Yoga Kula NZ

Please visit my website!

2010-04-12T19:42:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends,

I am no longer using this blog site regularly. Please visit my website www.yogakula.co.nz for the latest on Anusara Yoga classes, workshops & events in New Zealand!

With thanks!
Katie

Summer Yoga Classes

2010-01-13T22:24:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year Friends & Yogis!!

My Summer timetable for Anusara Yoga classes in Christchurch is now posted. Love to see you on the mat in 2010 as we practice presence, playfulness, and possibility!

Please check out my latest article below and share your thoughts!
And be sure to visit my website: www.yogakula.co.nz

Look forward to seeing you soon!

Warm wishes & love,
Katie

Moving from Momentum to Moment

2010-01-13T22:15:00.000-08:00

One aspect of New Zealand culture that I really treasure is the importance we place on taking time out of our work, our routines, and our usual obligations every year. In this country, it's not just about the days right before and after the offical holidays. Most often our break is a full three to six weeks of pure enjoyment of family, friends, and leisure! In the holiday gatherings, we reconnect and reaffirm our closest relationships. In travels near or far, we get out into the beauty of the natural landscapes. In this time "away", we give ourselves permission to rest and replenish- body, mind, and spirit. No matter where we've been or what we've done, we arrive back where we left off feeling re-nourished, rejuvenated, and re-inspired.

This is the great gift of perspective!

I recently heard certified Anusara teacher Noah Maze (who is coming to teach in NZ this year!) say, "Time creates our experience but our experience also creates time. So, in order to change Time, we can change our experience."

Read that sentence again and think about it... I have!
I am a Capricorn by chance, american by birth, and a goal oriented, perfectionist by virtue of my upbringing and my culture. Because of this, my tendency is to live more in the world of that first sentence - Time creates my experience. And, often my day to day experience becomes - There is never enough Time!! Sound familiar?

Rather than inhabiting each moment, we get caught in momentum.
When this happens, life moves fast and we often feel out of control and dis empowered. The very nature of this life is movement, flux, pulsation. We feel this in the most basic and vital principle of existence- the flow of breath. What I have learned through my yoga practice is while I can't change time marching on, what I CAN change is how I experience that movement, moment to moment.

As we shift from focus on momentum to focus on moment, Time slows down and our experience expands exponentially.

Holidays are good for this! We give ourselves permission to fully immerse in the moment - a good book, the catching of a fish, an overdue conversation with an old friend, a long decadent brunch, the sound of the sea, the grass under foot...We practice another way of BEING.

When we are fully present in our experience, we cease to identify with the movement of life and instead tap into a steadiness of presence that sees, hears, tastes, smells, feels, simply IS in each moment as it arises. Time changes because our experience of time, moment to moment, shifts. The challenge becomes maintaining this practice of moment to moment awareness (and delight!) when we return back to work, school, and the world of obligations. How can we keep making our "ordinary" life feels fresh again?

Yoga gives us an opportunity to practice presence.

On the mat, we use the full engagement of our body in union with our breath to yoke the awareness of the our mind to our immediate, visceral experience. As it arises. Whether we are holding steady in Warrior, kicking up to our first handstand, or sinking deeply into meditation or relaxation, the practice is the same.

It involves the willingness to open ourselves fully. To drop our barriers, our boundaries, our judgements, our expectations, our backward or forward projections and open to the sensations, thoughts, and feelings that are being offered right NOW. In doing so, we return our attention again and again to what is steady, perceiving and absorbing our experience in the world. When we come to know this place of presence amidst beauty, bliss, boredom OR hardship, we have access to move amidst the flow of our lives with a renewed, weighty sense of BE-ingness.

Like all things, it gets easier with practice and with support of kula - community!

Pre Holiday Yoga Classes: Nov 30-Dec 22

2009-11-23T14:11:00.000-08:00

With the anticipation, preparations, and general busyness of life at home & at work, it is more important than ever to carve out time in our life schedules for practices that help us remain nourished, inspired, expanded, and joyful...

Give yourself the gift of TIME this pre-holiday season.
Join me for yoga over these next few weeks!

Nourish your body, feed your heart, stay connected to a community of inspiration and support!

To support your practice and with thanks for all YOU have given me on and off the yoga mat,

I am pleased to offer you

FLEXIBLE HOLIDAY SCHEDULE!
SPECIAL HOLIDAY RATES!

Please go to www.yogakula.co.nz for more details and see the Pre-Holiday Timetable here!

In the spirit of gratitude,

Katie

NEW Spring Classes Start Sept 28th!!

2009-09-13T19:52:00.000-07:00

SPRING YOGA SESSION

September 28th-November 26th
(No classes Labour Weekend Monday)

Spaces are limited. Please contact me via email or phone to reserve your place in class.

Be the Artist of Your EVERY DAY

2009-09-07T21:37:00.000-07:00

Spring is a season that awakens our spirits! The sunshine hours lengthen, the natural world blossoms and our bodies, minds, and hearts stir again. Can you feel it?

It is a tantalizing time of year! There is the sense of being at the very edge of something. Something so exciting, so beautiful that every moment literally vibrates with anticipation, with urgency. What is this feeling?

We feel compelled...

Perhaps we will long to paint a masterpiece, write a novel or poem, build a path for our garden, take up sculpture, learn an instrument, or in some other unique expression ...craft a way to language our life. What is at the heart of all of these deep dreams and longings? I believe it's the desire, power, and ability to CREATE.

I have never been an "artist" in the strict definition of the word. And for a long time, the very notion of being a "Creator" seemed foreign and unobtainable to me. Perhaps you have felt the same way?

One of the simple and profound truths that the practice of yoga has taught me is, that at our very essence and within our ordinary mundane world, we ARE all artists. In every moment and with every breath, we have the opportunity to craft our own experience of this life from what is being offered.

Our creative act is CHOICE.

We cannot always choose what will happen in our lives. Sometimes we miss the bus, sometimes our hearts get broken. One day we get promoted, the next year we must look for work. We cannot control the circumstances of our life but what we can do is choose how we will experience them, moment to moment.

Every yoga pose, every yoga class offers us "circumstances". There is a fixed form of the pose, a certain sequence to the class, particular freedoms and limitations of our body on that day, and (always) the fluctuating state of our mind and heart. Over all of these things, we may feel that we have little direct control.

On our yoga mat, we practice engaging our experience as it arises, moment to moment. Take a breath, soften our skin. Open up to exactly what the moment is offering right now. From that place, we get to choose...

How can I best align with the flow of nature? How can I use this vehicle of the body and this gift of the breath to make more beauty in my own world and in my community? With what quality of heart will I choose to face both my joys and challenges? I can aggressively blast past my edge, fearfully shy away from exploring it, OR I can approach my scary places with curiosity, tenderness and steadfastness. I'm the one that gets to choose! What an awesome freedom...

As we practice navigating our choices skillfully, each of us learns how to best become the ARTIST of our every day. We never know how much sharing our experiences, our expressions, our ARTISTRY will inspire and uplift those around us...

"When one flower blooms, Spring awakens everywhere"

John O'Donohue

2009-07-07T13:17:00.000-07:00

I don't know exactly what a prayer is...
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?

Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

Mary Oliver

The Potential of the Seed

2009-06-30T14:59:00.000-07:00

Banish the Winter blues & shine thru the heaviness of the season!

Enrol NOW for my next session of classes starting July 20th.

Guaranteed to be nourishing, inspirational, playful, and (yes always) FUN!

Sign up for two or more classes and take 10% off your total enrolment

Below I've posed an article from my most recent newsletter.
If you'd like to receive info about my classes, workshops & events,
please email me and I'll add you to my list!

Winter is the resting cycle for most of life. The nights are long anddominates. All of the natural world has drawn more inwards - from outward expression to dark, inner core. Perhaps you are feeling this deep calling to pull in, hole up, and stay warm and nourished this time of year? I know that I am!

We tend to have the notion that light is GOOD and dark is BAD. But when we look at the world around us, we see that BOTH aspects are part of life. BOTH the light and the dark have an appropriate and necessary time and place.

Sooner than we think, we'll delight in the promise of Spring and after that, the exhuberance of Summer! In these experiences, we often forget that what we are actually celebrating is the tenacious and potent power of the SEED.

It is IN THE DARK that we plant the seeds of our intentions! Whether it's under the deep, dark cover of soil or in the deep cave of the heart, the darkness IS the time that from these origin seeds we begin the manifestation of our dreams.

While it's important to move with the cycles of life and honour winter's call for quietness and introspection, it's also easy to succumb to the forces of heaviness, stagnation, and lethargy. Even while we are in the DARK, we recognize a longing inside for brighter days, inspiration, and upliftment! Now that we have passed the solstice, each day will get a little bit longer and if you really watch carefully you'll see Nature stirs just under the surfaces...

What do you long to create in your life right now?
Every artistic impulse begins with a SEED - a deep feeling, a longing of the heart.

When we move from this place of our deepest intentions, the process of life becomes fun, exciting, and inspiring!
In yoga, we practice being a co-creator in the art of life. From these inner seeds of longing, we craft our own intentions - what will we choose to create, manifest, and offer today?

On the yoga mat, we take different forms and dance our deep intentions into every part of the body using the vehicle of LIFE, the breath! Our practice becomes a spiritual art. We make ART with our bodies in a way that glorifies life, celebrates our heart, and honours the one spirit that unites us all.

Workshop Wednesday! June 17th

2009-06-08T16:22:00.000-07:00

Once a month, I'll be offering a two hour "workshop style" class where dedicated yogis can deeply explore and experience the elegant alignment principles of Anusara Inspired Yoga as applied to a particular class of postures or element of practice.

Join me for the first Workshop Wednesday!!

