In the heat, keep your brain cool
One of the definitions of the word ‘flop’ is to fail at an endeavour. Another meaning for the word is to crumble or collapse. Flop-asanas are not poses that you do and then you fail; nor are they done simple by flopping over soft props. Rather, they are supported poses that help you open up your chest and your breathing when the hot weather becomes stifling. […]
Enough Already!Extropical cyclones, low pressure troughs, East Coast lows, whatever you call them, they all have the potential for giving us the rain blues. On the eastern seaboard of Australia, and even inland, we’ve had record-breaking rainfalls this autumn. What’s a yogi to do to keep his or her spirits up? A specialised yoga practice, of course! You want to do a sequence to balance your energy and dispel any negative moods. When the humidity has been high for a period of time, it creates excess dampness. […]
I love love love this time of year! Especially today – the summer solstice. For you northerners, you may be experiencing the type of climate you love and I’m happy for you. But, as a girl who grew up in the icy winters of Chicago, I can tell you I’m done with snow and freezing temperatures. This semi-tropical weather we’ve been enjoying on the mid-north coast of NSW suits me to the ground. As I write to you, dear reader, I’m wearing shorts and a tank top and looking out on verdant forest and lawns. […]
This week Daniel and I exercised our prerogative as retirees to take ourselves off to see an 11 a.m. movie – ‘Gravity’. This amazing film shows the actors, NASA astronauts, on a fix-it mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. Bio-medical engineer, Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock), and veteran astronaut, Matt Kowalski (George Clooney) get into dire trouble as the mission unfolds. […]
It’s a gorgeous day here on Mitchells Island – twenty degrees c. (70 degrees F.) – with a light breeze. Spring blossoms are plentiful in our gardens, and I’ve spotted various species of birds building nests. A bevy of ducks have been parading their young around our property, an area relatively safe from predators.
Another day in paradise, you could say, and you’d be partly right. Except for the fact that it has scarcely rained this month – 2.5 mm. – that’s all. On the other hand, the Manning Valley has been burning for weeks. […]
A friend and colleague asked me today why I don’t teach pranayama – the yoga breathing – in my yoga classes. I should, I know I should. I was trained in a particular method of yoga that disallowed the practice of breath control until, as Patanjali advises, ‘perfection is attained in asana”. Oh goodness, what a high bar! Nevertheless, when I did yoga teacher training with my first Iyengar teacher, we students would do an hour of pranayama before each asana session. […]
Today I attended a classical concert being held to raise funds for and spark interest in “LinC” – a not for profit association that helps the poor, the needy and the disadvantaged.
The bill of fare was quite an eclectic mixture of music with a standard of performing that was very uneven. Daniel was one of 8 in a chorus singing “churchy” music. There were also two Asian boy pianists, Eistedford winners, as they were introduced. An ensemble played Handel, Mozart and Beethoven, not always in tune or harmony, but bravely nevertheless. […]