I’ve never been properly appreciative of growers, being basically a city girl for most of my life. Produce was always something that you bought at the grocery store. These days you get designer or heritage or organic produce and it tastes like the real deal. […]
So unsexy to be tired. It’s something to get over as quickly as possible but how?
A band-aid yoga pose is viparta karani (legs-up-the-wall), which can include Supta Upavistha Konasana (5 min.), Supta Baddha Konasana (5min.), Supta Sukhasana (3 min. each side) for a little more than 20 min. […]
My computer dictionary defines humility as: modesty, humbleness, meekness, diffidence, unassertiveness; lack of pride, lack of vanity; servility, submissiveness.
Well, maybe humility is not the right word (and I’m open to suggestions), because all those words above seem rather grovelling.
What I want to say is the feeling of humility has come knocking in recent months because certain circumstances have brought me low. Imagine Prince Charming (husband) fitting me with compression stockings every day and several times a day rather than a glass slipper. […]
If you think about it philosophically, each moment presents us with a possible “never-been-here-before” view. This, of course, is the basis of meditation.
However, in our human condition, we don’t often have the experience of life being new, fresh. And, when we do have that experience, just because it is unusual, it can be disconcerting.
This morning as I entered the Yoga Shed to practice, I realised I had no idea what to do. […]
Everyone can benefit from giving your overworked liver a mini-holiday. I notice what a beating mine got because of major surgery and subsequent medications.
So, here goes:
Liver Balancing
Adho mukha svanasana, supported on ropes
Urdhva mukha svanasana
Supta baddha konasana
Supta virasana
Prasarita paddottanasana, 1 Min. concave back, 1 Min. Hands supporting under legs
Dwi Pada Viparita Dandasana, on chair, head supported on bolsters or blocks
Sarvangasana
Halasana, supported on chair
Viparita Karani
Ardha Jatara parvatanasana x 2
Supta Padangusthasna 1 & 2, 1 Min. […]
You may have been overlooked one of the really beautiful practices that I’ve encountered if you don’t follow the Iyengar method. This sequence was buried in the last pages of B.K.S. Iyengar’s marvellous book, Light on Life. […]
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. […]
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. […]
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. […]
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. […]
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. […]
I joined an on-line yoga forum yesterday, thinking I could add an interesting thread on yoga and hip surgery. I guess I think I know a thing or two now 😉
I didn’t get quite the reply I expected when a respondent asked whether yoga had contributed to the hip osteoarthritis, as she/he knew of other experienced yoga practitioners who had hip problems. This isn’t the first person who has questioned the helpfulness of yoga. Here’s my answer:
“Thank you. […]
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. […]
The small ruby everyone wants has fallen out on the road.
Some think it is east of us, others west of us.
Some say, “among primitive earth rocks,” others, “in the deep waters.”
A-Bud-in-a-Bloom
Kabir’s instinct told him it was inside and what it was worth,
and he wrapped it up carefully in his heart cloth.
Kabir (The Kabir Book)
About six weeks ago, and on the auspicious first day of the new year, even a new decade, I kicked off this blog with the topic “New Year’s Resolutions”. […]
Babies learn to walk after crawling (for the majority of them) and this is a very cute stage that usually involves much falling down and much parental encouragement. […]
My own bed, walking (unaided ) on a country road, pranayama, Roibos tea, sitting at a cafe drinking a flat white, making dinner, a long hot shower, being naked, touching and being touched, frequent hugs, feeling warm, soft sand through my toes and soles (indescribably sensual), salt water spray, sunshine on my skin and scars, naps at anytime, and believe it or not, my computer!
I was nervous about getting into the sea apart from up to my thighs as the surf is rough and full of rip tides. […]
Having cast off from Rehab yesterday, I’m the one now entirely responsible for my new hips. Like taking a perfectly healthy plant home from the nursery or a puppy from the pet shop, one hopes that it hasn’t just had it’s best period of its young existence.
I admit I probably overdid it yesterday. I was so excited to be home that I did my version of laps around the property (without a walking stick), admiring all the work Rick and Heather had done over the last 3 weeks. […]
Today spelled good bye to the Rehab Centre and Hello to Mitchells Island. I never dreamed I would be able to walk out of the place with no aids just 18 days after hip surgery – no pain, no limp, and great posture. I have this pretty bronze stick but don’t need to use it. (Actually, carrying it makes people very deferential which is kind of fun.) I managed the 4 hour trip north from Sydney, with Daniel driving; I won’t be cleared to drive until 6 weeks post-op. […]
You smart people who have discovered my blog “Yoga Suits Her” (eve2.chaos-central.com for Facebook readers) have probably figured out that the title is a play on “Yoga Sutra” – hence the Sanskrit-y font.
But it’s also true; yoga suits me down to the ground. Always has. Well maybe not always but since 1971 and my first taste.
When I was a flight attendant, I preferred doing yoga in my hotel room on layovers, rather than going out drinking with the crew.
When I lived in New York, I did yoga with a swami. […]
So far , I’ve had an expeditious and successful rehabilitation. It will go on for some weeks and months, but I now only have one more full day in rehab before heading to my northerly home.
People have remarked on what a great job I’ve done, but the network of support I’ve had has been phenomenal.
All the staff at the excellent Mater Hospital, for instance, with a special nod to Nurse Fiona of the red eye shift. […]