June 17th 5:45-7:45pm
Going Down & Deep! Hip Openers, Forward Bends, Twists
Cashmere Masonic Centre
$20

Some yoga experience helpful but open to all looking to unlock more freedom in their low back, pelvis, and hips!

Please register your interest in advance to reserve your space.

The softness that invites deeper strength

2009-05-29T15:17:00.000-07:00

Last week I went indoor rock climbing for the very first time. For over a year now, I had given the same excuses to the same friends and last Wednesday my reasons, excuses, apologies just ran out. Putting trepidation and fear aside, I decided...WHY NOT. And what an awesome, empowering, challenging, and absolutely fun experience it was!!

Those of us who practice and teach yoga know that our practice is so much bigger than the asana that happens on that sticky rubber rectangle.

The best and deepest form of practice is the kind that seamlessly transitions from the mat out into the ordinary and extraordinary moments of our lives. What you practice on your yoga mat IS your attitude towards life. And the attitude and principles we cultivate and embody become the strongest tools we have for navigating day-to-day life with courage, confidence, and faith.

So should I have been surprised when what I called upon in climbing was the very same set of principles I teach in class...Not really!

First climb.
I walked up to the wall, put my foot on the first hold and reached my hand to grab the next. Fear, doubt, panic, terror. How strong are these ropes? Can my harnass break? How solid is a carabiner anyway? I'm not going to able to do this!!

First Principle.
I took a breath and softened my skin. Allowing my hands to touch (really touch the wall...like the way I would hold and hug a friend I haven't seen in awhile) I exhaled slowly and let go of my self-limiting ideas and in the letting go, I just opened to the possibility that I AM capable and I AM supported.

First Principle brought me back to my own expansive nature but that alone was not going to get me up that wall! I had to go back to the intention, the clarity in my hands. There is no floor beneath your feet. You have to HOLD ON.

Muscle Energy
As I actively used my fingers and toes, I could powerfully draw muscle energy from that engagement all the way into my arms and my legs. There was no doubting. I could feel my strength and every part of my body from that hugging in was alive, vibrant, and supported.

Hmmm....But here, as strong and as intense as my focus, my intention, and the muscles of my body became, that wasn't quite enough either. I could hang there and hold for sure but when I looked up, I could see the next hold at least a full arms length away. From my solid, stable perch I reached my arm straight up but no, it wasn't enough to make connection .

Then I remembered...I had to go back to softness!
Climbing like yoga compels not just a holding, grasping, reaching at the periphery but movement that comes from the core. From a deep connected place on the inside. And its a profound and willing invitation to actively soften, actively deepen that gets you there.

Inner Spiral
Keeping the support of my muscles hugging to the bone, I took my thighs back and apart and invited the feeling of deepness into my front groins and spaciousness into my pelvis and my low back. Keeping my finger tips firm on the holds, I drew my armbones back and seated the intention of my arms in the solidity of my shoulders.

Drawing the power of my own strength and intention from my legs and arms deep into the core of my belly, I softened my knees, sunk down deep into my legs, and with no belief that there was anyplace to go but UP...from that knowing place I pushed down through my foot and then from my belly I stretched up to sky. Outer Spiral - the root to rise.

And for one beautiful, ever lasting shining moment, there was my body, my breath, my heart fully expanded. No boundaries. Organic Energy.

My hand was on the hold!
My foot, one more step up.
I looked towards the ceiling.
There was more to go.
I took a breath and softened my skin.
The cycle, the dance began again.

NEW Yoga Classes Begin Soon!

2009-04-30T05:41:00.000-07:00

Happy Autumn! What a magnificent time of year...

After a wonderful visit with my family, friends, and yoga teacher back in the States, I am excited to return to Christchurch and dive back into my life, my classes, and the glory of the autumn season.

Check out my timetable for NEW class venues and times this session! Look forward to a session of yoga that goes deep, is grounded in the support and delight of community, and is (as always) seriously playful!

Spaces are limited.
Please contact me if you are interested in joining a class.
Enrol in two or more classes this session and you'll receive 10% off your total costs.

See you in class!!

Returning to (AND Moving From) Source!

Autumn reminds me that beauty and grace are possible in TRANSITIONS.

All of nature, all of life is in constant cycle. Life IS flux, flow, a never ending dance or pulsation. As we move with this flow, we meet changes, challenges, and new possibilities on every level - body, mind, & spirit. While we may not have control over the external cycles of nature, it is during these transition times that we can PRACTICE how to move skillfully and gracefully with all of the changes in our life from a place of inner steadiness.

As nature outside begins to turn more inwards, we also have the opportunity to bring our awareness within and explore the deep inner beliefs that are shaping our lives. We can make the choice to let go of the beliefs that no longer serve us and cultivate with creativity and clarity those beliefs that will give us the vision and strength to participate fully in this life. No matter what arises!

In yoga, we practice EMBODYING our inner beliefs and intentions. By doing this, the vision of life that moves and inspires us is no longer just a "nice idea". It becomes our lived experience every day and the place from which we move out vibrantly in this world - in relationship to others and to all of life.

How amazing is that!

Let Your Light SHINE!

2009-02-26T16:52:00.000-08:00

Last week, a group of passionate and playful yogis from New Zealand and Australia met here in Christchurch for New Zealand's FIRST EVER Anusara Yoga Immersion I. While assisting certified Anusara teacher BJ Galvan, I had the priviledge, pleasure, and sheer delight of watching such beauty, lightness, and joy unfold again and again ~ body, mind, & spirit ~ on and off the yoga mats!

In the practice of Anusara Yoga, you are asked not just to "perform postures" but to use your "posture" as a vehicle or tool to EMBODY your deepest intentions. To remember and express the deepest longings of your heart.

BJ's first Anusara Yoga workshop in Christchurch was called "Let the Light In!". After organizing and being part of this recent gathering, I would say that the theme of this Immersion was "Let Your Light SHINE".

Summer Yoga Session Starts Jan 19th!

2009-01-03T13:52:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

As we come into the fullness of summer, the season of abundance and celebration, please join me for a new session of yoga classes in Christchurch!

Summer Yoga Session
January 19th- March 31st
No classes on Feb 6th or Feb 16th-24th (Immersion being held at this time!)
Spaces are limited! Please contact me by email or phone to reserve your space in class.

Can't wait for January 19th????
Join me for an early Mixed Level Class on Jan 16th!

Jan 16th, 9:00-10:30am
Mixed Level Yoga
Cashmere Masonic Centre
All levels welcome, $13
Please email or call me to reserve your space!

Wanting to bring more yoga into your life this new year?
Here are TWO ways I can help!!

1) Sign up for two yoga classes this session and receive a 10% discount off your total enrolment fees!
2) Enrol in one regular yoga class and attend any other classes casually for the cheaper rate of $15 per class! Space permitting.

I look forward to seeing you in class soon!
Please feel free to contact me for more information about upcoming classes and/or workshops.

Anusara Weekend Workshop with BJ Galvan

2008-11-18T14:47:00.000-08:00

Scenes from our recent Anusara Weekend Workshop,
Let the Light In!, here in Christchurch...

What a fantastic weekend of playful teaching by Certified Anusara teacher BJ Galvan :) We were blessed to have her share her passion, enthusiasm, and open hearted authenticity with us for two full days!

Here's what one participant shared afterwards,
"I loved everything about the workshops. I loved that you introduced yourself individually to everyone in the class before the workshop started – it felt very inclusive and welcoming. I loved that a variety of body types and abilities were used to demonstrate postures – you made me feel that everyone has endless potential and anything is possible. I loved that asanas that might seem impossible were approached in small steps and before you knew what was happening you were in the posture. Your energy and enthusiasm radiates from you and is very uplifting to be around. You are extremely generous with your time and knowledge, and your passion for yoga and life is infectious. I can’t wait until you return…"

BJ will be back in Christchurch in Feb 2009 to offer (for the first time ever in NZ) an Anusara Immersion I. See more details listed right!

5 Week Yoga Session Starts Nov 10th - City South Venues

2008-10-27T14:58:00.000-07:00

Despite a return to wet wintery weather this weekend, Monday's brilliant sunshine was well worth waiting for. What a glorious finish for our long Labour Weekend! It certainly hinted of good things to come...

Late Spring is a time of new growth, continued nurturance, and ripening towards fruition. It is a wonderful time of year to feed and nurture the seeds of your deepest intentions, to get outdoors and reconnect with the earth, and to nourish and celebrate those relationships and activities in our life that support us and bring us deepest joy. Summer is a season of fullness, what is called in Sanskrit PURNA. Purna is the kind of fullness that is so abundant that it continues to unfold and reveal its beauty and bounty without lacking for anything or ever being depleted.

Fingers crossed for my veggie garden!!

Join me for a new session of yoga classes beginning November 10th. EMBODY this season of abundance and celebration as we move towards Summer!!

Spaces are limited. Please contact me via email or phone to reserve your space in class.

Anusara Inspired Yoga NOW in the CENTRAL CITY!

2008-09-25T22:19:00.000-07:00

I am excited to announce that I will now offer two NEW yoga classes in the Central City!
If you've been wanting a central location or have been thinking about picking up an extra class this Spring, here's your chance!!

9 Week Spring Yoga Session
October 16th - December 18th (no class Nov. 20th)
Canterbury College of Natural Medicine (Salisbury St entrance, near Hagley Park/Park Terrace)

6:00-7:00pm Beginning Yoga
7:00-8:30pm Intermediate Yoga (prereq - prior enrolment in a Mixed Level Yoga class)

1 hr course $108
1.5 hr course $123

Spaces are limited. Advance and early registration suggested.
Casuals $15/$18, space permitting.
Payment due on or before the first day of class.

Join me this Spring for yoga in the city! Please phone to register for class and reserve your space.

