Is Gentle the New Advanced Yoga?

Is Gentle the New Advanced Yoga?

From the one, the spread of many
Does the phrase ‘gentle is the new advanced yoga’ make your mind do a little backflip? Well, that’s the point. How about, ‘slow is the new strong’. Change is a constant. We see that yoga keeps on transforming almost before our eyes. Slow and gentle may be the next revolution in yoga. Perhaps a reaction to Power Yoga and Hot Yoga styles?
The many ways that yoga has morphed into different styles in recent times is mind-boggling. […]

It’s Always Time for Mindfulness

It’s Always Time for Mindfulness

Source: corporatefineart.com via Carolina on Pinterest

 
What do you think of when you think of the expression ‘defining moment’? A peak experience, or perhaps a monumental decision that might change the course of history?
A less common but equally justifiable view says that people are defined by many tiny moments occurring over time. In Nature writ large, this shows up as the drip-drip-drip of minerals in caverns where stalactites are created, or the inexorable motion of glaciers that eventually scours out vast lakes.
I think you know where I’m heading here. […]

A Sutra a Day: IV-27 – Those Pesky Psychic Grooves (grinding out the same old tune)

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Have you run across the idea that your yoga mat can act as your therapist? I know on one level that sounds facetious, but think about it. You put yourself on your mat routinely and, each time you do, it’s an opportunity for you to watch your behaviour.
What are your responses as you practice. […]

Yoga: On the Road

Yoga: On the Road

Have you ever packed your yoga mat for your travels and never unpacked it? I’ve schlepped mine around the U.S. for weeks at a time and barely used it.
These are terrible admissions for a yoga teacher, and I know I’m in bad company when I admit it.
On my last trip o/s, my body took a particularly large pounding during a long drive  from the Canadian border to San Francisco. […]

Books Can Turn You Upside Down

Books Can Turn You Upside Down

My friend Rick is reading Martin Seligman’s Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-being, and he was telling us about it at the dinner table tonight. It sounds like a good read and possibly aligned with the aim of yoga – ” to raise the bar for the human condition.” Hearing about this book, prompted me to ask whether anyone had read a book that was life-changing. Rick said the works of author Ayn Rand had turned his life upside down and inside out, but in a totally beneficial way. […]

Books Can Turn You Upside Down

A Leg Up for Your Yoga Practice

Almost as much as I love teaching yoga, I love inspiring students to do home practice.My spirit soars when I hear that someone is gotten turned on enough to buy a yoga mat, remember the postures they learn in class, and even begin to bend the practices so that they make a good fit for their individual lifestyle.The habit of practising yoga has such a huge momentum for me that it’s what gets me on the mat each morning (except Sundays!). […]

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. […]

Squirming

Squirming

I’m sitting here thinking about what to write, and it’s not coming easily, after having taken the night off yesterday. I excused myself because of attending an out-of-town wedding. But I’m not going to let myself wiggle out of this tonight because this is one of my disciplines.
See, that’s how I’ve trained myself to be. Pick myself up and put myself down on my yoga mat or on my Fit Ball in front of the computer, day after day, and stay there until the job is done.
Well, that’s not enough, of course. […]

The Valley Of the Sun

Nestled among four mountain ranges,
Tucson Arizona is beloved to me as I went to high school and university way back when.
I formed my tastes for the desert, country and western music and mouth-watering Mexican food here.
I misspent part of my younger years drinking pitcher beer and making out under fragrant lemon trees in full bloom.
Happily I have relatives here to visit or I might skip Tucson’s western charms in favor of alluring undiscovered regions.
And happily, the rellies thus far have been congenial.
My yoga mat is a bit dusty after a couple days or non-use. […]

Everything in Its Place

Everything in Its Place

When I first moved to Australia from the U.S., I was much more of a free spirit than I am now. I was a flight attendant for T.W.A. for three years before landing in Oz and I didn’t even quit the job; I just took a leave of absence in case I wanted to move back “home”.
I would say that I didn’t have a sense of place, not even my birthplace, Chicago. I’d lived in N.Y., several suburbs in L.A., and Tucson, Arizona. […]

Defining Moments (Take Two)

Defining Moments (Take Two)
We usually think of defining moments as peak experiences or monumental decisions that change our lives forever.
A less common but equally justifiable view is that we are defined by many tiny moments occurring over time. Like the way stalactites or stalagmites are formed – little droplets of water doing their thing over perhaps eons.
I think you know where I’m heading here. Ah, yes, the yoga mat, or, if you will, the meditation cushion. […]