Not long ago I was in a yoga class where the teacher asked my classmates and I what we preferred to work on, upper body/arms or hips. As the Yoga Hub is an intimate studio and tends to have a good gender balance in class, it was very clear who chose arms (men) and who chose hips (women). Not only were we playing to gender stereotypes of man strong & woman emotional – it is said that we humans hold…
Eureka moments come when you least expect them. I was having a hopeless moment in Ardha Chandrasana (Half-Moon Pose). In these hopeless moments I am usually thinking any and/or all of the following: “Am I doing this right? I am definitely not doing this right.” “Why doesn’t the teacher correct me or tell me I am doing it right?” “I’m hopeless and they could spend the whole class correcting me and I still won’t get it right.” “Why the f*** am…
Life is full of uncertainty and yet everything about nature is uncertain and we love her We are inspired by her moods, love the rumble of thunder followed by the heat of the sun or the mystery of the fog as it creeps up around us at sunrise. So why each day do we not begin by reminding ourselves that change does not have to be disturbing and reconnect Taste the Rain Touch the Wind Smell the Earth See things…
Yogi Vishvketu (Vishva-ji) has studied and practiced Hatha and Raja yoga and the Vedic healing arts in northern India since childhood. From the age of 8, he studied Vedic wisdom at Kanvashram in the foothills of the Himalayas. With its historic temple and Ayurvedic clinic, Kanvashram attracts many yogic saints and Ayurvedic masters, and was an ideal place to absorb these ancient healing and consciousness-raising traditions. Vishva went on to attain a Bachelor’s degree from a renowned Sports College with a…
Wabi-sabi, is that the green paste that lurks in my sushi box It is not Japanese horseradish but a Japanese art form that is compatible with the two great philosophies of Taoism & Zen Buddhism and it sits beautifully with how I see Yoga. The word wabi used to mean poverty but post 14th century it became connected not with the absence of material possession but non dependence on it; not unlike the yoga principles of detachment and equanimity. If…
“If there was a drug that could mimic the effects of yoga, it would probably be the world’s best-selling drug.” In an interview on the CBS show This Morning, P. Murali Doraiswamy, M.D., professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at Duke University said that studies have shown yoga practice to produce a relaxation response that mimics the best anti-anxiety drugs on the market today, and that it can also help people with mild depression, insomnia, and ADHD. “Studies have shown that yoga affects…
Last night we rolled ourselves out and as we lay supine we lovingly rocked around the edges of our heart shape bone from North to South and East to West; we drew the sweetness of the inhale from crown to tail and the lightness of the exhale from muladahara to sahaswara. We flowed like light and gave love, gave our hearts away (to the sound of McYogi). We placed our hands under our hearts, yielded to the softness of the…
The more we practice yoga the more parts of ourselves we discover. The physical body with it’s muscles, bones, ligaments and joints acts as a map that leads us to understand how the interrelations between these structures helps us to optimally align. Â Optimal alignment connects our postures in a fluid way. Knowing there is a stable base we can extend out and explore new edges and layers (kosha) of ourselves. We follow the current, diving deeper into the vastness of…
