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This is the second in a series of blog posts about the Adore Myanmar Yoga Adventure (Nov 2018) and how this exciting trip to Myanmar is supporting local communities as well as inspiring our students. Read the first post here.

On the very first day in Myanmar, you'll experience two sides of this land of extreme contrasts. We meet in Yangon, a busy, bustling and rapidly modernising Asian city with a population of over 5 million. Then we fly 1hr north west to Thandwe, the gateway airport to one of the most stunning stretches of unspoiled beaches in Asia, Ngapali Beach. This is where the pace changes – radically!

Myanmar (or Burma as it was known until recently) isn't at the top of many people's yoga travel bucket list. You'll find yoga retreats and adventures pretty much everywhere, especially in Bali, Fiji, India, Sri Lanka and Central and South America. But Myanmar has dropped off the radar.

To be honest, we nearly didn't go there ourselves. We had LONG wanted to visit Myanmar - we'd heard so much about the natural beauty, friendly people and that special feeling of arriving somewhere totally new - something that's hard to find in an era of globalisation (no Starbucks in Burma!) We booked our flights in the hope that we'd find an exciting new world to bring our students and guests to - imagine meditating in those ancient Buddhist temples and doing yoga on the banks of the mighty Irrawaddy River! Then we heard the news last year about the Rohingya crisis.

We decided to cancel our visit. Then we decided to go. Then we decided to cancel. This went on for several days, during which time I did some research on Myanmar and contacted Aussie friends who'd worked there to get first hand insights. What I learned from this research made it clear that we should go and see for ourselves what was happening in this fascinating and complex country.

What we found was beyond anything we had ever imagined - from the landscapes to the culture to the people to the political situation. Myanmar blew our minds.

So, yoga changed your life. It shook you down, cleared your head and turned your whole life around. Naturally, you want to share that with the world, so you decide to become a yoga teacher. Now you’re qualified help others experience the mind-blowing power of yoga that has given you so much. Excellent!

But is more yoga what the world needs?

Congratulations! You've graduated from your Yoga Therapy training! So, now what....? Does being a yoga therapist help you get more work? What kind of roles do yoga therapists take on ? In short, is being a yoga therapist an actual career? If you're deciding if you should become a yoga therapist, these are important questions.

Not so long ago, yoga therapy was unheard of. Yoga teachers taught classes in studios, gyms and their own homes and, while yoga was generally thought of as a healthy thing, the benefits weren't clear. But in recent years, all that has changed.

I’ve arrived for my first Ayurvedic treatment at Maitreyi Vedic Village in South India. I walk into the treatment room to find three people there. They all watch me intently as I remove my dressing gown. “Underwear off, madam.” One of the three, a small Tamil girl of about eighteen, brings something to cover my modesty – a thin piece of cotton held on with an even thinner piece of cotton. It feels a bit like wearing a nappy. The second person, a slightly taller girl of about the same age, with tiny, nimble hands, sits me on a stool where she proceeds to rub oil vigorously into my scalp. It smells very sweet as she massages my head, down my neck and across my upper back. Suddenly, the massage stops and I'm asked to get up off my stool and sit on the edge of a very large wooden massage table while the two girls stand in front of me and chant a prayer in Sanskrit. I’m now ready for my treatment.

How are your private yoga classes going? Are students breaking down your door to enjoy quality one-on-one time with you? Teaching private yoga lessons is a great way to offer extra value to your students and build a new source of income. But if your students aren’t returning for regular, ongoing private classes, you're probably doing it all wrong.

Teaching successful and ongoing private classes requires a very different skill set to teaching group yoga classes. So how do you serve your private students in a way that turns them into delighted, repeat customers? Take a look at the top 5 mistakes yoga teachers are making in private classes and see what you can change.

Kitchari - a blend of basmati rice and moong dal - is staple recipe in Ayurveda, India's ancient system of healing. The combination of rice and dal create a balanced, nutritious dish that can be enhanced with different spices according to your body type - or the time of year. Read on to discover a delicious Kitchari recipe to nourish your body, heal your gut and balance your energy.

Shoulder Bursitis is a common injury that we see in many people visiting the Adore Yoga Therapy Clinic. It’s painful and, if left untreated, can lead to restricted mobility and ongoing shoulder pain. Yoga Therapy can be a very helpful adjunctive treatment - here’s a primer on working with students with shoulder bursitis.

I get cranky when it’s too hot. It starts off with tiredness and feeling like everything’s too hard. Then something flips my switch and I’m off. Raging. Every day occurences suddenly becomes an unbearable provocation and I find myself giving my son a roasting for the terrible crime of spilling pencil shavings on the rug. So what happens to me when the temperature rises? And is there anything I can do to keep calm? The answers can be found in Ayurveda, yoga’s sister science.

Got a chronic health issue that you can't seem to shift? Fed up with visiting doctors and trying alternative treatments that just don't work? As a Yoga Therapist, I often recommend that students try Pancha Karma, a radical cleansing protocol that could make a big difference. Pancha Karma has it's roots in one of the oldest systems of medicine on earth - Ayurveda. Dating back over 4,000yrs, Ayurveda (meaning ‘Science of Life’ in Sanskrit) is India’s traditional healing system and Pancha Karma is one of it's 'Big Guns'. And it really, REALLY works.