Tag: pranayama
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10 Ways To Cool The Pitta Dosha This Summer
According to Ayurveda – often referred to as Yoga’s ‘sister science’ – there are three Doshas which each person is governed by. The word Dosha literally translates as ‘fault’, however that doesn’t refer to anything ‘wrong’ with the body or mind – it simply means that each person’s dosha is what makes them human. A…
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Interview Special | Esther Ekhart: “Stay Real, Loving & Honest”
Esther Ekhart is an internationally renowned Yoga teacher, trainer, and founder of EkhartYoga.com. From her studio in the Netherlands, I conducted this very special interview with her to find out more about her long journey through Yoga, health and wellbeing. Esther offers advice on how navigate through life without attaching to the ‘stories’ and habits…
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Ojas: The Vitality of Life
Derived from Yoga’s sister science of Ayurveda; Ojas is our subtle ‘essence’ responsible for vitality, health, radiance, energy levels, strength, immunity in particular, vigour, longevity of life and overall mental, emotional and physical wellbeing. Ojas is something the body both has within itself (i.e. babies are a fantastic example of having a high level of…
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‘Vinyasa’: Life’s Moving Meditation
Technically, a ‘vinyasa’ can be any sequence performed with the breath; it isn’t restricted to the series of ‘chatturanga – upward facing dog – downward facing dog’, but this is indeed how we’ve lazily referred to these movements in the West for the past few decades. This is especially common ever since the whole Power…
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Pranayama: The Choice Between Control & Freedom
Most of our actions bring with them samskaras – Indian philosophy refers to samskaras as mental impressions or imprints that arise from our actions and stay with us, shaping our experience and our life. It’s a little like ‘karma’ (although this word is spurious and has a lot of different meanings and applications….), basically everything…
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Ajna Chakra & The ‘Inner Guru’
Ajna Chakra is also known as the ‘third eye’, ‘command center’ or ‘guru chakra’. All these meanings offer a huge amount of depth when we bring them into our Yoga practice, and can lead to much deeper insights into why we do the things we do. The Command Center We know the mind often ‘commands’…
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Find Your Roots: Muladhara Chakra
‘I came into this world with nothing, and I leave with nothing but love. Everything else is just borrowed’. Mike Skinner (The Streets) ‘For we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world’. 1 Timothy 6:7 (The Bible) The word ‘Muladhara’ translates as ‘root support’, and is the foundational…
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Practice: Asana – Find Your Seat
When we think of the word ‘Asana’ these days, images of warrior poses, handstands, downward facing dogs and impressive backbends may spring to mind – after all, we know that the physical practice of Yoga, ‘asana’, is often the primary focus in 21st century classes. What is less well known however, is that the word…
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Practice: 4 Parts of The Breath
As I mentioned in last week’s post, it is the amount of focus we bring to the transitions we make within a yoga practice that determine how ‘in the zone’ we can become on the mat. Being aware and present for one posture takes focus, but being aware and present as you move from one…
