I was mentally winding back the clock to 1979 when I had my first experience of Iyengar Yoga taught by this man:
It’s fair to say that Martyn Jackson, Iyengar Yoga and the time I spent at the Australian School of Yoga changed the course of my life. […]
Medical Merry-Go-Round
Oh my! My head is spinning!
I left paradisiac Mitchells Island at 9 am to drive south as I was scheduled for root canal therapy in Sydney in the early afternoon. The dental specialist that performed the procedure, an endondontist, did the 75 minute treatment while I was looking up at the ceiling watching Mr. Bean videos, hearing easy- listening tracks on the stereo, and, at the same time, trying to do mindfulness meditation. […]
How Do You Say ‘Alert and Relaxed’ in Sanskrit?
Source: palmstone.com via Jennifer on Pinterest
Do you shut down in yoga class when your teacher uses Sanskrit words and concepts? Or, are you the opposite? You relish the opportunity to extend your learning about yoga, even to the point of assimilating an unfamiliar language.
Probably you stand in the middle; you don’t mind a smattering of the Sanskrit but not so much it keeps you in your head. […]
A Lover’s Quarrel with Myself
Source: hautefavesdeux.tumblr.com via sally ann on Pinterest
Do you get into internal dialogues where one part of you catches another aspect of yourself being foolish, judgmental, absent-minded, mean-spirited…. You get the idea. Insert any negative adjective you might think of into the description.
Round and round you go, trying to fight your way out of disempowering self-talk, but all you end up doing is digging in yourself into deeper hole.
Then, with any luck, some distraction comes along and the interruption is enough to wake you up to the moment. […]
Better Than a Yoga Relaxation: Beach-time
Source: manningvalley.info via Eve on Pinterest
Our American friends who come to visit us cannot believe that Australian beaches can be so beautiful and so empty of crowds. […]