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Diary of a Beginner Yogi: Battling with My Down Dog

interview tips yoga | Posted Nov 09, 2020

Diary of a beginner yogi: Battling with my down dog

A few weeks down the line and I’m slowly adjusting to jungle lifestyle, and have kept up my newfound yoga routine! There’s been a few times I’ve found it harder to get myself to those 8a.m. classes, but I’m still practising regularly and yoga has become a part of my daily routine now.

I’m actually starting to understand and use some of the yogi languages and have grown more accustomed to the flows and the movements and I thought I’d share a couple of poses that I’ve found myself struggling with that seem to come up in pretty much every class.

 

The first… downward-facing dog, ’adho mukha śvānāsana’, the pose that seems to provide everyone with a moment of rest, but feels like a full blown workout for me to get into, let alone maintain. I have pretty weak arms and insanely tight hamstrings and so every downwards dog seems to be an upwards struggle of balance,...

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Yin is IN : But Why?

lifestyle tips yoga | Posted Nov 09, 2020

Original Piece by Avani | 2016

There are conflicting ideas on Yin Yoga and it’s placed in the world of Yoga. As we dive more into the anatomy of Yin you will be left to decide for yourself, based on practice and experience, what is truly best for your unique body. Whatever you decide, there is no doubt that all yogis agree the pace of lifestyle today is creating an ever-growing need to slow down.  One of the many benefits of Yin Yoga is its meditative quality.  Where Yang Yoga provides barely enough time to set up, breath, check alignment and then find mental focus…in Yin Yoga there is nothing but time.  The challenge and blessing become very mental.  Patience is a challenge…and will grow through Yin practice!    

The practice of Yin asks practitioners to hold poses from 45 seconds to 2 minutes for beginners or 2 minutes to 10 minutes for more experienced yogis.  Within that time we can feel...

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Shadow Work: What Is It & Why Practice It?

lifestyle shadow shadowwork yoga | Posted Nov 09, 2020

What is shadow work and how do I do it?

Shadow work is creating awareness around the parts of your life you’ve abandoned and kept hidden. It’s the work of intentionally acknowledging them bringing them into the light and releasing them.

Many of the emotions we hold inside are interpretations of long-ago events. Memories, scenes or just vague feelings that have negative energetic charges attached to them. Kept hidden, they can fester and create feelings of overwhelming fear and disempowerment. They feel secretive, dark, primitive, irrational, and dangerous. Often our psyches think giving them any attention at all is unwise and unsafe. So we do our best to leave them alone.

Yet, left alone they fester and raise their head in ways such as:

Feelings out of control

Feeling flashes of panic or dread

Not being able to talk about your feelings

A reasonable argument turns into warfare

Crying for no reason

Try this useful automatic writing exercise as an effective tool to express...

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How to Choose the Yoga That’s Right for YOU

tips yoga | Posted Nov 09, 2020

The traditional paths of yoga were developed in answer to the original goal of yoga.  They are the Four Margas (paths) to enlightenment which include: Jnana- the path of wisdom or knowledge, Bhakti- the practice of extreme devotion, Karma- All movement is done with the mind centered on God, and Raja- uses the 8 limbs to produce a well-rounded individual, “King” Yoga.

Other traditional yoga paths were; Kriya Yoga- yoga as action, Mantra Yoga- repetition of mantra, Tantra- showing the unseen consciousness through words, diagrams, and movements, and finally, Hatha Yoga- the physical movements and postures with breathing techniques, base for the modern understanding of yoga.  It can be difficult wading through the sea of options when all the names seem unfamiliar or new.  Check out this easy bulleted list for a brief description of some of the more common Hatha Yoga styles on offer today. 

 

All of the following are considered Hatha Yoga as they...

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Five Yogic Principles for a Saintly Sensation

You want to create ripples of happiness wherever you are? Want to be considered a ray of sunshine to all who gaze upon you? Are you getting trapped from your saintly goals by your stubborn human-ness?

 

Lucky for you, you can zipzap your way to Samadhi by using the ancient wisdom of the first five Living Principles of Yoga; the Yamas.

 

So maybe, just maybe, you handle the next long line at the bank or lunch with your loud-chewing friend with just a little more grace.

 

The Yamas

Principles of ethical behavior, the things to not do with the people around us. Aka keep it together, people.

  1. Ahimsa- Non-violence. No more stabbing people, okay? But seriously, this one is a sneaky one. The most pervasive violence we foster can be in our thoughts and it can apply to other people, the environment, and, most frequently, ourselves. Every negative thought separates the individual from their connection to others and pushes away Samadhi, which is really just the feeling of...

