Do we know how to breathe?

Category : Asanas (Postures), General advice, Philosophy 4th February 2012

Inside Yoga 48 (4/2/2012) It’s a simple message and one that is repeated frequently in yoga’s teaching, yet it can be one of the hardest skills to learn and equally hard to maintain – I am speaking of breathing! We breathe every day; so why can it be so difficult to learn if it’s actually a skill we have already […]

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Can yoga wreck your body?

Category : Asanas (Postures), General advice, Philosophy 21st January 2012

Inside Yoga 47 (21/1/2012) On January 5, this year, the New York Times Magazine published an article titled “How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body”, which caused such a backlash within the yoga community that last weekend the Observer carried an article (“Health warning: from the plough to the lotus, yoga can damage your body” January 15), as did other publications, […]

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Time to think! Or not?

Category : General advice, Philosophy 16th January 2012

Inside Yoga 46 (16/1/2012) Time!? What is this “time” that we struggle with? We seem to be obsessed/puzzled/frustrated/confused (choose where appropriate) by time. We feel thwarted when there is not enough of it and relieved when you sense plenty of it. Yet, did we ever have a shortage or surplus of time? We act as if we can control time, […]

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Restoring our energy in winter

Category : General advice 4th December 2011

Inside Yoga 45 (4/12/2011) For some of us, at this time of year there is a conflict taking place. This battle takes place within us, but has a lot to do with our environment and world around us. The source of the conflict lies in the way we live our modern lives ignoring our connection with nature. Not all of […]

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On the move with yoga

Category : General advice 5th November 2011

Inside Yoga 44 (5/11/2011) I recently sold my old house and bought a new house – and it’s true what they say about this process being so stressful! It didn’t look as if it would be before the whole moving games started, but once the dice was rolled the pressure mounted. First, there is the stage of putting the house […]

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Life in a queue

Category : General advice 21st September 2011

Inside Yoga 43 (20/9/11) There are many ways in which we can use what we learn in our formal yoga practice – the time spent on a yoga mat or meditation cushion – in our daily lives. While at work, at home, at the shops, travelling and so on, we can use bits and pieces of a yoga practice to […]

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Sentence looters and rioters to yoga

Category : General advice, Philosophy 11th September 2011

Inside Yoga 42 (11/9/11) During the summer in the UK some of our cities experienced riots and looting. The debates ever since have focussed on why this happened, and to some extent, many voices highlighted that many of the rioters were simply looters driven by greed and the desire to have certain goods. I have toyed with the idea of […]

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Establishing a regular practice

Category : General advice 8th August 2011

Inside Yoga 41 (8/8/11) One of the common questions by yoga practitioners is how much practice must I do to achieve X, Y or Z? It’s a valid question though one that does not come with a simple answer. One response could be:  “how long is a piece of string?”, as how much we get from yoga depends upon so […]

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You cannot “do meditation”!

Category : General advice, Philosophy 11th July 2011

Inside Yoga 40 (9/7/11) How do we know if we are meditating? In our yoga classes, we sit in meditation, but are we really meditating? There are some useful tips for meditation. One states that you cannot do meditation. The word, “do” being the key to this. Another guidelines states, “If you think you are meditating, you are not”. Meditation […]

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Getting stuck and letting go

Category : General advice 12th June 2011

Inside Yoga 39 (12/6/11) Last week Radio Five Live brought up the topic of depression, anxiety and stress suffered by top sports people, with interviews with rugby players and cricketers who have spoken about their battles with such problems. And more importantly, they spoke about the culture of silence within sport surrounding depression and other such mental issues. In the […]

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