community, health, spirituality, wellness, Yoga

The Gentle Way Of Hatha | Yoga Manual

Today it officially began: The rough draft of this 'yoga manual' I keep mentioning. This draft will be hand-written notes and sketches of postures, which I will then type up and scan into a book format. The book will include gentle postures and flows, modifications for more advanced postures, my personal theory on gentle yoga,… Continue reading The Gentle Way Of Hatha | Yoga Manual

community, family, health, spirituality, wellness, Yoga

Creating Space

The cycles in my life always bring me back to this need to create space. Creative space. Breathing space. Personal space. As a mother who also works with kids and runs my own yoga business, there leaves little room for me. I spend most of my time and energy thinking about others, and how best… Continue reading Creating Space

community, family, health, spirituality, wellness, Yoga

What’s Next?

The mind is a wild thing. The first paragraph of the Yoga Sutras says: "Yoga is the settling of the mind into silence. When the mind has settled, we are established in our essential nature, which is unbounded consciousness. Our essential nature is usually overshadowed by the activity of the mind." (translation by Alistair Shearer)… Continue reading What’s Next?

community, health, spirituality, wellness, Yoga

The Eight Limbs Of Yoga

The eight limbs of yoga are the basis of the yoga philosophies and are discussed in the Yoga Sutras Of Patanjali.  I prefer to call them the 8-fold path of yoga because I think of yoga as a journey, and there are many paths we can follow. In 2012 I wrote a series of blogs… Continue reading The Eight Limbs Of Yoga

community, family, health, spirituality, wellness, Yoga

This is me, on Yoga.

Here goes my ego-post of the century. I posted this image of myself on Facebook the other night, and it had a multitude of 'likes' and comments.  It was a great ego-boost as my self-esteem has done a serious nose-dive since child bearing... Being a mom has destroyed every last ounce of confidence I once… Continue reading This is me, on Yoga.

health, spirituality, wellness, Yoga

The Final Step: Ultimate Bliss

Our final step on the eight fold path of yoga is called Samadhi.  This has been referred to as ultimate peace, bliss or oneness with the universe.  It is like meditation, but exists in every moment.  A place of enlightment, liberation and the place we come to after devoting our life to the other seven… Continue reading The Final Step: Ultimate Bliss

health, spirituality, wellness, Yoga

The Seventh Step: Meditate

As we come to the seventh step, I realize we have almost completed this journey through the eight-fold-path of yoga! The sixth step was concentration and focus, so our next step is when those efforts are no longer efforts, and you are just present in the ceaseless waves of pure experience and presence.  This is Dhyana, or… Continue reading The Seventh Step: Meditate

health, spirituality, wellness, Yoga

Step Five: Define Control

The fifth step on our yoga path is pratyahara, meaning control of our senses. In order to have control over anything we must be aware of what it is.  So with pratyahara, we begin to study the five senses and see how they control us.  Seeing, hearing, touching, tasting and smelling are all apart of… Continue reading Step Five: Define Control

health, spirituality, Uncategorized, wellness, Yoga

The Fourth Step | Just Breathe

Pranayama.  Bliss.  In my humble opinion this is where the magic happens in yoga.  So what is pranayama?  Simply put, it is breathing. Pranayama is our Life Force.  We cannot live without breathing.  When our breathing stops, our life ends.  Yet we take for granted this powerful force in our lives. There are many emotional… Continue reading The Fourth Step | Just Breathe

health, spirituality, wellness, Yoga

Step Three: The Yoga Fad

The third step on our eight-fold path of yoga is asana.  I consider this the 'yoga fad' of the west.  Even though there are eight steps on this yogic path, as a culture we have got lost in this one step: the stretches. Now don't get me wrong- I am VERY glad we have this… Continue reading Step Three: The Yoga Fad