Why we need to put the breath first in yoga

The ancient sage Patanjali defined yoga as a state of mind in which all our conscious and unconscious patterns of belief quieten down. It’s the process of letting go of all the things you think (or subconsciously believe) about the world so that...

How much yoga teacher training is enough?

How many hours yoga teacher training have you done? 200hrs? 350hrs? 500hrs+? There is a seemingly endless array of post-graduate yoga teacher training options. How about a 40hr yin training? Perhaps a weekend course on how to teach kids yoga. What...

Yoga for Heart Disease

Heart disease is the single leading cause of death in Australia. There is now a significant body of research to demonstrate that Yoga Therapy can play an important role in helping people to manage heart disease. The European Journal of...

Take two down dogs - what yoga therapy isn't

“What yoga pose is good for back pain?” I’m sitting opposite Jade a newly qualified yoga teacher who’s just started mentoring with me. “Well”, I begin, “where is the pain?” Jade describes her student’s lower back pain and I ask a few more...

Karma and the urban yogi

Ever been to an ashram in India? Many westerners are surprised to find that, far from being tranquil retreats where frazzled city dwellers find their inner zen, they are bustling community centres. Ashrams provide the schooling, food, medical...

MAKE YOUR STUDENT THE TEACHER

It's tough teaching general yoga classes. Have you ever watched new students struggling while wondering if the more experienced students were bored? Perhaps you've felt bad at the end of class because you didn't get around to offering an adjustment...

I'm no guru (and that's a good thing)

I’ve been practicing yoga for over 25 years and teaching for 15 years. And I’m a long way from being a guru. I’ve got plenty of diplomas, degrees and postgraduate qualifications as well as many thousands of hours of experience. But the gaps in my...

Why yoga needs a fact-check

Many of us in the field of yoga and other complementary therapies are guided by our hearts. That’s one of the great strengths of natural therapies – being able to connect with clients on an intuitive level and offering more than a formulaic...

Mudras - yoga for airplanes

I just got back from a trip to the USA. 7 glorious days in California, soaking up the sun and sharing my passion for Yoga Therapy with some of the most talented practitioners in the business at the Symposium on Yoga Therapy and Research (SYTAR). ...

Out of my mind

This week I mislaid my bank card, burned the dinner and forgot a promise to a friend. But I just can't help it. I’m busy. The phone rang. I was running late. The kids were playing up. I’m a bad cook. I’m a rotten friend. I .… STOP! Have you had...