Travel

Living Legacy: We All Have One

Living Legacy: We All Have One

I was hanging out with a dear friend recently and told her that I was pulling together a collection of my yoga classes for my YouTube channel. I referred to what I’d done as creating a kind of legacy. She looked horrified, as though I was imminently going to shuffle off this mortal coil.

Yoga on the Road: Heading to the Outback

Yoga on the Road: Heading to the Outback

It’s nearly autumn in Australia. Here on the East Coast we’ve experienced the hottest summer in many a year. Fortunately, the weather has become cooler recently, but still exceedingly humid.No matter what the weather is like this time of year, Australians are beginning to dream about setting off in their vans for northern coasts, inland lakes and The Outback. 

Discover the Power of Everyday Rituals

Discover the Power of Everyday Rituals

 

 
My ritual morning cuppa
There’s a certain morning ritual that I have performed ever since I was 16 years old. This is the age when coffee and I started our long and friendly relationship.
I enrolled in a summer high school class which started at 7am. Everyone knows that teenagers are not biologically designed for early mornings. I was in shock when that first alarm went off. Making and drinking a cuppa soon became the ritual that got me going each day. […]

Chasing a Warmer Clime: A Travelling Yogi

Chasing a Warmer Clime: A Travelling Yogi

This yogi travels to America
Everyone seems to understand this important bit of information except me: I am an American.
Yes, it is true. I was born in the USA seventy-two and a half years ago. But because I’ve lived in Australia for 41 years and have my Aussie citizenship, I sometimes forget that I’m American-born. Until my accent gives me away completely.
When Daniel and I were travelling around Australia last winter, we would get sprung every time. […]

Yoga at Sunrise, A Cold Beer at Sunset

Yoga at Sunrise, A Cold Beer at Sunset

Yes, I do occasionally have a beer. Especially when the conditions are ripe for it. For instance, Northern Territory winter arvos with sunsets to live for.
On occasion, I’ve been driven to drink a beer at the end of the day by the rigours if long distance driving along with the 30 degree plus dry heat.
What was it that W.C. […]

Be a Beginner: It Will Change Your Life

Be a Beginner: It Will Change Your Life

Yoga BeginningsDo you like to be a beginner? At times I think that I don’t, but once I have additional skills and knowledge under my belt, it feels great.The domain of neuroscience and neuroplasticity informs us oldies that we need to keep our grey matter fresh through on-going learning. We especially need the sorts of complicated learning that challenges our brains and creates new neural pathways.The most transformative learning experiences I’ve had have been through the pursuit of yoga.Being a beginner in Iyengar Yoga is still a vivid experience for me. It was mid-week October 1979. […]

'Ultimate' Yoga is Coming

'Ultimate' Yoga is Coming

When ‘Ultimate’ is a nounIn the U.S. where I was born, there’s a word–snowbirds–to describe people who head for warmer climes when the first hint of winter chill infuses the air.For some of us, this is the ultimate lifestyle–never ever having to experience snow, wind and ice. Others might want to enjoy the snow-and-cold experience, but only in the ski fields when winter evenings feature warm fires and mulled wine.My smart housemates, Heather and Rick, just before they flip the calendar to June 1st, routinely head for the north American summer season. […]

No Yoga Mat, Will Travel

No Yoga Mat, Will Travel

I don’t have to tell you it’s winter in Australia. On the east coast we’ve experienced mild weather, then bitter cold, and even snowfall where there isn’t meant to be any. No matter what the winter weather is like, Australians have a habit of fleeing our island continent for tropical paradises as the chilly temperatures bite.In a short time, I’m leaving for a sojourn in the U.S. […]

Walking the World is Good Yoga Practice

Walking the World is Good Yoga Practice

The civilized man has built a coach, but has lost the use of his feet.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Since being on an extended overseas holiday, I’ve been contradicting Emerson’s opinion of the civilized person. Rather, I’ve been experiencing what author and philosophy professor Frederic Gros calls ‘a life scrubbed bare’ and an affirmation of the simple life: walking.
Certain cities of the world are made for walking. I’ve just spent three days in one of them, Old Quebec. […]

Gone Fishing….

Gone Fishing….

Gone fishing…. No, not really. Not quite.
I’m heading north for a couple of days of teaching, and then a week of driving around in Queensland with Daniel. It’s his 65th birthday on Saturday and he deserves to be celebrated — perhaps by finding some undiscovered bit of paradise.
What’s different about this holiday is that we have not made a single booking or any real plans. […]

Bagus

Bagus

Down south in Bali, a little further west than Seminyak, Daniel & I are enjoying Shirley’s beautiful villa for this week.
I keep looking around this big four bedroom house, imagining about 10 people here for a yoga retreat.
Three staff, with one a wonderful cook, mean our every need is being met.
I laid out my yoga mat late in the afternoon and did a general practice. […]

Heading north

Heading north

Daniel and I are in Roseberry on the cusp on a Bali/Darwin holiday, happily escaping the damp chill of Austalia’s eastern seaboard.
Mandy and Paul have the most amazing garden here designed and landscaped by the eccentric Ted, horticulturist extraordinaire. The feature I like best about their garden is the plush groundcover that looks gorgeous and can be walked on, no worries, but also never needs to be mowed. […]

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