Community

Awash in Gratitude: Yoga, Choir and Pool Communities

Awash in Gratitude: Yoga, Choir and Pool Communities

by | Feb 19, 2018 | Community, Health, Pleasure

Pool community
Do you ever feel overcome by feelings of gratitude for the communities to which you belong? I feel awash in gratitude each time I participate in the little pool community at Old Bar Beach. During the warm weather, I wake early, excited by the prospect of an aquarobics session at the pool. 
I should let you know that I was born in Chicago, far from the ocean. Then, as an adolescent I lived in the desert town of Tucson, Arizona. As a consequence, I lacked many of the things that Aussies take for granted. […]

Colour Your Life With Creativity At Camp Creative

Colour Your Life With Creativity At Camp Creative

by | Jan 15, 2018 | Community, Wisdom, XCommunity

Camp Creative–Fertile Ground for Creativity
It’s several days now since returning from a week at Camp Creative. This event, based in Bellingen, has something for everyone. Sixty different courses representing music, visual arts, writing, crafts, young people’s activities, dance, lifestyle, and voice. A remarkable time, as evidenced by the concert of performing artists who came together on the last night. This is a showcase for creative work in the areas of instrumental music, singing and dance. Some performers were first-timers, others more seasoned, all with their creative juices flowing.
I particularly like seeing the range of ages represented. […]

Pop Up Yoga is All About Enrolment

Pop Up Yoga is All About Enrolment

by | Nov 5, 2017 | Community, XCommunity

Pop Up Yoga
Pop Up Yoga is the sort of yoga that might turn up in your local park or at the beach, especially as the weather warms up in Australia.

I went to a pop up kind of event at Flynn’s Beach, Port Macquarie, this morning. It was partly organised by the Yoga Shala and partly by the Coastal Warriors. Seventy-five people attended and funds were raised for the Coastal Warriors. They are a dedicated group of volunteers who clean up the local waterways. […]

The Case for Joining Yoga Associations

The Case for Joining Yoga Associations

by | Oct 25, 2017 | Community, XCommunity

Beware of the preface, ‘Back when I was a girl’. Or, boy, or youngster. What is about to follow this phrase is likely to be a thinly disguised judgment about the way things are going to hell now. Life used to be simpler, the air was cleaner, and people could still afford to buy their own home.
Yet in many ways, life is better for us. […]

Communal Living and Another 15 Minutes of Fame

Communal Living and Another 15 Minutes of Fame

by | Sep 30, 2017 | Age, Community, XCommunity

I believe in the importance of community so much that I’ve chose to live communally. We are three couples, living under the same roof, sharing our lives together. This experiment in a different way to do retirement has been highly successful. We’ve been the subject of media attention even from the inception of our vision thirteen years ago.

The Shedders and the Power of Vision Planning

The Shedders and the Power of Vision Planning

by | Feb 6, 2017 | Community, XCommunity

Are you good at vision planning?
I think that I’m pretty good at planning for the future. Perhaps planning is an inherited trait. Either you are or you aren’t. There are those of us who plan from when we open our eyes in the morning to when we close them at night. (It’s possible that planning is going on even in our dreams.)
For me, the bad thing about planning is when I overdo it. It can squeeze the life out of any spontaneity and fun.
The good thing is that planning can lead to getting what you want. […]

The Yoga of Practising Kindness

The Yoga of Practising Kindness

by | Jul 4, 2016 | Community, Nature, Yoga practices

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 New Sangha of Yoga Teachers

A New Sangha of Yoga Teachers

by | Apr 3, 2016 | Community, XCommunity, Yoga teaching 

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. […]

Too Many Yoga Teacher Trainings?

Too Many Yoga Teacher Trainings?

by | Nov 9, 2015 | Community, Yoga practices, Yoga Retreats

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. […]