Yoga practices

Good Bearing

Good Bearing

One of the things yogis can congratulate themselves on is good posture. I’ve been singled out in crowds because of my straight back – a good signature for a yoga teacher….
No matter how hard you’ve worked your forward and backward bends, there comes a time when you have to work that much harder just because of advancing years. […]

Easter Renewal

Easter Renewal

Here’s a relaxation for your Easter break, a time when you hopefully
have a little more time to renew yourself.  You might want to record this “script” for your iPod or iPhone so you can make the words your own.
Relax your eyes and forehead. Allow the skin on your forehead to drop towards your eyes, your eyebrows release out to your temples, and the skin on your temples drop to the back of your skull. […]

Stop and Smell….

Stop and Smell….

I have such a privileged life. On this day in April  2011 at 10 pm on Mitchells Island, NSW, it is quiet, the weather is temperate and autumnal, and we have a houseful of dear friends.
Things can change in a flash, and they certainly do. […]

Everyday Meditations

Everyday Meditations

Are you the sort of yogi who dozes off in savasana? Who loses track of watching your breath during pranayama? Who ends up thinking about your to-do list in the midst of asana practice?
Well, then, you are probably a Normal Person. […]

You Never Know When the Penny Will Drop

You Never Know When the Penny Will Drop

Yoga teachers try and try by any means possible to get their students to do home practice.
It seems counterproductive, in a way to, to encourage students to practice outside of class attendance. After all, it’s by students paying for classes that the teacher earns his/her livelihood. […]

We Had A Dream…Fulfilled

We Had A Dream…Fulfilled

Eight years or so ago, Daniel and I got together with two other couples – Rick & Heather, Mike & Judy – and gave birth to the dream of forming our own small community. We bought a four acre property with a shed on Mitchells Island, NSW, in 2004. […]

Yoga in Paradise

Yoga in Paradise

Yesterday I paid a visit to Falls Forest Retreat to check it out as a possible venue for holding a yoga retreat in the Spring.
We made a party of it and stayed overnight – Daniel, Rick, and Heather and I – in one of the six two-bedroom townhouses that serve as accommodation. […]

T.G.I.S.(Sunday)

T.G.I.S.(Sunday)

Sometimes we are so busy and stressed that, even when we have down time, it’s impossible to switch off.
So, here’s a practice for your Sunday restorative or recovery yoga session. It’s an interpretation of a practice by Linda Sparrowe and Patricia Walden.
Remember though, if you keep ending up depleted at the end of the week, it’s time to balance your lifestyle. […]

Sad/Happy

Sad/Happy

While I was practising with Heather in the Yoga Shed this morning, she told me this story which follows on my post yesterday about our choir’s concert at the Wingham nursing home.
Eve, your post reminded me of a time when my father first went into a nursing home, at age 87, in the final stages of Parkinsons disease. Parkinsons is especially nasty because it often gives people what’s called a mask or frozen face, resulting in the inability to show any expression or even to speak. […]

Overwhelmed

One of the communities I belong to is my choir. I attend the practices on Thursday nights, and always feel happier at the end of the 90 minutes. The same joyful experience as practising yoga in the Shed each morning.
A dearly beloved choir member, Leo, asked us to perform at his retirement home, which about 30 of us did tonight. There were about 35 or so in the audience in the dining room, including some staff.
I was surprised the acoustics were so good, and our choir sang so beautifully. […]

Conference Take Two

Conference Take Two

It occurred to me that I could put my conference keynote address on this blog and that the section on community building techniques might be helpful for some yoga teachers.
Yoga Australia “Spirit of Union” Conference Keynote Address
Opening
About 25 years ago, I saw a movie that crystallised a deep longing I’d had for many years, perhaps all my life. […]

Australian Yoga Teachers Conference

Australian Yoga Teachers Conference

I feel very proud to have participated as a delegate and as a presenter at Yoga Australia’s inaugural conference this last weekend in Melbourne.
Twenty-six panel members, workshop presenters, and keynote speakers provided an incredibly rich smorgasbord of knowledge, skills, experience and inspiration. […]

The Locals

The Locals

Roll Call of Mitchells Island Birdlife:
The kookas are the first order of the day and wake me way earlier than I want, especially when one lands on our deck, right outside my window.
Still early in the morning, as I do my practice in the Yoga Shed, I can hear one lone owl in the pine forest.

Then, while I’m up-side down in headstand, I can see out the sliding glass doors to where a couple of families of king parrots are hanging right-side up around the bird feeder.
The maggies are out and about most of the day […]

A New Broom

A New Broom

Today while cleaning out the Yoga Shed, I thought of Henry David Thoreau, the 19th century writer/philosopher, a man for all seasons who wrote “Walden”.
Walden Pond was part of an idyllic forest setting where Thoreau experimented with living simply and frugally for some years.
What made me think of him was the way Heather and I copied how he would clean his little cabin in the woods. On a fine day, he would take all of his furniture and furnishings out to give a completely clean broom to the interior. Which is what we did. […]

Shed in Name Only

Shed in Name Only

Ten months ago I took my maiden flight into teaching yoga in the Yoga Shed. My wings were somewhat under-used as a result of having had double hip replacement surgery in Feb. 2010, followed by three months’ rehabilitation.
I didn’t know what to expect as my Yoga Shed advertising was typically minimalist.  So I was chuffed when some students came along (and are still coming).
The old Shed needed some rehabilitating too, and today you can see the results in these photos – our own version of “Grand Designs”. […]

Cultivating Calm

Cultivating Calm

This is a simple, effective version for restoring balance to the mind and body. I recommend that you record it to listen to. The Voice Memo Ap in an iPhone works very well for this purpose.
Lie down for Savasana with your head supported on a blanket, and a block longways between your shoulder blades. Your forehead should be slightly higher than your chin, and your chin a little higher than your chest.
Relax your eyes and let them look downward and inward. Let the movement of your eyes gradually come to a standstill. […]

Feelings

Feelings

I’ve had times over the last fortnight when I’ve been overcome with feelings of sadness. I think my mother-in-law’s recent death has precipitated my tears, but then some memories of my parents’ deaths have gotten into the mix. […]

Equipoise

Equipoise

As the numbers of dead and missing in Japan rise each day, I find my thoughts turn to this ill-fated nation, undone so quickly by earthquake, tsunami and radiation leaking into the environment.
What would it be like to wake up into a normal day and by the end of it, your world turned upside down?
It happens every time that someone sits down with a medico and gets a terminal prognosis. […]

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