NEW Spring Classes Start Sept. 1st

2008-08-11T19:17:00.000-07:00

Our still too few but refreshingly lovely days have hinted at good things coming our way. Sunshine, warm breezes, fragrant flowers, AND best of all the longer daylight hours of Spring! They WILL be here soon.

As you prepare your spirit, mind, and body to transition out of this heavier winter season, you'll find that a regular practice of yoga is a wonderful way to lighten the load and help you open to a fresh perspective on life and new growth on all levels.

The 9 week Spring Yoga session starts Sept. 1st!
Spaces are limited, please contact me to reserve your place.
THIS TERM - Enroll in two weekly classes and get 10% off total cost!

OTHER NEWS

Don't miss the upcoming Anusara Weekend Workshop, LET THE LIGHT IN with Certified Anusara Instructor BJ Galvan, Nov 1 & 2. See timetable and details at right.
$150 before Sept. 15th!

Saturday Samskara

2008-07-28T17:57:00.000-07:00

These days I've become a bit of homebody... It's not that I'm actively avoiding group socializing on the weekends but, with our cold and wet weather and adjusting back to my daily work routine, I've just been rather enjoying the regular date with my couch on Saturday night. An engrossing book, delicious meal, glass of red wine or steamy mug of hot chocolate and I'm all set! It's become an easy and even enjoyable pattern.

In Sanskrit, my Saturday night habit (or RUT) is called a samskara. Like a deep groove in the road, a samskara is a tendency/habit/path that we keep tracking into. It is easy, comfortable, and almost inevitable that no matter which way we steer, we will tend to fall right into it. There are only two ways to break out of a well dug samskara. First, we have to be aware of and acknowledge our tendency or habit AND second, we have to create a new pattern.

Happily approaching preparations for last Saturday's evening meal, I received a last minute invitation from a good friend offering a new possibility. Party. People I didn't know. All the way across town. She dangled enticing descriptions of the house, the people, all of the planned activities.... But you know, my first instinct was still to say no. The deeply entrenched pattern emerged.

However, some delicate, whispering voice inside my head said, why not? The voice got louder. Why not do something completely different, completely random, completely new? What my friend Diane offered was enticing and beguilingly so. It was outside my usual plans and so much so that I made a quick and intentional decision to open up to the possibility of something new.

Where did this choice take me? Homemade pizzas cooked in a homemade outdoor pizza oven, a decadent hour baking in a homemade outdoor sauna, an invigorating post-sweat swim in the winter sea (ME? I don't even swim in CHCH during the summer!?), bowl after bowl of decadent homemade ice cream, and a rocking all night jam session (drums, guitars, piano, trumpet, and various creative uses for nearby cutlery, glassware, and/or pots and pans) in the warmth of heat pump and high energy fueled living room. Fantastic.

And these people do this almost every weekend?!?! Where have I been...?

Before any asana, before any finer detail of anatomical alignment, the very first principle of Anusara Yoga is Open to Grace. Feel the breath and open to the bigger picture. This means that I make the choice to take a pause and actively release my usual and oftentimes self-limiting ideas of who I am, what I think I can do, and where I think the ceiling is on the roof of possibility.

On the yoga mat this means I open up to the belief that maybe this pose is possible for me today. That maybe I can turn to my breath and follow it for just an extra count longer this time. That maybe if I just move and breathe and celebrate the glory of my existence in this body, this place, right at this very moment that all of the trouble I left behind at home may have a new perspective when I return.

And on last Saturday, this meant that I left behind my couch, my book, my mug of hot chocolate and simply showed up open and willing to discover one of the most fantastic gatherings I have been to in a very long time.

Savour the Sweetness

2008-07-20T20:59:00.000-07:00

Sometimes intention is a tricky thing...

As I taught all of my classes last week using intention as my theme, you could say it has been definitely on my mind. In general, I would consider myself a fairly intentional person. Perhaps even sometimes a fairly intense person. A good many of us that come to yoga are. Brimming with passion, enthusiasm, dedication, and a healthy dose of discipline, we are very practiced at investing our actions with a certain level of meaning. But what happens when the intention (or perhaps, aka assumed result) we have placed on an action, or a particular set of actions, needs or is required to change?

Chaos emerges. Or so I discovered last Monday morning...

Being this fairly intentional person (yes, also a Capricorn), I plan all of my yoga classes in advance with postural sequences relating to theme, theme relating to the bigger picture, and the bigger picture keeping me in love with this practice that I teach and try to live. However, on this Monday morning, fifteen minutes before I left for class, I realized that I had misplaced my very intentional class plans...

My big picture went out the window!

What came in was anger, annoyance, and frustration. NOT the emotions you want to experience right before you go to yoga class. ESPECIALLY not if you are the teacher :)

What my well meaning intention lacked was the softness, the sweetness that would enable it to be adaptable. To be (no pun intended) flexible. Instead, my intention was rigid, fixed, immutable.

While I did eventually locate my notebook, I felt blessed for this gentle reminder that it is not just the making of an intention that matters but also the character, the “flavour” that it maintains. The Sanskrit word “rasa” describes this wonderfully. Rasa means the essential taste or flavour of a particular experience of thing. What sort of taste do I want my intention to leave in my mouth long after its made??

A sweet one!

In my yoga classes, I teach my students that we always want to find the sweetness in what we do. This applies to our asana! I’ve never valued the no pain-no gain model of yoga or life practice. If there’s no joy or sweetness in it, there’s something wrong. In fact, if there’s nothing sweet in it, why even bother?

At the same time, there is a formula or a structure to support our experience of sweetness in the fullest way. In every single pose, we use the Universal Principles of Alignment as a recipe to literally unfold the best and sweetest taste the moment offers. A formula you say? How “scientific”. Rather rigid, don't you think?

Exactly the opposite. Think for a moment about the difference between a large spoonful of raw sugar and a large spoonful or warm, cinnamon-y, homemade apple pie with ice cream. Both are obviously sweet but the experience, the rasa of each is radically different. One sweetness has been crafted by intention. And the intention is expressed in each spoonful through the language of a tried and true recipe.

On the mat, we build each pose from the inside out. Using the Universal Principles of Alignment like a recipe to creatively unfold more and more of our sweetness.

However having the recipe doesn't guarantee that you won’t drop the pie on the floor :) SO we practice with a framework, with a structure, with support but also always with softness and openness to whatever this life, this body & this mind, presents to us on this particular day.

Whatever deep intentions you set in class last week, whatever intentions you keep bringing into your life, I encourage you to make and hold them softly. Let their form frame and shape your actions but be open to the ways that life may compel us to change the form. Let go of the things that do not serve us. Remain open to all the blessings that life may present in its own mysterious ways.

“Soul drunk, body ruined, these
two sit helpless in a wrecked wagon.
Neither knows how to fix it...

But listen to me, for one moment,
quit being sad. Hear blessings
dropping their blossoms
around you. God.”

Rumi

Meaningfulness

2008-07-20T20:50:00.000-07:00

What a joy to be back in Christchurch and teaching again! It’s been wonderful to see my familiar faces and also meet many new and enthusiastic yogis in classes. I feel recharged and reinspired after my studies abroad and will continue to share the shakti when I see you!

In every class I teach, we work with a theme. This theme inspires the physical yoga postures and sequences I choose for class, the postural languaging and instructions that I use to verbally guide our practice, and always appeals to the students to make their own personal practice on the yoga mat connect to the bigger universal picture.

Last week, my theme was intention. Meaningfulness more specifically. One of the hallmarks of the Anusara approach to yoga is that we place importance on making meaning. Setting an intention. As you’ll often hear me say in class... It’s not what we do. It’s how we do it. This simple idea is at the heart of this practice. When our actions are infused with meaningfulness, with intention, they are transformed. The smallest moments of our lives are no longer ordinary and mundane but are rather extraordinary and sacred.

Think for a moment about the last time you prepared a very special meal for (or with!) a loved one. Cooking and eating are two activities in which we regularly and often thoughtlessly engage, BUT when we bring our intention to all aspects of the event -- perusing old Cuisine mags for the perfect recipe, heading to out to the local farmers market to hand pick ingredients, playing soft sweet music while the smells and sauces simmer on the stove, carefully laying a beautiful and intimate table -- we savour both the act of cooking and the act of eating what’s been created in a deeper, richer way.

Whether we are on or off our yoga mat, our experience is defined by how we choose to participate.

Next time you take your seat on the mat, sit quietly and contemplate an intention for your practice. Why have you set aside this time for you and your yoga? What is is that you hope to gain? What is it that you hope to offer? Let whatever arises formulate itself into one or two clear sentences. Throughout the rest of your practice, weave and embody this intention into every movement and every breath!

Since feeling is first...

2008-06-18T13:07:00.000-07:00

My overseas trip is soon coming to a close!! I return to Christchurch on July 1st and a new six week class session begins on Monday, July 7th. Please see my class timetable on the right and contact me if you wish to join a class this term. I look forward to seeing all of you soon!

After two amazing and inspiring weeks of yoga study in California and Utah with my teacher John Friend, I am now settling into a slow, delicious holiday with family and very dear friends in Washington DC. Summer is in full glory here! The sun shines sweet and warm each day, giant magnolias burst into flower everywhere, and cool balmy nights bring out the fireflies. It is so magical to see the trees and fields aglow each evening with tiny, brilliant points of light. I have much time for practice, contemplation, and reconnecting with loved ones. I feel so blessed to be here.

In my weeks of in-depth study, John covered new and exciting territory! In San Diego, we embarked on some intensive and fascinating scriptural study of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali from both the Classical and Tantric (Anusara) perspective. We linked the threads of this comparative study into our next three day session on the Vijananabhairava Tantra. In this beautiful but little known yoga scripture, all of the major questions of life are asked (and answered!)...Why are we here? What is the nature of this world? What is the meaning of this life? How best can we rediscover our connection to the Source?

