In almost every class I teach, I make a point to give thanks for this community we create when we come together. Whether your particular class happens in a gym or in a school hall, you are likely to connect with like-minded people. These may ultimately become fast friends. Lasting friendships are promoted by yoga teachers who make a point of providing time and space to socialise. Having a cup of tea after class, or in our household, one of Daniel’s coffees, we get to talk about more than yoga postures.
By attending classes regularly, there’s the potential for deepening friendships with classmates. Yoga teachers and students get the chance to bond, too.
Who are the Shedders? If you know me at all, you would know I’m a community junkie. I’ve created several yoga communities over the 35+ years that I've been teaching. I’m part of the Manning Valley singing community. There's our Mitchells Island community that includes...
Grumpiness can be sparked by various transgressions. It annoys me if someone doesn’t recognise the importance of my personal sensitivities or take into account my pet peeves. Unfortunately, annoyance and grumpiness leave bad energy–like a black cloud over my head which sits there even though there are blue skies all around.
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. […]
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
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. […]
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. […]
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.
Yoga is an important tool for many different kinds of musicians. Whether you sing, play the piano, guitar, or flute, yoga and other exercises can help you improve your alignment and breath support.
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. […]
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. […]
I believe and know from my yoga experience that connecting through community is the most health-promoting and fulfilling activity I can do. Just recently I joined a local pool community for aquarobics classes and am enjoying connecting with a whole new group of health-minded and lively people.
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. […]
Yoga is an art. As art belongs in a gallery, so does Yoga!I wrote the above candid caption as part of a promotion for the exciting new yoga classes I’d been invited to teach at the Manning Regional Art Gallery in Taree. I love this special gallery, a community resource for countless people, and I adore yoga. What could be better than putting the two together? Over these last two years, the classes proved to be popular. […]
For the seventh time this year, and over past years, too, I’ve been featured in the media.
Is this because I’m a celebrity yoga teacher? Not at all… Even though one of these media exposures was a full page interview of me in Focus Magazine to promote the upcoming Ekam Yoga Festival.
Most of my renown has happened because my housemates and I have become the darlings of how-to-do-retirement-better media coverage.
Professional Development for Yoga TeachersLast week I submitted details and documents to Yoga Australia (association) that support the professional development I’ve completed in the period July 1, 2014 till now. This is the method whereby I maintain my status as a senior yoga teacher in this organisation.You can’t get away from P.D. No matter what field you are in these days, you must keep up with your profession. […]
The Class of 2015
The happy group of seniors pictured above are the latest crop of palliative care volunteers to have completed an inspired training on the mid-north coast of NSW. The photo includes facilitators Karen Rudge and Rob Crombie. You might notice yours truly in the front row.
While pride is not always an admirable trait, I can’t help but feel proud to have trained over the last eight weeks with such a genuine and generous group of people. […]
Here’s a little look-in at our home and gardens and us.
In this film excerpt below we are being interviewed about our inspiring communal lifestyle by Australian comedian Judith Lucy. It’s part of a six-episode series called Judith Lucy is All Woman. You can view all of this episode or even the whole series on the ABC’s iView. […]
See the Shedders
We ‘Shedders’ were privileged to be filmed for the ABC series Judith Lucy is All Woman. The last episode which went to air tonight featured all six of us living our communal lifestyle on Mitchells Island.
Listen to the Best
As part of that final episode, Lucy organised a collaboration of some of Australia’s most recognisable female voices to sing a rendition of the Helen Reddy classic, “I Am Woman.”
The collaboration comprised Ella Hooper, Deborah Conway, Vika and Linda Bull, Bertie Blackman, Liz Stringer, Lisa Miller and more.
Listening to this might just make you […]
