Viloma in practice

Category : Asanas (Postures), General advice, Philosophy 13th July 2015

Inside Yoga 138 (13/7/2015) Last week I taught Viloma Pranayama: so to help your home practice here is a step-by-step guide to the breathing technique. Viloma means against the hair (loma), or in other words against the order of things or natural flow. The letters “vi” denotes negation, which in terms of breath instead of breathing in one inhalation the […]

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International Yoga Day

Category : Asanas (Postures), General advice, Philosophy 22nd June 2015

Inside Yoga 137 (22/6/15) Yesterday was the first International Yoga Day and was marked by yoga being practiced all over the world, including Dehli, the capital of India, where more than 35,000 people attended the mass yoga session on Rajpath in the capital. The current prime minister of India, Narendra Modhi, had lobbied the United Nations for this International Day […]

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Mind the gap!

Category : Asanas (Postures), General advice, Philosophy 15th June 2015

Inside Yoga 136 (15/6/15) Breathing is something we have been doing since the moment we were born, yet when we start focusing on the breath, we discover that this precious resource, which keeps us alive, has not only been neglected, but it has been cut short, it is shallow, and erratic! Practising yoga and meditating on the breath teaches us […]

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Stand still!

Category : Asanas (Postures), General advice, Philosophy 8th June 2015

Inside Yoga 135 (8/6/2015) For many of us life can feel like a constant rush, with the pressure to keep up filling our days or, it can feel like a runaway train hurtling forward with us holding on hoping that we will last the journey. The pressure to manage can make us feel stretched to our limit, unsettled and stressed, […]

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Yoga magazine criticised for promoting eating disorders

Category : Asanas (Postures), General advice, Philosophy 12th May 2015

Inside Yoga 134 (12/5/15) A recent yoga magazine article has been heavily criticised for publishing an article that describes an ancient yogic technique which involves throwing up to empty the stomach of all contents. Yoga Magazine’s Dr Malik was responding to a reader’s question about Vyaghra Kriya, a purification technique called Tiger exercise in English. It is not the description […]

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It takes one minute to be a Buddha!

Category : Asanas (Postures), General advice, Philosophy 27th April 2015

Inside Yoga 133 (27/4/2015) When I was new to Buddhism there was one lesson I heard that stood out: it stated: “if you can concentrate, focussing on the breath, with the mind still for one minute you are probably already a Buddha”. This statement highlights what most of us discover when meditating; that it is very hard to stay with […]

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Rebirth or resurrection?

Category : General advice, Philosophy 6th April 2015

Inside Yoga 132 (6/4/15) Easter celebrates the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, a story which is accepted by so many as Gospel, however, there are some that say that this story reveals an alternative narrative, that Jesus did not die on the cross, but used his yogic skills survive! The alternative story says that Jesus had travelled to the […]

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How yoga is helping injured soldiers

Category : Asanas (Postures), General advice 9th March 2015

Inside Yoga 131 (9/3/15) I firmly believe that yoga can help everyone and anyone, whatever their health situation, it is just a case of tailoring the yoga to help their physical and emotional needs. Today I came across an interesting story about how Help for Heroes, a charity formed to help those who have been wounded in Britain’s current conflicts, […]

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How to practice at home

Category : Asanas (Postures), General advice, Philosophy 2nd March 2015

Inside Yoga 130 (2/3/15) Making yoga part of our daily routine can be the hardest aspect of practising yoga, because our busy lives juggling work, family and play make it very hard to find a space in our day for some yoga. Yet, it is possible and this is how. First of all, we make the decision that we want […]

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You can change your mind

Category : General advice, Philosophy 9th February 2015

Inside Yoga 129 (9/2/15) There is a form of science that is making waves and changes to way we think about our brain and the things it can do. The science is called neuroplasticity and one of its leading pioneers, Norman Doidge, has just published a new book on this fascinating field of discovery. For centuries, the Buddhists and yogis […]

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