In the Tantric yogic perspective, we believe that this manifest world, the glorious diverse array of all aspects of nature we see before us IS a true reflection of the highest transcendental Spirit. Our own human body is the most exquisite and orderly manifestation of this Spirit in which we can rediscover and celebrate the power and beauty of the universe in every single moment!

In a profound follow-up to this glorious celebration of the big questions, I completed John's Therapy Yoga Teacher Training in Utah. There we took this highest intention to celebrate the intrinsic goodness and beauty of each person into the smallest, optimal details of physical alignment and movement on an ordinary, day to day basis. For many of us, day-to-day living can be cloaked by experiences of chronic physical pain, acute injury, or emotional suffering. How do we best address this?

In my yoga classes, I teach five alignment principles that are simple, orderly, progressive, and empowering. When you build a good grasp of the Universal Principles of Alignment, no movement, no injury, and no yoga pose is outside the realm of your understanding. In fact, you can approach any movement, injury, or yoga posture with curiosity and confidence!

Each morning we learned and practiced techniques for effectively using Anusara's Universal Principles of Alignment to better help those experiencing discomfort or injury almost any place in the body. Every afternoon, we had the amazing opportunity to observe John apply these same principles in targeted, creative ways with people presenting severe injury and/or limitations. Some had flown in from all parts of the USA!

When you study the details of anything, it is easy to get too focused or small minded in your perspective. John reminded us again and again of the 1st principle of Anusara Yoga. Be OPEN. Look at the big picture first. Before there is "doing"...there is "FEELING". The 1st principle is an energetic softening of all levels of our being...body, mind, spirit. In this deep softening, we open ourselves to see what is beautiful, what is good. This is part of our yoga practice...to find the beauty and the goodness in every situation. Even when we are confronted with limitation or injury.

I jotted down a favorite quote from e.e. cummings in the margin of my notebook:

since feeling is first
who pays any attention
to the syntax of things...

Feeling IS first! And keeping that sense of expansiveness and possibility, we can then draw into the syntax of things that IS life. BUT... without getting small, without getting cloaked, and without the need to control or dominate.

Interestingly enough, what holds true for every "yoga" posture also works in every "life posture" we take off the yoga mat. If we practice the first principle, if we soften and open to the recognition that this body is the most exquisite manifestation of our universal spirit... we will find that what we practice in our body on a physical level will extend out into how we experience and live our lives on an emotional and spiritual level.

Autumn Yoga Schedule

2008-04-10T20:19:00.000-07:00

Ah....Autumn has definitely descended upon Christchurch now! I just can't believe how fast this year is already flying by....Although I'm not a great fan of the cold, with these chilly temps come brilliantly coloured leaves, an invigorating crispness to the air, cozy slippers at the foot of the bed, juicy apples and pears, hot water bottles, cuddly woolen jumpers, warm and nourishing soups, and the need for decadent and delicious hot chocolates in the afternoon. Yum.

First term yoga classes have all ended now and a short three week class series begins April 28th and run until May 16th. Please get in touch if you'd like to come along!

The cost of the three week series (one class a week for three weeks) is $41 and, once enrolled, you can attend any other class during those three weeks for only $10 casual rate. What a great way to get a taste of Anusara Yoga!

My next full term of yoga classes will begin in early July. From mid-May until then, I am taking a short six week trip back to the USA to study with my yoga teacher and Anusara Yoga founder, John Friend. Check out the website at www.anusara.com!

I'll be attending two intensives with John in San Diego and then heading to Utah to complete additional study in yoga therapy. I'll post news and updates here from the road so keep checking back for more info on my trip and my schedule.

Anusara is a thriving and supportive community of yoga practitioners worldwide. I am honoured to be representing New Zealand and all of YOU at these gatherings and feel great excitement knowing that I'll return with new knowledge, skills, and inspiration to share!!

Hope to see you soon!

Taking the One Seat

2008-03-04T14:28:00.000-08:00

This past Sunday was the quintessential Christchurch Day...

I woke up to a sky filled with blue sky and sunshine and enthusiastically planned out every detail of the day. The beach, a bbq, a gathering of friends. By noon, clouds had closed in tightly and I stepped out the door in my jandals and togs to be greeted with a downpour of RAIN.

Yuck! My first impulse was negativity. A desire arose to winge and complain to my partner, my friends, anyone who would listen. And, as I felt my day and my heart start to sour, I made a different decision. I turned to my practice. I made a conscious decision to let go of my negativity. I stopped focusing on how what was happening was what I didn't want. I let go of the expectations I had piled on my day and opened instead to what the moment was offering me.

SO, I didn't get my day in the sun and a swim in the sea. Instead, I spent the afternoon savouring a long forgotten book, planning out my classes for the week, chatting to friends back in the States. I sat on my mat, closed my eyes, and watched my breath soften as I listened to the rain outside. Although these moments were not what I planned, they still made up a day that was rich and full in a different way.

Yoga is a practice of maintaining our internal steadiness, or equanimity, in our changing world. Like the New Zealand weather, none of the circumstances in our life are ever truly certain or fixed! When we can practice being present to each moment in the midst of change, when we can release our expectations and surrender to what is being offered, the moment and its possibilities EXPAND.

Next time you find yourself out for a walk, see what happens when you consciously slow your pace. Make each step, each breath mindful and aware. Let go of thinking ahead to the rest of your day, drop dwelling on the argument with your spouse, forget about the silly thing you said at work. Open your eyes to each moment and see what offers itself to you....The smell of honeysuckle, the sound of a bird, the coolness of shade, the bright blue colour of a neighbor's fence....When we take in the full sensory experience of each moment, we are gifted with sudden richness. Life takes on a deeper, richer texture and the beauty of the world unfolds before us.

We CAN perceive the changing nature of our world without need for panic or distress. We can ground ourselves in a steadiness that resides within and, resting there, choose to open our eyes without fear to what moves around us. To take what Buddhist meditation teacher Jack Kornfield calls, the "One Seat".

In this state of Yoga, we directly participate with Life. Moment to moment. No matter what arises, we can practice maintaining our "One Seat", the center within our heart, as we move through our lives.

Try working with this practice on your yoga mat! Here is a short sequence we did in Tuesday night's class:

Begin in Tree Pose on the right side. Maintain a steady ujjayi breath, hands together in front of the heart.

Step back with the left leg into Parsvottanasana, finger tips on the floor. Grounding from the focal point in the pelvis through the legs, exhale and soften your spine towards the earth.

On an exhalation, twist open into Reverse Trikonasana. Maintaining your connection to your center, reaffirm the intention in your legs as you soften the belly and open the heart more to the right.

Exhaling, unwind back to Parsvottanasana

Inhaling, root down into the earth and life the spine and the arms up into Virabhadrasana (Warrior) I. Feel steady and strong as you find your balance and breath.

On an inhalation, step courageously forward into Virabhadrasana (Warrior) III. Plant your faith in the steadiness of your right leg as you shift your weight.

Trusting in that same support, lift the spine up and bring the leg down, moving right back into Tree Pose.

Coming thru Tadasana, return to your breath. Shift your weight to the left leg and repeat the whole sequence on the left side.

OVER the moon!

2008-02-05T19:28:00.000-08:00

My yoga study has instilled in me the passionate belief that yoga postures are not meant to be "performed" OR experienced in two dimensions only!

When we look in yoga books, we often see precise, angular yogis in precise, angular postures. While reading through the accompanying postural instructions, we follow many lines (sometimes pages!) of pointed, targeted, and perfect biomechanical movements. When we practice, we start to squeeze our body into the 2-D visual image we once saw of the pose. Sometimes the experience can be clear, direct and positive. At other times, we feel a rigidity, a hardening, a distance.

Books were my first yoga teachers and I am indebted to the world of inner knowledge to which they introduced me. I knew however that this two dimensional experience just wasn't the real deal. From books alone, my yoga practice felt well...maybe just a little......FLAT. However, when I finally summoned the courage to enter my first real yoga classroom, the tutor suggested that we move through our standing postures as if our body was wedged between two planes of glass! Ouch. This really didn't resonate....

From the beginning of my yoga journey, I was looking for more. Was there room for playfulness, creativity, even joyful exhuberance within the support of good physical alignment?

Many yoga classes and studios later, a favorite teacher showed me how to break the asana mold! In a popular and playful Friday night yoga class, Anusara teacher Moses Brown invited us to expand the MOON. In the midst of our practice, as we moved from Triangle Pose to Half Moon, his voice rang out across the room, "Infusing your standing leg with deep intention, bend your back knee. Reach back with your top arm for your top foot. As you grab hold of your foot, scoop your tailbone forward. From the center of your strength, root down more fully into your standing leg and curl your heart open to the sky!" Ardha Chandra Chapasana.

A revelation!

From the peace and poise of a graceful Half Moon, I curled and arched. Using my breath, I lengthened and opened my spine as if bending sweetly around the support of a FULL bright moon.

What I love so much about the Anusara approach to yoga postures is that well, it IS curvy! Through my practice, I can celebrate living fully in a three dimensional universe! And interestingly, I find this creative freedom by working with good alignment. In each pose, we use universal principles of alignment (an elegant system of loops and spirals) to generate, experience, and manifest our own inner and outer experience with every single breath.

Enter the pose with soulful intention.
Draw into and expand out of the boundaries of the body from the support of our foundation.
Lengthen and curve, ground down and arch up!
Dance and play deeply!
Honour the source of all blessings with the art and poetry of your body and soul!

I taught this pose in my Continuing Yoga classes this week. If you want to learn or delve more deeply into the playful pose Ardha Chandra Chapasana (AKA "FULL MOON" pose!), check out the Yoga Journal article here!

Power of Intention

2008-01-20T13:50:00.000-08:00

Every New Year, I find myself in the strange position of both looking back AND looking forward.

