Dharana

A Yoga Intensive Country-Style

A Yoga Intensive Country-Style

by | Jan 10, 2015 | Dharana, Mindfulness Meditation, Yoga practices, Yoga Sequences

What is a yoga intensive?
We teachers often call yoga courses which run over several days ‘intensives’, but what does that mean? Are they really intense? Is that a contradiction in terms?
Another word that’s used these days for this type of course is ‘immersion’. I think that’s a better expression. Intensive brings up the sense of extreme or severe effort. Immersion is more like plunging in and steeping yourself in the content.
We’ve just completed a week of early morning classes at the Yoga Shed for 15 students. […]

The Case for Practising Meditation  

The Case for Practising Meditation  

by | Nov 29, 2014 | Breathing, Dharana, Mindfulness Meditation

guest post via Michael Hollingworth
The Facts
We all know that meditation is supposed to be good for us, but here are some facts that make a tight case for it.
Fact number one: The human brain is the most complex known object in the universe. There are 100,000 miles of circuitry – enough to go right round the earth four times. […]

Meditation – Free as a Bird?

Meditation – Free as a Bird?

by | Sep 22, 2014 | Dharana, Mindfulness Meditation, Yoga practices, Yoga teaching 

The Bird
I spotted a satin bowerbird building his ‘love shack’ in a sheltered part of our garden. My Wiki source says that these clever birds are endemic to eastern Australia. If you’re from another part of the world and aren’t familiar with bower birds, here’s a pic of a male:

I’ve known for a long time that bowerbirds are collectors of objects. They especially love blue things: drinking straws, bottle caps, and clothes pegs, for instance. […]

It'll be January soon. Time to create your Yoga resolutions!

It'll be January soon. Time to create your Yoga resolutions!

by | Dec 17, 2013 | Dharana, Mindfulness Meditation, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Yoga practices, Yoga teaching 

I love yoga and I love my yoga practice.
I often hear from people that they would like to be able to do home practice but somehow they never quite get there. Maybe this describes your experience. You might have bought all the yoga gear, dvd’s, YogaAnywhere practice cards, books, but ended cup only doing self-practice for a short time. […]

Mulling Over the Meandering Mind

Mulling Over the Meandering Mind

by | Jul 18, 2013 | Dharana, Mindfulness Meditation, Wisdom, Yoga practices

While meditating this morning, I started to mentally create a to-do list. You may have had a similar experience; in the absence of other stimulation your mind starts to fill up the void with the overflow of your too-busy life. These might take the shape of conversations you had with people which you didn’t finish satisfactorily. Or, tasks that you promised completion of and then didn’t deliver. […]

Big Sky With Clouds: It's All Meditation

Big Sky With Clouds: It's All Meditation

by | Jul 3, 2013 | Dharana, Dhyana, Humour, Wisdom, Yoga practices

I did a meditation this morning to the voice recording of Jon Kabat-Zin in which I was able to practice accepting my busy mind.
I know that meditation is supposed to be about stilling a chattering mind, but I think I’ve discovered a precondition to having a quiet mind, which is having a good look at what the mind is really up to.
In the case of moi, at the times when I’m sitting for meditation, my mind is most often planning, and especially busy creating new projects. […]

Best Ways of Cultivating Concentration

by | Mar 22, 2013 | Dharana, Health, Mindfulness Meditation, Pranayama, Wisdom, Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

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. […]

Is Your Mind Too Full? Try Being Mindful

Is Your Mind Too Full? Try Being Mindful

by | Mar 4, 2013 | Dharana, Dhyana, Mindfulness Meditation, Yoga practices

In our household of six, there are three of us who have cottoned onto mindfulness meditation.
Michael started it through his involvement in a course of study he is doing where there is a big emphasis on the importance of mindfulness.
And then, Daniel learned about and practised meditation in a structured nine-week course offered in Taree last year.
Finally after umpteen years of trying to meditate, I down-loaded some of Russ Harris and John Kabat-Zinn’s mindfulness recordings to my iPhone, and climbed aboard the meditation bandwagon.
Now Daniel and I meditate together. […]

"Where Care Lodges, Sleep Will Never Lie"*

by | Feb 24, 2013 | Dharana, Pranayama, Yoga practices

Source: taboragallery.com via Kaye on Pinterest

 
When I woke up in the dark today, and it was only 2:37am, I was hoping I would fall right back sleep. Instead I spent the next hour in the slipstream of my thoughts, not awake enough to still them and not sleepy enough to bypass them.
Finally, I did something I’ve never done before. […]

A Sutra a Day: IV-33 – Tiny Instants of Time Add Up

by | Feb 20, 2013 | Dharana, Wisdom, XSutras, Yoga practices, Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

Source: mostbeautifulpages.com via Michelle on Pinterest

 
For some reason, maybe because of teaching some workshops on ‘How to Work with Older Students’, I seem to be preoccupied with ageing. It may be because I am, er… getting on myself.
A newsletter landed in my email today from my friend and colleague Maggi, who was writing about ‘Age and Attitude’. She says,
‘I have a bad attitude to ageing. […]