The kindness of friendsI’ve always thought that practising kindness was one of the most beautiful yoga practices there is. I’m not always good at it but kindness and generosity are my aims.In this post, I’d like to credit some of the many people who have extended kindnesses to Daniel and me thus far on our northerly camping odyssey. Even though, if these people heard me praise them, these special people would probably declare, ‘Aw, it’s nothing.’From the very first of our camp sites in the Coopernook State Forest, we’ve been pampered. Ken and Sal McGowan did everything for us. […]
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. […]
I believe and know from my yoga experience that connecting through community is the most health-promoting and fulfilling activity I can do. Just recently I joined a local pool community for aquarobics classes and am enjoying connecting with a whole new group of health-minded and lively people.
There’s a lot of controversy in the yoga world about the quality of yoga teacher trainings right now. It was inevitable. The explosion in the popularity of yoga has meant that not only do more people want to do yoga but more want to teach it. So, we see the proliferation of yoga brands with the various ‘styles’ offering their own spin on yoga teacher training. There are short courses, long courses, on-line courses, part-time, diplomas, advanced diplomas, and I don’t know what-all.For my part, I have a teaching certificate from Martyn Jackson (1980), another from B.K.S. […]
Yoga is an art. As art belongs in a gallery, so does Yoga!I wrote the above candid caption as part of a promotion for the exciting new yoga classes I’d been invited to teach at the Manning Regional Art Gallery in Taree. I love this special gallery, a community resource for countless people, and I adore yoga. What could be better than putting the two together? Over these last two years, the classes proved to be popular. […]
For the seventh time this year, and over past years, too, I’ve been featured in the media.
Is this because I’m a celebrity yoga teacher? Not at all… Even though one of these media exposures was a full page interview of me in Focus Magazine to promote the upcoming Ekam Yoga Festival.
Most of my renown has happened because my housemates and I have become the darlings of how-to-do-retirement-better media coverage.
Professional Development for Yoga TeachersLast week I submitted details and documents to Yoga Australia (association) that support the professional development I’ve completed in the period July 1, 2014 till now. This is the method whereby I maintain my status as a senior yoga teacher in this organisation.You can’t get away from P.D. No matter what field you are in these days, you must keep up with your profession. […]
The Class of 2015
The happy group of seniors pictured above are the latest crop of palliative care volunteers to have completed an inspired training on the mid-north coast of NSW. The photo includes facilitators Karen Rudge and Rob Crombie. You might notice yours truly in the front row.
While pride is not always an admirable trait, I can’t help but feel proud to have trained over the last eight weeks with such a genuine and generous group of people. […]
Here’s a little look-in at our home and gardens and us.
In this film excerpt below we are being interviewed about our inspiring communal lifestyle by Australian comedian Judith Lucy. It’s part of a six-episode series called Judith Lucy is All Woman. You can view all of this episode or even the whole series on the ABC’s iView. […]
See the Shedders
We ‘Shedders’ were privileged to be filmed for the ABC series Judith Lucy is All Woman. The last episode which went to air tonight featured all six of us living our communal lifestyle on Mitchells Island.
Listen to the Best
As part of that final episode, Lucy organised a collaboration of some of Australia’s most recognisable female voices to sing a rendition of the Helen Reddy classic, “I Am Woman.”
The collaboration comprised Ella Hooper, Deborah Conway, Vika and Linda Bull, Bertie Blackman, Liz Stringer, Lisa Miller and more.
Listening to this might just make you […]
I attended the Divine Feminine conference this last weekend, as a participant and a presenter. As a result, I feel filled up from the experience of hanging out with wonderful, powerful women (an oestrogen high?)
The Sunday program coincided with Internatiional Women’s Day. As I taught my yoga session, I pictured myself as part of a gigantic web of global solidarity with many the events happening around the planet in support and celebration of women.
What I think makes women special is sometimes what we are criticised for: our caring, emotive side. […]
“I can’t believe Eve Grzybowski is 70. She’s a walking advertisement for the benefits of yoga to combat ageing.”
When I read the above Facebook comment, which is obviously meant to be a compliment, I smiled. It brought up images of me in battle gear, all manner of weapons in hand, throwing myself against the cruel onslaught of Time.
Nothing could be further from the truth. My seventy years have shown me that time marches inevitably foreward. Fighting its effects, I’ve noticed, is not only futile but exhausting.
BTW, I don’t do yoga to thwart ageing. […]
In 1978 I fell under the spell of a yoga teacher named Martyn Jackson. Martyn taught a kind of yoga that he’d learned in Pune, India from his teacher, B.K.S. Iyengar.He alleged that, in the sixties, he was one of few western students to study with Mr. Iyengar.
Martyn went to Pune from New Zealand to undertake one-to-one lessons with Mr. Iyengar. He had a story about arriving on Mr. […]
We yogis are a force worldwide. Those who practice yoga represent about 3% of the adult population in Australia. The numbers in the United States are likely to be even higher. We who do yoga can do good and we do.
It makes me happy that we yogis want to give back after having received so much from our practice. We join organisations with a social conscience like Yoga Off the Mat and Into the World and Care2Causes. […]
image via Pinterest
Yoga is elastic. It stretches to fit you now, and then, miraculously, it will give you a perfect fit in the future. All you have to do is jump on for the ride and stay on.
The best thing about yoga for me is the very way it is defined: union. And also that it so naturally cultivates community and connection.
Yesterday I had breakfast with three old students of mine. I don’t mean they are old. They are younger than I am. Actually, we’ve all grown older since we started on the yoga path. […]
In a world where yoga is practiced everywhere and at all times, global travelers who want to sample different schools and styles are fortunate to have countless classes at the tips of their fingers.
This last week I experienced an unimaginable contrast in the two yoga classes I attended, one in Boston, the other in New York City.
Jamaica Plain (Boston) is a lively neighborhood where ethnic assimilation is still going on. Eateries include African, Asian and European cuisines. […]
As a writer, I’ve attempted to follow the advice of Mark Twain: When you catch adjectives in your writing, kill them…. Well, not all, but most, so that any you use will be valuable.
But what’s a writer to do when she’s been part of a most remarkable and memorable week. I must remark and memorialize, and I fear I must even adopt a hyperbolic style. And so, here goes my account, no modifying words barred.
This last week I observed and participated in my niece Christa’s wedding. […]
I’ve just finished my stint of teaching in the Byron Bay Yoga Therapy Course, which will continue until next week.
My contribution to the course is in the area of “Working with the Older Client”, i.e., what are the complaints of the Aged and how can yoga help.
Even though the above photo of the group shows us behaving like silly mugs, these trainees are very inspiring. Yogis decide to train as teachers because of a huge love of yoga. […]
