by Neal | Oct 31, 2019 | Meditation, Yoga Off The Mat
From August to October, over eight 3-hour sessions, every Wednesday evening, including a day retreat, I attended a course on Mindful Self-Compassion, led by Mara Elwood.
This is a review of the course. And let me say right up front that I absolutely loved the course – all the material and the skilled, compassionate facilitation from Mara too.
by Neal | Feb 24, 2017 | Yoga, Yoga Off The Mat
Read Helen Elscot’s Report on her experience of teaching yoga in prison ‘Accepting life’s circumstances and making positive change’ We’re inspired by the work of The Yoga Education in Prisons Trust, a registered charitable trust...
by Neal | Nov 24, 2016 | General, Meditation, Somatic Movement, Yoga, Yoga Off The Mat
Surfing the web for inspiration? Here are our favourite online websites, resources and teachings and we hope you may enjoy them too…
by Neal | Jul 29, 2016 | General, Meditation, Poetry, Yoga Off The Mat
Last month I attended a wonderful seven day iRest Yoga Nidra retreat in Melbourne with Anne Douglas and Fuyuko Toyota. They are such wonderful teachers indeed – a beautiful experience. About half way through there was rich discussion on being vulnerable …
by Neal | Nov 24, 2014 | Poetry, Yoga Off The Mat
This morning a poem arrived …
In my childhood somebody suggested,
“Just be yourself.”
What a wonderful notion!
But what did it mean?
by Neal | Mar 17, 2014 | Yoga, Yoga Off The Mat
Last year I taught a lot of Yoga! So much so that by November I was rather tired, exhausted even. I found that I was way out of balance, working late to keep up with the workload, waking up early when our daughter Tula wakes up. The sleep deprivation was certainly not helping re-gain my vitality.
I felt that my regular classes on Waiheke were suffering somewhat from my tiredness.
I turned up to each class of course but often with only a vague idea of what I would teach. Part of this was actually useful and interesting … how do I teach when I’m under this amount of pressure? Can I improvise class after class?
It was in fact engaging simply to turn up to class and meet whoever walked through the classroom door, and create on-the-fly classes and sequences geared right to these students exactly as they were in that moment.
by Neal | Nov 7, 2013 | General, Meditation, Somatic Movement, Yoga, Yoga Off The Mat
I have been studying the the iRest approach to Yoga Nidra recently and in the teaching manual, founder and teacher Richard Miller talks about the qualities of our true nature:
Loving, Kindness, Presence, Unconditional, Peaceful, Friendliness, Unattached, Happy, Joyfulness, Faith, Trusting, Transparency, Mindfulness, Responsive, Purity, Truthfulness, Contentment, Luminous, Powerful, Knowing, Full, Empty, Tender, Spontaneous, Authentic, Creative, Intimate, Complete, Aware (and more).
by Neal | Jun 10, 2013 | General, Meditation, Yoga Off The Mat
I recently took an early morning private group for yoga here on Waiheke at the Marae. It was a very beautiful start to a few days … practicing as the sun was rising, casting a beautiful light on the ocean shore just down from where we were. We’re blessed...
by Neal | Mar 16, 2013 | General, Videos, Yoga Off The Mat
Narayanan Krishnan brings hot meals daily to India’s homeless and destitute. Since 2002, the chef has served more than 1.2 million meals through his nonprofit organization, Akshaya Trust. For me, this is an example of yoga in action … enjoy and be inspired...
by Neal | Feb 24, 2013 | General, Somatic Movement, Yoga, Yoga Off The Mat
Here are some of our favourite books music and and other media – ones that have radically altered what we do, how we move, and our approach to life. We highly recommend you checking them out…enjoy! Everything listed here is available from Amazon or The UK...
by Neal | Dec 6, 2012 | Poetry, Yoga, Yoga Off The Mat
Scratch your left ear with your right foot by all meansBut show me how your heart movesStand on your head til the cows come homeOr show me a thousand different points of viewFlip flop and drop backAnother 108 sun salutes just like that,But I’d rather know if you...
by Neal | Nov 23, 2012 | 5Rhythms Dance, General, Somatic Movement, Yoga, Yoga Off The Mat
In the Yoga Sutras, the sage Patanjali gave us the eight limbs of yoga – practices which support us in our spiritual development. The second limb, called The Niyamas, guide us in ways to look after our personal well-being. They are – Saucha (purity),...