Another beautiful year of life on this earth gone by! All of those many moments that seemed so full and rich on their own now come rushing together...A fulfilling year of teaching and practicing yoga. A year in which I have built my own business, moved house (twice), watched my nephew grow from baby into a boisterous boy, learned how to bake a really yummy cake, bought and used (as in actually relied on) a proper diary, mastered the ten minute set up and break down of our new tent, basked in the glorious reflection of Mt. Cook swimming in Lake Pukaki, discovered new supportive and nurturing friends, connected and re-connected with my Anusara and NZ kula, AND turned thirty.

Like many of us, I look back over my year with a mixture of wistfulness, satistfaction, AND relief and then turn to dream (and yes, even sometimes fret!) about the year that is to come. Every year at this time, I take a few weeks off from teaching. Not only to rest, regroup, and focus on my own practice but also to really think about what I want to offer this year in my yoga classes. What is it exactly that I want to share, nurture, and build in my students and in our yoga community?

The word "yoga" is a huge umbrella term for a vast array of different philosophies, methodologies, and approaches. What this means is that almost every yoga class you attend will be a bit different. Even within a particular style of hatha yoga (Anusara, Iyengar, Ashtanga, etc.), each teacher will share their own unique understanding of yoga as they have experienced it themselves.

My yoga teacher always reminds me that we must be clear about where we have come from, where we are now, and what it is that we want to share and offer. As a teacher, I must not only be able to practice yoga but I must be able to effectively communicate my understanding. I must be able to put it into words, to empower language with the truth of my experience. In yoga, this energized, empowered language is called matrika shakti.

When we infuse our words, our movement and our teaching with this power of intention, the quality of what we are offering deepens.

I teach and practice the Anusara method of Hatha Yoga (http://www.anusara.com/) founded by John Friend. Within this system of yoga, I have learned a creative and elegant system of univeral alignment principles that take my body back towards its optimal blueprint for movement (improving my posture, bringing more space into my joints, lengthening my spine, and helping to heal accumulated pain from injury and/or neglect). Using these alignment principles within this physical practice, I remember that freedom, beauty, joy, and creativity are my truest nature! With that rememberance and within the forms of hatha yoga postures, we link the physical movement of our body to a deep place of inner intention.

What we learn through the practice of yoga is a way of being, not just doing. For me, it is as much an attitude or approach to living life as it is a system of health and healing for the body. It is not enough to simply "Hold the pose and take five breaths". Each posture gives us the opportunity to delve deeply within our hearts, to examine with curiosity and compassion our places of holding and injury, to taste our unlimited potential, and to ground ourselves fully into our present moment. Each year, each day, each pose, each breath!

Happy New Year!

2008-01-08T16:23:00.000-08:00

What a magical and inspiring summer 2007 has offered us here in New Zealand!

I hope that all of you have enjoyed a joyful and nourishing holiday season with family and friends. I look forward to seeing each of you soon and sharing the practice of yoga together in 2008. More very soon!

With gratitude & love,
Katie

Anusara Yoga Weekend with Desiree Rumbaugh

2007-12-15T13:09:00.000-08:00

Last weekend an amazing group of 50 yoga teachers and dedicated practitioners from all over NZ gathered in Christchurch for a fantastic workshop with inspirational Anusara Yoga teacher, Desiree Rumbaugh.

(www.desireerumbaugh.com)

Besides a group of my regular and most enthusiastic students, all other participants were completely new to this style of yoga practice.

Over the three days, Desiree wove Anusara's heart-oriented, life-affirming philosophy and Universal Principles of Alignment powerfully into each yoga session.

With her dynamic, empowering, AND down-to-earth teachings, she urged each student towards a new experience of freedom, openness, strength, and trust in their bodies. Her partner, Andrew Rivin, offered gentle, clear, and insightful personal assistance throughout the workshop.

As an assistant for much of the weekend, I was inspired to see so many beautiful unfoldings taking place on AND off the yoga mat.

In the true spirit of KULA or community, we gathered on Saturday night to share a gorgeous meal prepared by Sruti, famed Ayurvedic vegetarian chef, at the serene YaYa House of Excellent Tea. It was a wonderful opportunity to share our ideas and impressions from the workshop and proved to be a great way for yoga teachers to forge new connections with each other and for all participants to meet other like minded, happy hearts!

After seeing the enthusiasm and excitement during Desiree's workshop, I'd like to invite and encourage more senior teachers to come out to the South Island. As I begin to look at the new year, I am newly inspired and dedicated to sharing the practice of Anusara Yoga here in New Zealand. Keep checking this space in 2008 for more local workshops and intensives, new classes, and int/adv. practice sessions!! Please contact me if you are interested in learning more about Anusara Yoga or arranging a workshop or class at your yoga studio.

I believe that the power and heart of Yoga lies first in our deepest intention to remember the goodness and beauty of our own true nature and then to honour this remembrance in open-hearted celebration and full participation in life!

THIS body, THIS yoga

2007-11-28T13:37:00.000-08:00

Our own body is our best teacher. In the midst of injury, limitation or physical weakness, this is a difficult thing to remember! My life injuries have taught me more about my body, my emotional response to challenges and difficulties, and my ability to persevere with both faith and self-compassion, than any outside yoga teacher, yoga training, workshop, or book.

As a dedicated yoga teacher, I am diligently committed to ongoing training and continuing education. Each year, I travel overseas for a few weeks to study with my main teacher and with others on the path who inspire me. However, at the same time, what I offer in class is not just the result of any one specific training, memorized sequences, or alignment principles from a manual but it is the product of my OWN experience of being a body, mind, and spirit that practices this yoga every day.

And, every day, MY yoga changes. This body and its needs shift moment to moment. This week, I found in my practice a very troubled knee. My familiar and favorite postures, comfortable from years of dialogue with my body, of wearing into them gently like a favorite pair of shoes, were all of a sudden more of a struggle. Balancing postures on one leg, almost impossible! And, if the physical struggle wasn't enough, then the ego speaks: No time for this now Katie! You're hosting a workshop next week. Body needs to be in peak condition!! These inside voices are very hard to quiet.

I made a choice to back off my usual active yoga practice and spend some time in quiet contemplation with my breath. Letting my breath dissolve back into its natural, undisturbed, unambitious rhythm, I found that I was prepared to better listen to my body. And with this new body and new intention, I pulled out my "mental" toolbox of anatomy, alignment, and therapeutics techniques and went to back the drawing board. In sketching the shape of my practice anew not only was I able to find some relief for my knee but I was reminded again of the profound and precise healing capabilities of the Anusara alignment principles and the heart oriented, self-honouring approach to practice that I try to teach every day.

Within the beautiful flow, softness, release, and flexibility of yoga, there IS a quality of precision. Precision has two aspects. First, there is awareness. We survey the inner and outer landscape, opening our self up to what this moment (this body, this mind!) is offering. Second, there is clarity of intention. On a physical level, this involves setting the foundation of a pose in a way that will best open AND support the body and the heart. With awareness and clear intention, we can make the active choice to align our body in a way that better allows us to have an experience of freedom.

Many people think of yoga as a practice that involves only the manipulation of the physical body in various shapes and acrobatic flows. However, we must remember that this outer "shaping" and outer framework is there to support the opening and flow of the inner channels, the inner body. We don't practice yoga to tear our bodies apart. There must be integrity, cohesion, even the setting of boundaries and limits on movement in order to better and more deeply expand inwardly.

In life, many of us choose to commit ourselves to just one person. Most often, we share a physical living space with this person. And, by making this choice, we certainly limit our personal freedoms. It is no longer always an option to do what we want, when we want, with who we want. However, within the context of this limited cohesive relationship, we find inside a greater capacity for intimacy, abiding respect, deep friendship, deep trust, and persevering love.

May we joyfully embrace and celebrate the limits that come with this embodied experience of life! May we find on our yoga mats a way to explore with openness and curiosity those limitations of the body that naturally arise and those limits that we create for ourselves in search of better support for our expression! May we use precision in our practice to not only to heal and prevent injury but to always connect back to the clarity of our intention--to draw together rather than pull apart!

Inner Body Bright

2007-11-13T17:34:00.000-08:00

As a lover of stars, fairylights, candles, lanterns, and anything that twinkles brightly, I have always been intrigued and inspired by the beautiful Indian celebration of Diwali or Deepavali, the Festival of Light. The Sanskrit word Deepavali can be defined as "an array [or row] of lights that stand for victory of brightness over darkness." During the five day celebration, people light earthenware lamps, decorate their homes with candles, and burst brightly coloured firecrackers at night.

Although the festival is marked with the lighting of external flame, the esoteric celebration of Diwali is the deep honouring of the inner light, known as the "atman". The part in each of us that is beyond the body, the part that is pure, infinite, and eternal. When we remember and celebrate this inner light, we awaken to our truest nature. We recognize that there IS something within us that is unchanging, always good, full of beauty, and ever present!

My main yoga teacher John Friend has always stressed two main reasons for practicing yoga. First, to remember our innermost spirit and our deep connection to the universal. What a practice this is itself ! How often do we walk through our day remembering this... and 2) to then fully participate in this life in a way that celebrates and honours our universal nature.

In my classes, I often use the term inner body bright to describe the soulful feeling of expansion, lift, and vitality that gives the heart a buoyant fullness. It is not something that can be felt by simply puffing out the chest, drawing the shoulders back, and lifting the chin. It is an inner remembrance of a deep truth--that we have something beautiful and worthy inside us to joyfully express, fully experience, and to share with others.

It is this remembrance that gives your backbends that awe-inspiring and painfree arc, that lifts your shoulders away from the earth in forearm balance, that floats your spine effortlessly skyward in Warrior II. And it is this remembrance of inner light that you see shining out from eyes of classmates and friends at the end of each yoga session.

