by admin | Mar 23, 2014 | Uncategorized
Late last year I met some lovely ladies in Bali who were interested to practice Kundalini yoga but felt alienated by the image we can sometimes portray of living in a constant light-filled state of positivity and elation. I was quick to reassure them that was not the case and that Kundalini yoga teachings encourage yogi’s to acknowledge, explore, accept and even love their shadow. Yes, Kundalini yoga gets us in touch with that beautiful space beyond our judgements and attachments and moves us from a finite sense of self to the infinite Self – expansiveness, truth, transformation!!! But it can also take us trawling through our ‘stuff’ – a process often not so love and light-filled. The fact is, transformation can sometimes be joyful and sometimes truly painful. In my own personal experience, practicing this yoga can be truly harrowing at times. We get to face our neurosis, our fears, our insecurities, the darkness. Because when we dig deep, we don’t always find things we like about ourselves. Living an authentic, present life involves acknowledging this, staying centred and moving through one lesson to the next. If we turn away from, or bury these parts, we deny an essential truth of what it is to be human; Yogi Bhajan encouraged us to recognise ourselves fully – the good, the bad and the downright ugly, as this is the path to truth. He said “the only difference between you and me is that I love my shadow.” It’s on this journey of delving deep, learning and transforming that we develop huge amounts of compassion and understanding towards ourselves –...
by admin | Mar 16, 2014 | Uncategorized
The big difference between yoga and other forms of exercise is that yoga is not just physical exercise, it is movement with mental presence. The word YOGA means Yoke or Union. The union of all parts of self in meditative motion. Making the shift from the mind/body separation to an experience of wholeness or mind/body union creates an authentic experience of yoga. This grounds us in the present. Not what could be, will be or might be, but what is; Reality. Living real empowers us to honestly observe ourselves within our reality and heightens an awareness that we play a role in how that reality pans out. A wholeness approach can be applied to anything – work, play, rest – and anything can be yoga, the practice of mind/body union. Unfortunately we have a tendancy to switch between mind and body which creates a disconnect from reality. There can be a tendency to move through an exercise routine like another task to tick off. We set goals for somewhere out there in the future (a certain fitness level, weight loss, etc) and disconnect from the actual experience. Mentally detached, we quickly get bored and lose interest in maintaining physical health. Or we detach from the physical while we focus on using the mind – at work for example. At the end of the work day we find ourselves in physical pain with sore backs and tight necks from sitting at the desk for so long, with little physical awareness or body connection. The joy of yoga is that there is nowhere to get to and nothing to wait...
by admin | Mar 9, 2014 | Uncategorized
Not sure about you, but I feel like this year is moving at a fast pace – snow balling ahead from one thing to the next. It’s been a lot of fun actually, as much as there’s been a lot happening, it’s been positive and challenging in a good way. This very much resonates with this Chinese Year of the Horse, which started a month ago at the end of January (celebrated in my garden with many of you). Next week, my Ivanhoe home studio will be hosting the first of a 5 week course in Tai Chi, facilitated by Benjamin Seow, Senior Instructor of the Daxuan School Melbourne (more info here). Ben is deeply connected to the philosophy of the Chinese calendar and he shares this about this 2014 Year of the Horse with us: The year of the Wood Horse is moving from a canter to a gallop as we see expansion influencing all aspects of our lives. The horse brings us change and success. This year we are being asked to go with the changes and rapidly!… Even if we don’t have sufficient time to let go, the time is now to act and hold on as we move through many things, both good and bad (but mostly good) if we are to succeed. This year it is even more important to start and stick at a practice for better balance in our lives. The forecast is turbulence. Those who go with it will succeed. Those who resist will get tossed about. Big reasons to get centred yogi’s so you can comfortably say yes to...
by admin | Mar 1, 2014 | Uncategorized
The health of your feet can have a direct effect on how good you feel across the rest of the body. Our feet are the building blocks that support the rest of the body to stand, walk, run and balance. One major reason the feet are so important is that the position of the feet are maintained by the muscles of the hip. The muscles of the hip hold our pelvis in line. When the pelvis is out, we can experience pain in the lower back, the neck, shoulders and also the knees. When we correct our feet, we help correct the pelvis also. Keeping the muscles and fascia/connective tissue in the feet supple and flexible can eliminate pain. Some facts about the feet: The ideal position of the feet when standing and walking is to point forward. If you stand on a yoga mat the outside of your feet should be parallel to the mat. If you find your feet are held differently, practice straightening them. Toes should be loose and comfortably spread apart from each other when stretched. If toes are tight and curled it’s time to work on releasing them. Tight, tense toes send a message to the rest of the body that we are tense (Little tip to practice throughout the day: relax the toes, the anus and the tongue and the rest of the body tends to follow). When standing we should stand on the sole of the foot without needing the support of the toes. Supporting our balance by crunching or squeezing the toes when standing or practicing yoga (or holding slip-on shoes...
by admin | Feb 23, 2014 | Uncategorized
You’d think being a yoga and meditation teacher I’d be good at one-pointed focus. Just recently I realised how utterly distractable I am. I think having lots of things to do has something to do with it. I start one thing and then get distracted by all the other things that need doing. My mind races and so, seemingly, does time – without getting anything done!! In this crazy world we live in we are constantly distracted. It’s become something we live with without question. It can drive you mad and needs to be attended to before we all become mindless halfwits. How to do it? Well, just like everything – a degree of discipline and practice – using short bursts of focus. I was introduced to this technique from my good pal Sandie, of Three Bowls, – it’s called the Pomodoro Technique. SIMPLE TECHNIQUE TO GET THINGS DONE: FOCUS WITH A TIMER. 1. Choose task. 2. Set the timer at 25 minutes and get to it. 3. Break ONLY after 25 minutes without allowing any distractions. Knowing the timer will ring, you can pretty much ignore all interruptions just for that short time. Breaking tasks into 25 minute time slots increases your ability to focus through consistent, short periods of practice. As well as getting things done, this will strengthen the mind, just like meditation does. Break bigger tasks into 25 minute time slots. After 25 mins take a break – stand up and take a deep breath, drink some water, walk around. Then go another 25 mins. Short, focused periods will exercise your mental stamina and alleviate...
by admin | Feb 16, 2014 | Uncategorized
Did you know orchestra conductors live longer than nearly any other group of people? Many conductors have lived well into their 80’s and 90’s. There’s been numerous research projects done into the reasons why – and I want to share some findings with you as it’s pretty much all the benefits you’ll get through many of our kundalini kriyas – for the same reasons. THE REASONS WHY: Hands up in the air! Conductors spend a lot of time with their arms raised up in the air rotating around and moving above shoulder height. Raising the arms UP and bringing movement through the upper body and arms is excellent for the cardiovascular system, as the muscles of the chest expand and the lungs open – drawing more breath into the body. Blood flow increases to the heart, causing it to pump strongly so blood and nutrients flow through the body to the muscles and organs. Blissing out with sound immersion. Another reason posed by many researchers as to why conductors lead long, healthy lives is because they immerse themselves daily in the sound frequency of emotive and moving orchestral music. This sound frequency immersion creates an Alpha state reaction in the brain. An Alpha state is a relaxed state of connection to something bigger and more beautiful than the day to day. When you are truly relaxed, your brain activity slows from the rapid patterns of a Beta state into the more gentle waves of an Alpha state. In an Alpha state, awareness expands, creative energy begins to flow, fears and limitations move aside. You experience a liberating sense of...
