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 â 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 doesnât the teacher correct me or tell me I am doing it right?” “Iâm hopeless and they could spend the whole class correcting me and I still wonât get it right.” “Why the f*** am…
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 Bachelorâs 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…
âIf there was a drug that could mimic the effects of yoga, it would probably be the worldâs best-selling drug.â 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. âStudies 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…
Yoga for me is self exploration. I deeply believe that however I conduct myself on the mat is a metaphor of how I conduct myself in daily life; the mat is for me both a diary and a teacher; and also a healer. My two guides are ahimsa (compassion) and anicca (impermance), and my personal struggle is tapa (self-disciple), which makes me an eternal student. I am indebted to my own teachers, who showed me this path of self-knowledge; teaching…
Meghan Currie at the Yoga Hub March 2013 When I teach I let go as much as possible so I may be an open channel for creative energy to pass through Every student is everyones teacher so I plug my heart into everyone and do my best to translate the teachings which present themselves in the moment I believe itâs not all up to me. Like any recipe, there must be just the right amount of all the ingredients to…
