Yoga Sequences

Practice Makes Pleasure

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. […]

A Sutra a Day: IV-32 – A Balancing Act

Source: dailydoseofstuf.tumblr.com via Michael on Pinterest

 
Yoga philosophy has a handy way to categorise elements of the material world. In Sanskrit there are three forces called gunas: tamas, which exhibits qualities of darkness, inertia, or heaviness; rajas, which equates with raw energy, passion, dynamism; and, sattva, which is defined as Being, clarity, or spiritual essence.
Objects can be characterised according to the above scheme, and so can human moods and personalities.
Think about it. At times you’ve probably felt yourself in a heavy mood, like a dark cloud is hanging over you (tamasic). […]

Tootling Up & Down the Coast

Tootling Up & Down the Coast

One of the things that you just have to surrender to when you move to the country is travelling huge distances. (Other things to let go of: seeing art house films near-by and having interesting eateries to choose among. The solution – subscribe to Netflix and eat at home!)
When I lived in Sydney, it took me 30 min. at peak hour to travel from Mosman to Crows Nest, a distance of 5.5 km. It takes me about 10 min. […]

Yoga & Yakka*

Yoga & Yakka*

Over the last two days, we’ve been working our bums off on our little rural spread on lush Mitchells Island. We’ve had fantastic professional help from Peter Nixon, Paradisus Garden Design and our local builder, Matt Peters. But we decided that, to save money, we would do some of the labouring work ourselves. I don’t know that this is necessarily a good idea. […]

Yoga to Help Tolerate the Temperature

Yoga to Help Tolerate the Temperature

Oh my, it’s been hot here! This extreme humidity feels like it stacks on tons of degrees to the temperature.
I tell the yoga students who venture out on sultry days that they get extra yoga merit points in heaven for attending class when our brains are feeling like they’re simmering in their juices.
Here’s 5 Tips on What to Teach…when it’s 30 plus and 90% humidity.
1. Chest openers of any passive variety – You can’t go wrong with something that promotes breathing when the lungs are approaching pneumatic apathy, block pose, for instance:

2. […]

Flood watch. And a yoga practice while you wait.

Flood watch. And a yoga practice while you wait.

It’s extreme. But then, we do live on an island.
The wet weather we’ve been swimming in these last few days is gradually filling up the adjacent paddocks and our paperbark wetland. The pumpkin plants are getting bolshier by the minute, and there are bush mice trying to get into our house like it was Noah’s ark.
Fortunately we have yoga. […]

Important Yoga Practice No. 6: Strength

I’ve never done a Power Yoga class even though one of the most popular expressions of this style is home-grown in Australia. Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga and Power Yoga have a well-deserved reputation of being physically demanding. There’s an emphasis on strong breathing, switching on the bandhas, and doing chataranga dandasanas (the yogi’s pushups) to link the flow of poses.
This appoach builds up strength, stamina, and a lot of heat in the body. […]

Bagus

Bagus

Down south in Bali, a little further west than Seminyak, Daniel & I are enjoying Shirley’s beautiful villa for this week.
I keep looking around this big four bedroom house, imagining about 10 people here for a yoga retreat.
Three staff, with one a wonderful cook, mean our every need is being met.
I laid out my yoga mat late in the afternoon and did a general practice. […]

Heading north

Heading north

Daniel and I are in Roseberry on the cusp on a Bali/Darwin holiday, happily escaping the damp chill of Austalia’s eastern seaboard.
Mandy and Paul have the most amazing garden here designed and landscaped by the eccentric Ted, horticulturist extraordinaire. The feature I like best about their garden is the plush groundcover that looks gorgeous and can be walked on, no worries, but also never needs to be mowed. […]

Rather Than Wrestle with Stress, Do Restful Yoga

It’s not news to anyone that many of us suffer from a frenetic pace of life these days. Life gets fired at us point blank and we just have to deal with what comes up – often in a way that doesn’t let us take care of our bodies and minds. At the same time, we are fortunate that the popularity of restorative and therapeutic yoga has co-arisen with what seems like an increasingly complicated and stressful world. I live in the country and, as much as I love it, it is not a problem-free lifestyle. […]

Best Sequences – No. 6

Okay, you might not be a woman or you’re not in this age bracket, but you know women, you have aunties or mums….So here’s a practice inspired by The Woman’s Book of Yoga by Linda Sparrowe and Patricia Walden. If you are a woman, the book is a must have!
Sequence for Perimenopause

Supported Adho Mukha Svanasana – head on upright block (ropes, optional) 1 min. […]

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