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A Transformational Hour: Ayurvedic Consultation

ayurveda healthy living lifestyle yoga | Posted Nov 09, 2020

Have you ever wondered why other people seem to be more or less comfortable in the same environment as you, or with the same foods? Have you experienced subtle underlying discomfort- emotionally or physically- and had no idea where it was coming from?

Ayurveda (Ayur= Life + Veda = Knowledge/ Science), the sister science to yoga, uses thousands of years of study on happiness and longevity to help you create your optimal lifestyle; physical movement, family relations, morning routines, natural environment, job, and diet down to which types of root vegetables and when.

An Ayurvedic appointment evaluates you by your past and current experiences and your Dosha combination. The three Doshas are mind-body types, subtle energies that cannot be perceived but that express particular patterns in a unique blend of physical, emotional, and mental characteristics. Basically they help explain why you do what you do.

Next, the Ayurvedic “prescription” has the power to change your life...

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Let YTT Change Your Life, It Changed Ours: Real Voices From YTT Graduates

“First of all, it was so so so much more than I could have ever expected. I went in with a vision that I wanted to deepen my knowledge since I felt ”kind of stuck.” I did my practice and went to yoga lessons since 2012 so I felt it was time to get deeper.

Also in my daily life I started to ask myself questions about the meaning of life. I felt like humanity (myself included) is becoming so separate from nature and things that are natural for us. The only thing in my life that got me more connected was Yoga.

So after this YTT I felt so connected to my dharma. Many of my questions I’ve been thinking of was exactly what YTT was giving me. It was so liberating.

And now only Thanks to Caribe Yoga Academy I feel like I got such an ultra mega good training, so good that I felt the courage to start working with yoga right away in Sweden. Sharing the things of yoga that I feel very passionate about. And it’s working!! Talking about earthing, Ganesha and...

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The Kleshas: Destroy Your Blocks & Strive for Samadhi

Did you know that you already have all the tools to be perfectly peaceful and happy right now? Depending on where you are right now, that might seem like laughable science fiction. Are you thinking: “That sounds like a quaint idea that might apply to other people’s lives, but certainly not mine. At least, definitely not me with this weird scalp rash I have, oh, and that I still don’t know how to file my taxes”? Don’t worry, same here.

Well, you’re in for a treat because GUESS WHAT?! It does apply to you! And if you’re a yogi, which you most likely are, then you’re already on your way:

The goal of Yoga is not to obtain something that is lacking: it is the realization of an already present reality. Yoga practice removes the obstacles that obstruct the experience of samadhi, or the state of complete absorption.” – Inside the Yoga Sutras

The Kleshas, or “afflictions” leave us in disillusion;...

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5 Ancient Tools To Achieve Inner Peace NOW

5 Tools To Achieve Inner Peace NOW

Do you want to levitate your way to the supermarket? Do you want to handle problems with a smile on your face and a skip in your step?

Ancient Yogic wisdom tells you how to do it with the Niyamas- the 2nd limb of ashtanga (8 limbs) yoga and the last 5 Living Principles of Yoga. Per usual, the ancient gurus have got our back.

The Niyamas

The observances, internal disciplines, codes to live soulfully and relate to our own inner world.

  • Saucha- Purity. Stay clean! Not just hygienically, but in thoughts and actions and food. Don’t weigh yourself down with unnecessary baggage.
  • Santosa- Contentment. Not to be confused with complacency, contentment is appreciating the present moment for what it is, while still having ambition to improve.
  • Tapas- Self-discipline, training your senses. Sometimes negative patterns need a little fire to burn through them. Hard-work can be fantastic medicine to blast through limitations.
  • ...
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Find Your Kula, Make Your Heart Sing

YOUR KULA IS YOUR COMMUNITY OF THE HEART.

The people you turn to when you’re happy, sad, a little frustrated, or anything in between. They are the crew that makes you feel validated in your oh-so-human experience, a social space where you can feel seen as the greatest, largest, most phenomenal version of yourself, the one that is ever-present and waiting to be recognized.

Kula’s can appear in various stages of life and you can collect them as you go. They can be groups with whom you have a shared understanding of a shared experience, philosophy, education, or job. The stronger the ties, the more more likely you are to be happy. Across the world, The Blue Zones of Happiness indicate that one of the strongest corollary factor between the worlds’ happiest places is the sense of community.

Find your Kula by following your own desires. The more true you are to yourself, the better you will be able to find a Kula you resonate with. What are you...

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