Why bother practicing at all?

2007-11-05T14:15:00.000-08:00

I think it is a fair assessment that most of us feel like we just don't have enough time in our lives these days. We struggle to balance obligations at work and home and wonder how and where best to fit in time for ourselves. Sometimes we believe that it isn't even possible!

Although many students rarely miss their weekly class, they tell me that finding the time, inspiration, and energy to practice at home very challenging. While acknowledging they feel more relaxed, more spacious, more positive, and really recharged after our yoga sessions, they struggle to carve out the time to make yoga practice a regular part of their day.

The beautiful thing about yoga is that you don't need to spend an hour and a half practicing each day in order to feel its benefits. Even a short practice of a few minutes--with a small selection of poses, mindful awareness of the breath, and a short relaxation--done regularly can shift your whole perspective, giving body and soul a boost!

I'd like to share this "practice parable" from A Flock of Fools: Ancient Buddhist Tales of Wisdom and Laughter From The One Hundred Parable Sutra (an English translation by Kazuaki Tanahashi and Peter Levitt).

PARABLE 1: WHY BOTHER PRACTICING AT ALL?

A man decided to go walking in the heat. He quickly became lost and dehydrated. He continued walking, and the more he walked, the worse he felt. Soon, he was so tired and dehydrated that he began to see mirages of water. He chased these mirages, desperate for relief. The more he chased the mirages, the worse he felt.

Miraculously, in his wanderings, he stumbled upon a real river. He sat at the river's edge, and looked at the water longingly. Another wanderer passed by, and asked the dehydrated and exhausted man why he did not drink from the river. "Clearly you are thirsty," he said. "Why don't you help yourself?"

The dehydrated and exhausted man said, "Oh, this river is far too much for me to drink. I could never finish it."

We don't need to drink the whole river in order to quench out thirst!! A little bit of practice that soothes and satisfies the soul serves us better than waiting until the "perfect" time, "perfect" body, or "perfect" inspiration presents itself.

The lotus blossoms from the mud

2007-10-12T02:38:00.000-07:00

I recently had the opportunity to study the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali with Kausthub Desikachar in Wellington. Early in my yoga career, I was profoundly affected by his father's (TVK Desikachar) simple and brilliant work, The Heart of Yoga. This book is a beautiful introduction to the history, practice, and philosophy of yoga as taught by Krisnamacharya. Kausthub is Desikachar's son, grandson of Krishnamacharya, and an insightful, provocative, and jovial teacher of yoga in his own right. The workshop was a wonderful meeting of many passionate practitioners and teachers in New Zealand.

There were many insights that I took home but one in particular keeps resonating with my own experience of life: Yoga is a practice of choosing how best to respond. Often, we are not able to control the people, circumstances, situations, or even the emotions that arise to shape and affect our lives. However, through faith and continued practice, we CAN learn to see clearly with an open mind and heart-- actively choosing HOW best to respond to what arises.

According to the Sutras, yoga is a self-empowering process where we are given the option (and responsibility!) to take charge of our own happiness or suffering. In this model, as Kausthub offered, "life does not happen by chance, it happens by our own choice."

It is easy to suffer from the martyr syndrome, with the insistent "Why Me?" arising in the midst of crisis. I often struggle when I imagine or visualize the "perfect" practice and "perfect" life that I would like to have but look instead at the messiness, imperfection, and inconvenient emotions (indecision, anger, sadness) which might be the reality of my day.

What do you do when situations that arise in your daily life make the living of a spiritually connected life seem a far away dream?

My favorite sutra has always been 1.20 (here without proper Sanskrit pronunciation marks): shraddaviryasmrtisamadhiprajnapurvaka itaresam. According to Desikachar, this translates as, "Through faith, which will give sufficient energy to achieve success against all odds, direction will be maintained. The realization of the goal of Yoga is only a matter of time."

This sutra tells me that the "stuff" of our daily life is not at opposition with our yoga practice. In fact, this "stuff" of our lives becomes our practice! On the mat, we practice virtues like compassion in seated forward bends, courage in urdhva dhanurasana, trust in supta baddha konasana. BUT how more powerful to find the means to practice these same virtues in the midst of LIFE! In trying times with children, conflicts with the boss, or when faced with hurt or betrayal by a loved one.

Pema Chodron writes, "There isn't anything except your own life that can be used as ground for your spiritual practice. Spiritual practice IS your life, twenty-four hours a day."

The beautiful lotus blossoms out from the mud! Beauty arises up and out of the earth with such shape and fragrance and colour that we do not even notice the dirt underneath. Thank you Kausthub for the beautiful metaphor and gentle reminder!

A Path with Heart

2007-10-01T02:54:00.000-07:00

I once read that, "we teach best what we most need to know". How often this statement rings true for me this year! How often does it ring for most of us?

Lately life has thrown me quite a few ups and downs. I am besieged by indecision. My emotions have been as dependable and as certain as our local Christchurch weather! And although I try to keep "going with the flow", this practice brings challenges much deeper and more trying than the garden variety handstand!

Looking at a calendar that is already planned through mid-December, I wonder where my year has gone. And, for me, this simple feeling of overwhelm leads to paralysis! I'll admit I am one of those annoying people who sits undecided at a good Thai restaurant...With extensive options and each so tempting, how can you decide which dish is just right? How do I make a sure and definite decision without regret?

Reading Jack Kornfield recently reminds me of something that I often stress to my students. "In undertaking this life, what matters is simple: We must make certain that our path is connected with our heart...Does what we are choosing reflect what we most deeply value?"

Discovering what we really value involves opening ourselves up to our heart with an honest and a genuine willingness to listen. What we hear may fly in the face of accumulated notions of who we think we are and who we think we should be. This honest listening requires real courage and a tender compassion for our own experience of living this life. Again and again, I encourage my students and friends to seek this path and it is one that I also find challenging to walk!

Kornfield shares a story from Don Juan (visionary and teacher of Carlos Castenada): "Look at every path closely and deliberately. Try it as many times as you think necessary. Then ask yourself alone one question. The question is one that only a very old man asks...Does this path have a heart? If it does, the path is good. If it doesn't, it is of no use."

May we all find the courage to choose and walk the path that truly touches and softens our heart.

Seize the Day!

2007-09-19T15:30:00.001-07:00

As many of you know, I am hosting Desiree Rumbaugh (http://www.desireerumbaugh.com/) for an Anusara Weekend Workshop this December here in Christchurch. Desiree is a senior certified Anusara teacher and world renowned for her vibrant spirit and inspiring teachings! Her workshops and retreats aim at powerful personal transformation and self-expression, leading each student to celebrate their own greatness through the practice of yoga! If you've enjoyed your yoga journey thus far, I strongly encourage you to take this opportunity to study with a master yoga teacher.

In this weekend, you will experience the simplicity, strength, and fun of Anusara yoga. By aligning our body with nature and balancing effort and surrender in each pose, we consciously and steadily train our hearts and minds to help us have a more positive experience of each moment.

Find the full weekend schedule and link to more info on the sidebar to the right.

Freshness

2007-09-17T12:35:00.000-07:00

In class last week, I kept returning to the theme of "beginners mind". For me, the season of Spring heralds not only a fresh beginning (and blessed end to the chill of winter) but also a fresh perspective. This sense of freshness is key I think to yoga as a lifelong practice. As a "yoga teacher", I am not immune to the feelings of stagnation, isolation, even boredom and depression that can arise when I sit on my mat and have to face the "stuff" inside. Not every day is instant inner peace... As I continue to practice yoga, an important and regular part of my practice is learning how to keep cultivating this freshness.

What do you think of when you hear the word fresh? For me, I immediately think of the lemon. Its clean, crisp scent. The light, playful taste that dances and zips across the tongue. How it lightens and transforms even the heaviest dish. I think also of the feel, smell, taste of the early morning air. Freshness has both a quality of spaciousness and also a clarity, or cleanness about it.

On the yoga mat, we can practice finding freshness every time we fully open to the breath--as it is--without expectation, without judgement. With each exhale, we release whatever isn't serving us so that the inhale arises naturally and easily, full of new possibility and potential. We can maintain our clarity, our intention to be present by connecting to our foundation and then softly engaging and hugging to our core. In each pose, we return to the breath, and as we move into and between each posture, we find the place where we feel a sense of spaciousness and freedom. Why choose to be anywhere else?

At the start OR end of your yoga practice, if you find your energy and spirits are still dragging, try lying for 5 to 10 minutes in a heart-opening, supported savasana. Fold a firm blanket in half and then half again, lengthwise. Sitting in front of the long end of your blanket, lay down on your back so that your whole spine is slightly lifted and supported all the way up to the back of the head. If you feel discomfort in the neck or shoulders, add another blanket to lift and support the head. Allow your arms and legs to fall open to the sides and the body to soften and sink into the earth with each exhalation. Without forcing or changing the breath, feel the inhalation expanding your side ribs, spreading and lifting your collarbones, and moving across fronts of the shoulders. Enjoy the feeling of lift and vastness in the heart, each exhale softening the body and mind more and more into your present moment.

Sacred Pause

2007-09-02T21:30:00.000-07:00

I need to recover a rhythm in my heart that
moves my body first and my mind second;
that allows my soul to catch up with me.

I need to take a sacred pause,
as if I were a sun-warmed rock
in the centre of a rushing river.

Dawna Markova

Anusara: Awake and Celebrate!

2007-08-31T15:24:00.000-07:00

When prospective students call me, the first thing they usually ask is what kind of yoga do you "do"? More specifically, they often want to know how I differentiate what I do from other teachers and other styles of yoga. I always struggle with how best or how well this question can be answered.

