Yoga teaching 

"Best of…" No. 3

"Best of…" No. 3

Post-Travel Sequence
Australians are inveterate travellers, so this sequence is a handy one to have tucked into your tool box for your return. Notice the interesting mixture of seated poses and backbends.
Supta Baddha Konasana (10-15 Min.)
Virasana (3 Min.)
Upavistha Konasana, hands behind (3 Min.)
Baddha Konasana, head supported on chair, then move chair to left, then right for a lateral forward bend (1 Min. each side)
Bharadavajasana 1, 3 x (1 Min. each side)
Paschimottanasana, head supported, feet apart 30 cm. (3 Min.)
Janu Sirsasana (3 Min. […]

Best Practices No. 2

Best Practices No. 2

Yoga Sequence for Boosting the Immune System
Yoga practitioners are human and subject to illness, despite following the most conscientious lifestyle. So when in recovery from any nasties, this practice based on one of B.K.S. Iyengar’s sequences is an invaluable practice. […]

Great Yoga Sequences – No. 1

Great Yoga Sequences – No. 1

Over the years, I have archived yoga sequences that I found really made a difference to my students. Some of these date all the way back to the eighties! And, some of them are from just last year.
This week my blog will feature “The Best Of”, starting with:
Asana and Pranayama Sequence for Anxiety
Note: These poses are based on the Iyengar approach of using props for some of them. […]

Sangha (Part Two)

Sangha (Part Two)

A little while back, I wrote about two of my communities, my two women’s groups.
Community has been a continuous and important theme in my life. There’s an old movie called “Witness” that is set in an Amish community in America. I saw that movie 4 times and probably could see it again – no, not just for the youngish Harrison Ford – but because of the way the people portrayed worked together so well. There’s a scene of a barn-raising in the movie that made me cry every time I saw it. […]

Good

As a newcomer to country living, I thought I should join in some community activities.
Last week I went along to “Windsong” a community choir that meets weekly in Wingham, a little town about 30 minutes from us.
Can I sing? Sort of. If my life depended on it.
I didn’t have an entirely happy experience last week. I had to concentrate so hard on looking at the sheet music for following the alto harmony that I’m not sure what I sounded like. […]

What the heck is Yoga Therapy? (Sometimes called "Special Needs" or "Remedial Yoga")

What the heck is Yoga Therapy? (Sometimes called "Special Needs" or "Remedial Yoga")

These are terms that a keen student or teacher might run across with increasing frequency these days. They represent a specialised area of yoga that offers a holistic approach to treating chronic or acute ailments.
What sort of treatment? A range of approaches: asanas, breath work, meditation, perhaps Ayurvedic remedies, all may be used for the purpose of creating symmetry in the body and harmony in the mind. […]

Overdone

Overdone

Have you ever overdone?
Do you have the definitive solution for keeping balance in your life? If you do, then you are likely to be a rich person.
Needing to find balance is one reason people sign up for yoga. IMHO, sadly, yoga teachers are a group whose lives get seriously out of whack. Isn’t it so? “You teach what you most need to learn.”
Sometimes I subscribe to my own way of finding where my limits lie: Go over them!
That was what I did yesterday. […]

Pedestals

Eighteen years ago, when I was first diagnosed with osteoarthritis of the hips, my ego got crushed like a stepped-on grape. I was convinced the diagnosis spelled career suicide for me as a yoga teacher. […]

Now

Now

I watched a movie last night that had a scene with two small kids playing on a beach, seabirds flying around. I realized that was the first time I’d seen birds since the end of January.
I’m sure there’s birdlife out there, but I’ve been inside – a week at Mater Hospital, now nearly a week at Hunters Hill Rehab, and one more to go.
I’m not complaining; this is what I’m here for. I’m not even close to going outside. […]

Smooth as….

The rocks in our local surf are rough and shiny, but I by the time I take them home they are dull, dull, dull.
Approximately four weeks of shaping, smoothing and polishing and the rocks are as pretty as gemstones. They actually have to lose a fair bit of their mass in my rock tumbler to finish up being satiny and attractive.
A number of years ago I heard a renowned yoga teacher say that it takes at least 12 years for a trainee to become a skilled teacher. […]

The Crack in Everything

The Crack in Everything

One of Leonard Cohen’s most loved songs, “Anthem”, has the refrain:
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in.
I’m of the opinion that the song’s sentiment is so popular because we humans would like not to have try to be so perfect. A good idea. It looks good on paper. Sounds good when sexy old Leonard sings it. […]

The Land of A Thousand Teachers

Day four of a northerly road trip with darling Daniel, of whom Libby says after meeting him for the first time, ” I thought he would be nice, but he’s really nice!”
Libby is one of Byron Bay’s older yoga teachers, in terms of age (same as me) and experience. Her ceevee includes acupuncture, Ayurvedic medicine, physiotherapy, and now work with sufferers of osteoporosis.
Daniel, Libby & I went out to dinner in Byron where one the waitrers at our restaurant was a yoga teacher. […]

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