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. […]
Anyone who regularly reads “Yoga Suits Her” will know that I speak glowingly about my life in the beautiful surroundings of Mitchells Island.You can also read the story of the small, intentional community we’ve set up here.) Usually I’m a pretty positive and happy person, I think, in the midst of our island paradise. But last night I sorely tested myself and the merits of all my wonderful yoga philosophy when I was at a cocktail party (yes, alcohol does pass my lips) and spoke my mind, revealing a provocative personal opinion. […]
I thought it a good idea to modify my position on computer technology just slightly after yesterday’s enthusiastic rave about my new iPad keyboard.
Electronic gadgets can be addictive for certain kinds of obsessive personalities – like mine. Maybe yours too?
There was a cartoon that appeared in an Australian yoga calendar a few yeas back depicting a yogini “resting” in Viparita Karani (legs-up-the-wall), arms loosely overhead with a mobile phone in her hand. […]
Eve’s technology landmarks:
•Encountering the internet in the USA in 1994 and thinking, gee, that’s cool, I wonder what it can do.
•Getting my first computer, a Mac, in 1996 so I could use the keyboard to write my book, Teach Yourself Yoga. (Email, a curiosity then, later became for me a sort of cyber umbilical back to my overseas sisters.)
•Being one of the first Aussie yoga school directors to launch a website, simply yoga.com.au, in the year 2000.
•Being among the first wave of iPhone owners.
•Blogging continuously since 2007.
•(Today) Using an iPad keyboard. […]
On my return from holidays, I was quite shocked to hear that our closest beach had lost about a half kilometer of it’s length as a result of recent flooding and storms. That’s a big chunk.
The area concerned is at the mouth of the Manning River, but the dunes all along in a southerly direction to Old Bar Beach are seriously eroded too.
A sad part of our loss is the potential encroachment of the sea on the little tern breeding ground. […]
“Lazy Dog Pose” is one for the yoga therapy tool box, especially for hip osteoarthritis sufferers who can use it to postpone their need for surgery..
Another pose that can create release in the afflicted hip is this elevated lunge position:
If you can work with a helper, the following pose can offer relief:
When I had double hip surgery about 1-1/2 years ago, my practice of yoga had managed to forestall the operation for many years. […]
Once the aircraft’s doors have been armed, and the plane has lifted off the tarmac, wing flaps up, I enter a no-time zone. This works better for me than trying to figure out time zone changes and strategise how to wrest the most sleep out of the worst sleeping conditions possible. We’re now about an hour out of Aukland, and it’s 2:15 am in Sydney. I’ve had about 2.5 hours sleep on a 10 hour flight, in fits and starts. Disturbed sleep seems like a perfect scenario for practicing pranayama and meditation. […]
The Hindu concept of “Seva” can be deemed an expression of yoga practice; it might be defined as spiritual action born out of compassion to serve others.
I’m keenly aware of the kind service and accommodation our various hosts have given to Daniel and me in our travels around the U.S. […]
I’ve just been deliberating about what to entitle this post so that it would accurately describe the yoga class I did with Berkeley, California teacher, Donald Moyer, and maybe capture some of what I got out of it.
What I experienced was more than doing asanas under the instruction of a skilled, gracious teacher. […]
In recent times, I’ve shifted my emphasis in practicing yoga from just focussing on the performance of physical postures to observing my attitude when I do asanas. Who I am and how I approach what I do is increasingly more important than performing a sequence of poses.
I still do my practice of poses, which I love, and what I try to bring to my yoga now is kindness, acceptance, and love. […]
Playing with yoga poses in the presence of the giant California redwoods could have us looking rather insignificant.
Are we really?
Some rather famous people seem to have thought so.
“The massive bulk of the earth does indeed shrink to insignificance in comparison with the heavens”. Nicolaus Copernicus
“Everyone needs their memories. […]
The yoga community is far-flung and varied. I’m in no way a purist so, to me, variety is good – healthy even.
I attended a yoga class the other day in Napa, California, which was located in an unusual position, that is, above an eating and wine tasting establishment. […]
What’s a yogini doing in the wine country of California?
Enjoying herself.
We were very privileged and honoured today to enjoy an impressive tasting of wines at the vineyards in Napa, California founded by Donald Hess. A Swiss entrepreneur, Hess’s sustainable wine producing practices subscribe to the idea, “Nurture the land; return what you take.”
We four were modest in just visiting one winery, and then rather sensible, I thought, in going out to eat in town.
One of my yoga practices that translates so well when traveling is the namaste salutation. […]
Over the last few days I’ve seen a lot of extraordinarily big trees, from Vancouver Island to our current location in far north coast California.
We’ve driven through forests and walked under towering canopies – today absorbing the mighty presence of California redwoods (sequoia sempervivens), which are said to be the tallest living things on the planet at 300-350 feet tall and 16-18 feet across. Some specimens have been recorded at 360 feet.
These measurements don’t really tell the story; what’s more important is the feeling that the trees evoke, such as, awe. […]
There are some coastlines and beaches in the world that would give Australian seaside paradises a run for their money, and this spot that I’m looking out at as I write to you would be one. For sure.
Up until yesterday I’d never really heard of and definitely not seen the Central Coast of Oregon (USA). […]
Yoga is portable. If you have been attending classes for umpteen years and have not yet made the transition to doing yoga at home, you may not have made that discovery. So, here’s another incentive talk 🙂
Nowhere is the portability of yoga practice more appreciated than when you’re on the road. Even in the most modest lodging, you’ll find space to do a few back-saving postures.
The “hanging partial squat” or “bed chest opener” are so necessary after driving Highway 101 for many hours, as we are on this vacation. […]
I’m on the opposite side of the continent from the battered U.S. Eastern seaboard, afflicted as it has been by Hurricane Irene. I’ve been sheltered for the last two days in the Olympic Wilderness area of Washington State.
My awareness has been opening to include the destruction, even death, on the East coast, even as I take in the awesome magnificence of where I am at the moment.
As a launching pad for appreciating the one-million acre Olympic National Park, I am lodged at rustic Kalaloch with it’s expansive sandy, log-jammed beach. There have been so many first sightings. […]
Yoga teachers have a hard time conveying what this age-old, enormous wisdom system is.
One way to explain it is to pass on esoteric philosophical concepts as they appeared in ancient spiritual texts – difficult to understand and not the real experience of yoga; another way is to take those yogic ideas and water them down or recast them in contemporary terms – and perhaps much of importance gets lost along the way.
In any case, yoga practice can be a subjective experience that is difficult to explain in words. […]
Yes.
Well, I think so.
I am in paradise here at my friend Joyce’s home which faces the wide calm sweep of the Strait of Georgia.
This morning, I stumbled out to enjoy a waterview yoga practice, and saw pods of dolphins out at sea. They cavorted, careered, and carried on for about 30 minutes, until a cetacean-seeking boat interrupted their antics. […]
I’ve noticed that the practice of yoga can become addictive for some, especially those personalities who have that little bit of a tendency to get obsessive about things.
That would be me.
When I discovered Iyengar yoga in 1979, I would sometimes attend a couple of classes a day, would attend classes every day, except Sunday, and did a teacher training course only five months after my first class.
I learned a lot. There’s a narrow line between passion and obsession. […]