Hatha Yoga is the physical practice of yoga postures (asanas) and almost every yoga class being taught in the Western world (Anusara, Iyengar, Ashtanga, Bikram, etc.) IS a form of Hatha Yoga. In fact, most of the modern gurus who continue to inspire and inform the development of yoga today--BKS Iyengar, Sri Pattabis Jois, TVK Desikachar, AG Mohan--all had origins with the same teacher and same lineage, Sri Krishnamacharya.

With so many types of hatha yoga out there, it is easy to become confused about what kind is "best" or "true" or most "genuine". Just as we recognize there are many different religions and spiritual paths to best suit the cultural, geographical, and psychological natures of particular people, there are also many paths and approaches to yoga that will appeal differently to you.

"The best yoga practice can be defined as the one that WORKS." (Donna Farhi) For YOU--your unique structure, mind, heart.

I practice and teach hatha yoga that is guided and inspired by study with my yoga teacher John Friend (founder of Anusara yoga) and many other senior teachers in the Anusara tradition. I continue to study and teach this method because it resonates deep in my heart. At the same time, my practice also incorporates the work and wisdom of other brilliant teachers (of yoga and life) including Donna Farhi, TVK Desikachar, Judith Lasiter, and Chogyum Trungpa Rinpoche.

"Anusara is a hatha-yoga system that is based on a Tantric philosophy that sees the world as an embodiment of supreme consciousness, and that the essence of that is truly auspicious. There's an absolute goodness in the essence of all things and all people...The practice of Anusara helps us to gain a recognition, a deep understanding and a remembrance of this truth.

And so this practice is about awakening. Through our practice of yoga we learn skillful means of participating in and living our lives fully to bring greater happiness, greater health, and more beauty into the world."
John Friend

My intention is to teach yoga in a way that is dynamic, playful, supportive and FUN! Moving with the natural breath, we use the Anusara Universal Principles of Alignment as a means to unfold and reveal an expression of the inner spirit. Each posture becomes an opportunity to soulfully celebrate the heart. Every student's abilities and limitations are deeply respected and honoured. With the support of the kula, or community, we play deeply on our yoga mats to discover what IS possible in the present moment.

Self Unbounded

2007-08-10T14:44:00.000-07:00

I've recently started reading a new book on Ayurveda, the Indian system of health and healing, often called the sister science of Yoga.

In her book, Absolute Beauty, Pratima Raichur gives a definition of beauty as "the experience of seeing/feeling the Self unbounded." I found this definition immediately resonated with me and I began thinking of times I'd recently been in the presence of "beauty". Hearing soulful music at the Arts Festival, re-reading one of my favorite Gary Snyder poems, watching the sunset over the Southern Alps. What was it exactly that made these experiences beautiful? The composition of sound, colour, texture, or light? All no doubt play a part. However, what I remembered most strongly wasn't anything external but how being in the presence of beauty made me FEEL inside....

A feeling of being bigger than myself. More vast, more free...and connected somehow to the larger flow of life.

In yoga, the essence of the Self is always unbounded. Always completely free and already completely full. It is known in Sanskrit as satchitananda--truth, consciousness, and bliss. As my teacher John Friend says, "There is no work to be done, nothing to be accomplished other than the true joy of existence itself!"

Yet, how often do we feel this way about our Self? It seems that part of our experience of being human is that we FORGET. We get cloaked, we have bad days, we argue with our partner, we hate our job, we're tired of winter. But these experiences, this forgetting, is not necessarily a bad thing. Because they allow us the bliss of getting to remember the beauty again. So we see the sunset, and we read the poem, and we kiss the loved one and we think....Oh, yeah!

On the mat as we move through our postures, we taste sachitananda in those moments when we experience the Self, OUR Self, completly unbounded. We must release the striving to achieve a "perfect" pose and the need to compete with the person practicing next to us. We can choose to occupy the space of freedom, the place that both opens and soothes, where we remember and celebrate the bigness inside. We can choose to practice in a way that reveals and enhances the beauty that is already present within us.

Afraid to Dance

2007-07-28T15:28:00.000-07:00

Last night I went to see the Mamaku Project play in the Central City. Sitting in the erected marquee "tent", I was spellbound by the smooth, exotic, tribal, and downright lusty sound of the brilliant female singer and the musicians that accompanied her. An unusual but harmonious and perfect grouping of brass instruments, various percussion, and one very mischievious accordion!
Not usually shy when it comes to a boogie, I was surprised to find myself reluctant to get up and dance...

The marquee had been set up for "seated" viewing. Banquettes rimmed the outside walls and in the center circle, right in front of the stage, the entire wooden dance floor was covered over by table and chairs. Sitting, sipping sauvignon, and simply watching the soulful music was clearly expected. However, the music presented a real problem as it powerfully compelled you to MOVE YOUR BODY!

Yet, as I sat in my seat tapping my feet, moving my legs, and swinging my shoulders, some part of me felt embarrassed to have such a primal response to the sound. Near the end of the set, when body finally beat out mind, I went up to the front of the room and joined the group of renegade dancers. I wished I had been brave enough to be there all night.

Why was I so embarrassed at showing a clear, physical, and passionate response to the music? I looked around at all the people sitting and watching the vibrant display and wondered if they were feeling the same internal struggle...And where does it come from--this strong and frequent restraint of our basic body "being-ness"? Why did I want to curb or hide this desire to move that emerged from a deep, instinctive, and ancient place inside?

I made an internal resolution to never again, when music and sound compels, pass up on the opportunity to dance. To be proud to move my body to the same beat of the earth, the stars, the heart.

Reread a line from Mary Oliver before bed...."You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves..."

Wild Geese

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting -
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

Mary Oliver

Like water to a duck?

2007-07-23T02:43:00.000-07:00

Recently one of my students commented that Kiwis survive winter in Christchurch because of a healthy amount of hardy stoicism. A few hours later, I was sitting at YaYa with a fellow US expat who groaned as she exclaimed, "I wish I were a duck". Hmmmm...there IS a connection here!

During the past week of unrelenting rain and frigid temperatures, my friend had envied the ability of Christchurch bird life to frolic, eat, swim, and go about their daily business while seemingly unfazed by the heavy weather. There's a famous phrase I'm recalling..."Like water off a duck's back"? That night I looked up the definition of stoicism, finding "indifference to pleasure and pain". Reading that I wondered... does being "stoic" imply an inability to experience the difference between the two or that a choice is made to view both from the same/equal perspective? Perhaps two sides of the same coin?

Sensing positive material here, the Sanskrit word MAITRI floated out of my mental yoga glossary. Often translated as "friendliness", Pema Chodron (an American Buddhist nun and one of my favorite spiritual writers) describes MAITRI as, "complete acceptance of ourselves [and the environment around us]...a simple direct relationship with the way things actually are." The cultivation of MAITRI or friendliness is key staying present to where we actually are, in each particular moment.

Our culture has a very low tolerance for discomfort. We turn on, switch off, and tune out with any number of technological aids to avoid pain, cold, boredom, vulnerability, and loneliness. On the yoga mat, practicing MAITRI involves learning how to stay with physical sensation and stay within the free movement of breath as we skillfully play our edge. We have the option to blast past our capacity, shrink from possibility, OR explore the area where our past experience meets a new horizon. When we cultivate an attitude of "friendliness" toward our body, our thoughts, and our environment, nothing that emerges is the enemy. We practice remaining open and receptive to whatever the moment brings.

Pema writes that the practice of MAITRI is "coming back to the immediacy of experience...By simply STAYING, we relax more and more into the open dimension of our being." Off our yoga mat, we practice "staying" when we can remain open and soft at our center even while the world around is shifting and changing--workplace chaos, screaming children, difficult relationships, and yes--even the enduring rain and bone chilling cold of July in Christchurch.

While the water may not so easily "run off our backs", we CAN practice accessing the same quality of acceptance, receptivity, AND endurance of the moment as our friendly local ducks. No matter what the weather or life throws at us!

Here comes the Sun!

2007-07-17T20:11:00.000-07:00

After our weeklong bout of dreary, drippy and dismal weather, it is no surprise that the theme of my classes this week is INSPIRATION. As the sun begins to peek its way back into the sky, I find that my spirits and energy are magically renewed!

As an editor in a former life, I am captivated by words. Words are ripe with meaning and carry a special sort of energy, called matrika shakti in yoga. Language lends us beautiful, rich texture by which to make sense of experience.

The word INSPIRATION comes from the Latin root "spirare" which means "to breathe". "Spirare" is also the source of our English word SPIRIT. "IN-spirare" means "to breathe IN" or to "infuse by breathing". Therefore, "Inspire" is another word for "inhale", "inspiration" for "inhalation". Every time we draw breath, we "inspire" our physical form. What happens when you inhale fully? I notice my heart lifts, my shoulders roll back, my spine lengthens. My inner body is bright.

"Inspiration" is also an experience or state of being. Please PAUSE and think of something or someone that is inspiring your life right now. How does this thing or person make you feel on the inside? What happens when you see a beautiful, resplendent sunrise? Or watch someone close to you succeed in school, work, sports? What happens to YOUR body in the presence of or remembrance of inspiration...? Heart lifts, shoulders open, spine lengthens, inner body bright!

At a recent training with John Friend, he described the body as an instrument, like a flute. Each asana, each posture or form that we take, is another way to place the fingers, another way to direct the sound. Every posture makes music but each has its own particular note.

On our mats, we "inspire" the body with breath and, as our external form shifts and changes, this "inspiration" infuses each posture and the inner body with lift and life. When we sit to begin our practice, we can pause and remember all the things, people, and moments in our life that inspire us and lift our hearts. We all have dark days but even when the skies are gray, we can REMEMBER that the sun will eventually shine again.

[Please click on comments below to find links about my favorite posture of INSPIRATION, Vasisthasana!]

