All of us at YogaHub are very excited to announce the new YogaHub Teacher Spotlights on our blog. Every 3-4 weeks, we’ll tell the story of one of our beautiful instructors. Enjoy! Chris Flack tells us about his yoga journey by breaking down his experience with meditation, and offers helpful meditation tips! www.UnPlug.ie I meditate 24×7. I, am a legend. …I don’t and, I’m not. Although when I started meditating I’m pretty sure that was my goal. On a yoga…
You may have heard that doing just 5 minutes of meditation a day can greatly improve your health. We all know that it’s good for us, but what does it actually do? It decreases stress. Stress is something that is experienced when the brain interprets a situation as being threatening or demanding. All situations, however, are neutral. They are a state of being. The way a person interprets a situation is what can potentially cause stress, if interpreted negatively. The…
Ikigai No, it’s not the contact details of that oddly-smelling dude from the bar last weekend who you assured you’d text after one too many cocktails. (iki-guy, get it? ….). I recently stumbled upon this picture of a venn diagram centred around the word ‘ikigai’ in an article on elephantjournal.com, and through a bit more research, was truly uplifted by what I read. ‘Ikigai’ is a Japanese word which translates to ‘the reason for being’ or a ‘reason to wake up…
It was Valentine’s Day this past Tuesday. And while it lends itself to being a romantic holiday, it can be celebrated for all types of love. Valentine’s Day–or any day, really–is a day to celebrate love in all its forms. Love for our friends, love for our family, love for ourselves, love for life! The word “yoga” means “union”, the union of all things, the interconnectedness of us all. It encourages us to love one another, as well as ourselves,…
It’s happened to all of us at some point or another. You’ve done 6 downward dogs in half an hour. Your body is saying,”No,” but your mind is looking around the room, making sure not to fall behind. Everyone in class is going into a 7th downward dog. You know that your shoulders have had enough. You know that you’ll be carrying a backpack for about 20 minutes on the way home. But you feel like you need to get…
I’m a Shiny New Yoga Teacher – Here’s 5 Things I Know (And More Importantly Some Things I Don’t Know) The first thing you will realise at the beginning of any yoga teacher training course, no matter how many years you’ve been practicing yoga or in how many different countries you’ve travelled, classes you’ve attended or new styles you’ve tried, is how little you actually know about it. Don’t get me wrong here; I simply mean that there is just…
You’ve seen classes advertised as Vinyasa, Iyengar, Yin, Kundalini, Astanga, and many more that are labelled according to a lineage or specific style. Any of these mentioned can be classified with very specific rules, sequences or concepts that define them as that particular style of yoga. But what is Flow Yoga and why is each Flow Yoga class so different? Yoga Flow can generally be defined as a yoga class that incorporates energetic movement through a series of asanas (yoga postures), by which the student…
We are always told to come back to the breath. It’s the go-to of meditation. It is the yogic prana, a.k.a. our life force. So, sure, we can slow down the breath. We can count to 4,5, or even 8 on our inhale, and count to the same number on our exhale. We can feel the movement in our lungs, in our ribs, even in our bellies. But what about when a thought comes in anyway? What about that wrinkle between…
Where it is: Top of the head and a few inches above, Pituitary Gland Colour: Purple Element: No element Mantra: Om Qualities: Universal Consciousness, One-ness, Feeling Whole, Peace, Unity This is the seventh chakra. Physically, it is at the crown of the head and also a few inches above. It is associated with the pituitary gland, or the master gland. It is where we connect with the universe and everything–where we see no difference between ourselves, and others, or places,…
Where it is: Eyes, Brain, Pineal Gland Colour: Blue Element: Light Mantra: Om Qualities: Intuition, Mental Clarity, Intelligence, Spirituality, Learning, Wisdom This is the sixth chakra. It is centred around the eyes, the brain, and the pineal gland. It is the seat of our intuition, our sight, insight, wisdom, and spirituality. This is where we gain insights from our life experiences and where we draw information through our seeing. When we listen to our intuition and keep ourselves mentally clear,…
