Yoga Therapy

Sigh

Those of you who have practised yoga with me know I am a sigher. Why hold back? Sometimes yoga is so delicious pleasure begins to burble up from the belly, the kidneys, the heart, and who would want to stifle such an organic impulse. Add voice to it, and, voila, perfection!
I’ve traveled miles on this U.S. trek, now drawing to a close, maybe 450 miles in Arizona alone. Sighs have been too few and far between. […]

Routines

Routines

On the road today, it’s still today although I’ve travelled from Sydney to LA to San Francisco in 17 hours.
My early morning yoga routine went skewiff when I was nursing a cold, and then preparing for this long trip.
I pride myself (uh-oh) on being disciplined and now, while traveling, i notice it’s darned inconvenient to reImpose a yoga practice routine.
I know I will, nevertheless, partly for you the reader; […]

Not Perfect

Not Perfect

It’s been almost 7 months since I had bi-lateral hip replacements and I thought it was time to have a look at how my yoga poses were coming along. Through the eye of a camera.
Daniel was kind enough to take some photos of me posing šŸ˜‰
Now, you probably know that I would have deleted the not-so-hot images. […]

Sheltered

When I woke up this morning completely blocked and breathing from my mouth, I thought of the only thing that would help – yoga practice.
So here I am in the Shed, writing to you, occasionally lifting my head to look out at the view – dewy, green grass with birds swooping in and out. Given this is Australia, the birds are not ordinary: king parrots, eastern rosellas, and kookaburras, for instance. (The magpies have been having sex this week, right before our eyes.)
I have faith that my practice will pull me together on all levels. […]

Not Sexy

Not Sexy

Being tired is definitely not sexy. It’s not even a good look.
It’s the pits waking up in the morning, feeling fatigued, and then fretting that this is the best you’re going to feel all day.
That was me at 6 am. Even viewing the dawn’s pink cotton candy clouds couldn’t help. […]

Nature Trip

Nature Trip

Today we were a sightseeing party of four, driving out to the very beautiful attraction ellenborough Falls, out past the hills villages of Bobin and Elands.
Never heard of those places? Neither had we till we became immigres to Mitchells Island. Which may be another area unfamiliar to you.
Located on the Bulga Plateau, about an hours drive north-west of Taree, Ellenborough Falls are a spectacular site. […]

Serendipitous Health

Serendipitous Health

Just after sunrise today, I woke up early and drove down to the beach to see if I could sight some whales voyaging north.

Debbie who owns the General Store at Manning Point said she saw about 15 whales yesterday in the early am.
It really is the luck of the draw. You better plan not to be disappointed if your will power and the virtuous early Ā hour you arose isn’t enough to conjure them. Even though we all know this is whale watching season, we have to surrender to their rhythms.
I’m reminded of a quote from Dr. […]

14 July, 2010 19:03

Hey, these therapist trainees we’re working with at Byron Yoga rock! They just saw their first clients and did great work.
I’ll leave them in Mark Breadner’s capable hands tomorrow and we head off to socialize with Byronites. […]

Self-Healing – Colds

I did a fabulous yoga practice this morning. It’s one that I will present for Yoga Therapy Trainees in Byron Bay next week.
The sequence is a “download” from The Path to Holistic Health by BKS Iyengar and comprises poses for treating colds.
When I was still teaching in Sydney, I can’t tell you how often the teachers and I at Simply Yoga would do this sequence as a way of looking after ourselves. […]

Home At Last

Home At Last

It’s time to get back to a yoga platform here, after my efforts to try and save local beaches the other day and yesterday’s bemoaning of the brazen marketing use of social media.
Let’s talk about Koshas, a word that resembles “kosher” but is as far from Jewish dietary restrictions as Grevilleas are from Geraniums.
Koshas, a Sanskrit word, are often defined as the layers or sheaths, of a person. Another way koshas are described is like a set of Russian dolls – five of them. […]

Bali Belly

I miss my home yoga studio on Mitchells Island, but can I really complain about doing yoga in my current paradisal venue: Our Bali Villa –
www.ourbalivilla.com
I think not.
I experienced a happy surprise the other day when I was practising uddiyana bandha breathing. I decided to follow it with nauli, a kriya or cleansing exercise for the abdominal organs. Here’s a wikipedia link of you’d like more information and even a photo. […]

Radical Acceptance

Over the last week I’ve been writing about the ways yoga teachers are expected to behave by their students or the general public. Paragons of virtue and purity, it would seem, is what is wanted, not adulterated weaklings.
In the spirit of coming clean, I’ve been revealing some of my frailities.
Here’s another way I can prove to you I’m human. I get grumpy when tired. Yoga teachers are not even supposed to get tired. To add crankiness to the bargain must certainly threaten the paragon’s credentials.
The problem is I get tired every day. Since my surgery Feb. […]

Drink (YTAPT – Yoga Teachers Are People Too)

Another thing, my friend Maarit reminds me, that some people are shocked to discover about yoga teachers is they like a wee drink now and then.Ā I’m talking about a glass of wine once in a while or a frosty beer on a summer’s day after working up a sweat in the garden.
The trouble that occurs when you do yoga over a long period of time is that you really sensitize yourself to the effects of over-indulgence, so gradually “bad habits” become less attractive.
I really enjoy a glass of fine wine now and then. […]

To Meat or Not to Meat

To Meat or Not to Meat

I wish I had a dollar for every time that I’m asked out for dinner at someone new’s place and they say, “But you don’t eat meat, do you?” The assumption being that if I’m a yogi, I don’t eat animal foods.
Yes I do. There it’s out. As much as I admire people who have foresworn eating meat, especially if they are thinking of the slaughtering of Ā innocent sentient beings, I haven’t renounced a meat diet.
Actually I’ve come full circle. […]

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. […]

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