Warm winter yoga

2007-07-10T15:16:00.000-07:00

We are holding two yoga nights at YaYa House of Tea this month--July 15th & July 29th. Yoga begins at 5:30pm and we follow the practice with warm cups of YaYa's homemade chai and fresh chapati breads. The night is the perfect winter soother and a lovely way to start the week!

What I've grown to love about these evenings is the strong sense of community that emerges. In the afterglow of yoga and in the cozy ambiance of the teahouse, I have met many wonderful people and have so enjoyed the great conversations taking place between local Christchurch people who have just met. Though we often come from different age groups and backgrounds, we practice together, we talk together and then often, at another class or on the street, we will meet again. Connection is made and remembered. In Anusara Yoga, a strong emphasis is placed on the gathering and sustaining of kula--a Sanskrit word meaning "the community of the heart".

Though the weather continues to grow colder, the monthly gatherings at YaYa and our regular weekly classes continue to warm my soul! I love being part of the beautiful kula growing in Christchurch. So well stated by the wonderful Sufi poet Rumi:

"There IS a community of the spirit. Join it, and feel the delight of walking in the noisy street and BEING the noise..."

Let Your Instrument be an Expression of Your Gift

2007-06-30T22:40:00.000-07:00

This past week I saw Paul Urbana Jones play guitar and sing the blues at Fat Eddie's in SOL square. As I watched his performance, I was blown away by his honest and tender lyrics, the raw passion of his voice, and the zeal of his guitar. His entire body participated in the creation of his music--the tap of a toe, his fingers racing on the strings, a wild shake of his head, even the small movements of his eyes...

There was no way to tell where the guitar ended and his body began. Everything was part of the same expression. I thought to myself, WOW... THIS guy should be teaching yoga!

Paul's full body, full being expression is exactly what we aspire to on our yoga mats. Anusara Yoga comes from a Tantric yoga philosophy that operates on the premise of intrinsic goodness. What this means is that we believe that this embodied life is a GOOD and a BEAUTIFUL thing. On the mat, we can remember that each breath and every posture is an opportunity to delightfully dance with a bigger Energy, participate more fully in life, and to express the beauty of our hearts.

While we may not be a musician, talented painter, or a skilled writer, each one of us DOES have an instrument at our fingertips. We can allow our instrument--our own unique physical body--to be an expression of our inner spirit. Our instrument can be an expression of beauty, an expression of the best we have to offer in each moment When we practice in this way, yoga becomes more than physical exercise. Yoga becomes the process of creating art!

Nourish the Body, Feed the Soul

2007-06-13T20:07:00.000-07:00

With the arrival of colder temperatures, the major theme that keeps emerging on and off my yoga mat, has been nourishment. I am simply craving continual warmth, comfort, and nurturing. More sleep. Warmer, wholesome, homemade foods. Deeper, more inward-focused yoga practices. Even more alone time, just to reflect on all that's happened so far this year. It has been interesting to note that as these needs arise, there has also been this persistent reluctance on my part to really honour them.

Why is it difficult to give ourselves what we know that we need? Why does the thought of "slowing down" sometimes provoke anxiety or irritation?

In many parts of the world, winter is the season of "hibernation". Each year, the natural world--trees, plants, flowers, animals--move away from bountiful summer expressions and draw their energies inwards. More of our time is spent in darkness; more of our day is spent inside.

This hibernation, this darkness is not a bad thing. Seeds germinate under the darkness of the soil, babies grow and develop in the darkness of the mother's womb. It is in sleep that we rejuvenate, literally rebuilding our bodies every night. This "darkness" holds vast amounts of potentiality, of creative power, of revelation, hints of things to be soon realized.

So, my aim is to enjoy the darkness this year! To make friends with my lower energy levels and my need for more sleep. To really honour the desire for self-reflection and continual comfort and support.

I invite you this season to take the time to listen to your body and heart. Ask yourself, what do I need? What would truly support me during this darker time of year? Then, be open enough to hear the answers. Do something everyday that nourishes your body, do something that truly feeds your soul!

Why Practice Yoga?

2007-06-02T00:20:00.000-07:00

Hatha Yoga is an ancient practice that brings body, mind, heart, and spirit into union. Yoga systematically stretches and strengthens all muscles throughout the body, increases circulation to organs and glands, quiets the nervous system, and improves concentration. This timeless system of self-care is an effective technique for developing a healthy body, a vibrant spirit, a sense of peace, and an appreciation for the wholeness of who you are.

By connecting outer body movement to an inner intention, the most basic yoga postures can be vehicles for deep physical and mental transformation!

Here is an *amended* list, from Yoga Alliance, of their "Top Ten" reasons for practicing yoga. We all come to yoga for different reasons at different times; there is no right or wrong reason!

1) Stress Relief- Yoga reduces the physical effects of stress on the body by encouraging relaxation and lowering the levels of the stress hormone, cortisol. Additionally, yoga lowers blood pressure and heart rate, improves digestion, boosts the immune system, and eases symptoms of conditions such as anxiety, depression, fatigue, asthma, and insomnia.

2) Flexibility- Yoga helps to increase general flexibility and mobility, increasing range of movement and reducing aches and pains.

3) Increased Strength- Yoga asanas (postures) use every muscle in the body, helping to increase strength literally from head to toe! Yoga can also help release chronic muscular tension.

4) Better Breathing- Yoga teaches you how to take slower, deeper breaths. This helps to improve lung function and trigger the body's relaxation response.

5) Body Awareness & Balance-Yoga is about connecting to your body. You will learn how to become aware of what you are feeling and how you are feeling in any given moment. A keener awareness for optimal body alignment results in better posture and helps relieve back, neck, joint, and muscle pain.

6) Improved Circulation- Yoga helps to improve overall circulation and, moving through a wide variety of asanas, oxygenated blood moves more efficiently through the body.

7) Weight Management- Yoga (even Gentle styles) can aid weight control efforts by reducing cortisol levels, as well as burning excess calories and reducing stress. Yoga also encourages healthy eating and a healthy outlook on life.

8) Cardiovascular Conditioning- Even gentle yoga practice provide benefits for your heart by lowering resting heart rate, increasing stamina and endurance, and improving oxygen uptake during exercise.

9) Focus on the Present- Yoga helps us focus on the fullness of our present experience, each moment, each breath. In our chaotic busy lives, we are often "living" ten steps ahead of where we really are. Through the practice of yoga, we come back to the richness and beauty of each moment as it happens. Yoga also helps improve concentration, coordination, reaction time, and memory.

10) Peace- The meditative aspects of yoga help you connect to your spirit and reach a deeper, more satisfying place in your life. Many of us start yoga to "touch our toes", build strength, or stand on our hands. However, we often find that it is the moments of connection and peace that we experience through the practice that keep us coming back to our mats.

Anusara Yoga in Vanity Fair Magazine

2007-06-01T15:30:00.000-07:00

Vanity Fair Magazine recently featured John Friend (founder of Anusara Yoga) as one of the "world's greatest yoga masters"! John joins the company of other well-respected teachers including TVK Desikachar, B.K.S. Iyengar, Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, and others.

Check out his photo here http://www.anusara.com/anusara/Images/articles/JF-VanityFair-June07.jpg

John's yoga posture is clearly impressive! However it's not just the physical form of the pose that is so compelling but rather how he expresses through his pose a feeling of freedom, courage, and steadiness in the midst of a bigger Flow.

It doesn't matter whether we are beginners or advanced yogis. In any yoga posture, each one of us has the same opportunity to embody and express the deepest qualities of our hearts.

"In Anusara yoga, it is the heart quality, the feeling (bhava) that is the source of the energetic expression of the pose. Without pure expression from the heart, a "pose" loses its power for deep inner transformation." JF

On the yoga mat, we can choose make each pose an offering of the best of ourselves. How do we want to participate in this present moment? What is the quality of our offering? When we choose to move from the heart--when we connect to and express what touches our soul--our postures [and our day-to-day life!] sing with a beautiful inner music.

About Anusara Yoga

2007-05-21T20:38:00.000-07:00

Anusara is a heart-oriented, extremely therapeutic, and powerfully transformative style of Hatha Yoga. Developed by master teacher (the internationally renowned and seriously playful!) John Friend, it is one of the fastest growing styles of yoga in the world.

The word Anusara means "flowing with Grace", also understood as "to go with the Flow, "step into the current of Nature", or "follow your heart". Working with Universal Principles of Alignment, this practice powerfully blends healing biomechanics and balanced energetic action with a soulful celebration of the heart! Anusara stems from a Tantric yoga philosophy which reminds us that we are always connected to a bigger energy and encourages us to embody our intentions in a way that celebrates and expresses the beauty of life and our own individual natures.

I teach Anusara-inspired Hatha Yoga in many locations throughout Christchurch, New Zealand. My classes are dynamic, playful, light-hearted, and supportive. I believe that yoga is a practice that can open our hearts and reveal what IS possible to us in every moment.

To read more about Anusara and my teacher John Friend, go to www.anusara.com or google Anusara. There is heaps of info out there!

Welcome to Yoga Kula NZ

2007-05-21T19:43:00.000-07:00

Hello!

Welcome to my yoga blog--your home base to stay up to date on the classes, workshops, and special events that I'm teaching around town. As the blog gets going, I plan to post my class themes for the week, sharing with you whatever is inspiring me--my life, my practice, my teaching. I'd like to post articles, yoga links, and share information on local and international events. My hope is that you will share too! I invite your comments on all posts, feedback on classes and events, questions for me and for each other.

KULA is a Sanskrit word that means "community of the heart". Since my very first class, the practice of yoga for me has been about connection. I hope that this blog will be a way to foster communication, connection, and community in our practice of yoga and of LIFE. No matter where in the world we live, practice, work, love, teach...it is only a short distance between like minds and hearts.

More soon!
Namaste,
Katie