By Nicole Allan, lead trainer at Kawai Purapura Yoga School A ‘Trauma Informed’ approach to yoga has been slowly making its way onto the yoga scene for a number of years now, offering invitation and choice at every opportunity. For those who are not aware of this approach, it may seem nuanced, or something for a limited few who appear to struggle with managing their own lives. Yet, from my point of view, we could all benefit from a more trauma informed approach to living, and I believe Yoga is a great place to start. Trauma Informed Yoga is a specific way of sharing the profound teachings t ..read more

Man doing side stretch at his desk Tips and considerations for teaching workplace yoga by Veronica King. Workplace Yoga is not the same as studio yoga. That’s the first and most important thing to remember when looking to teach yoga in the workplace. This is a summary of the Yoga New Zealand Forum which was held recently. 3 speakers were invited to share their wisdom, experience, and tips for teaching yoga in workplaces. With gratitude to Bridgid Davey and Vanessa Bailey who shared with authenticity and vulnerability. The third presenter was me, Veronica King. Perhaps the most impactful thing ..read more

Karla Brodie sitting in the forest on a mossy tree.By Karla Brodie, reposted with permission from yogateachertraining.nz A great passion of mine is the evocative use of language to inform Yoga movement and rest practices. A teacher’s use of words has the power to evoke embodied experiences that can be transformational for students. My early years of yoga practice were visually orientated: Yoga practice was about what my alignment looked like and about rearranging muscles and bones to (con)form shapes (asana). Most yoga books described benefits of specific postures for various organs and body s ..read more

Sometimes an email arrives in your inbox and you have to share it. A well written and important contribution to the conversation around cultural appropriation of Yoga. An invitation to have a difficult conversation. See what arises for you when you read this? What actions can we take to make a difference? How are we complicit? More questions than answers, but that doesn’t mean we should not ask them.  THE EMAIL: As world celebrates UN Yoga Day on June 21, Hindus upset at trivialization of yoga in the West  As the world celebrates the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed Inte ..read more

Hand holding globe By Sarah Spence That time a vacuum cleaner sabotaged my kirtan. Yup, an odd situation. So I delved into that dream to figure out what it was trying to tell me. Dreams happen to most of us when we’re asleep, yet dreams can also be daydreams of where you want to go in life, or waking dreams, i.e. what is happening right now in life. When I was a teenager, I found a dream dictionary in the secondhand bookstore, as we did in life before Google. I wondered what the meanings of my busy dreams were, and wished they were more poignant than I thought they were.  I stumbled acros ..read more

Minds bright spark. Brief Bliss. Faith. Woman in bed on her phone Have you been bitten by the wordle bug yet? I sure have. How does this simple five letter puzzle have anything to do with yoga?  As a student of Tantra Yoga I choose to look for the experience of yoga in my daily life. Every moment, every interaction is an opportunity to practice the teachings, to apply them to the world. Wordle is no different in this regard. It’s now part of my daily practice and I love it. It’s deceptively simple yet challenging, it requires focus and faith, just like my favourite yoga classes.  H ..read more

More questions than answers on how we view and work with pain in yoga Hands holding the word pain By Veronica King A recent post about a pain relief ad in a pharmacy sparked a lively discussion around yoga and pain, one which I was interested in exploring further. It seems to have created more questions than answers. A topic dear to my heart as I tore my hip labrum in a yoga class, this injury and the subsequent pain management was to become my greatest teacher. Many teachers and students have been injured in yoga, many practitioners live with chronic pain, so let’s look at it bravely and with ..read more

Teaching yoga as your career By Veronica King Luckily my first and most influential teacher always spoke about being a yoga professional. This was her livelihood and treated it with that respect. This helped shape me. As a yoga teacher, I would always treat my career with that same respect. It’s not uncommon to feel shy about sharing this. There is in the teaching of any spiritual tradition an ongoing tension between being of service and charging for that service. You have every right to be proud of your journey, many people won’t even know what a yoga career entails. You will ultimately in ..read more

How yoga helped me stay grounded before flying. Rainbow on the tarmac landing in Australia By Veronica King Feels surreal to be writing this piece on my parent’s kitchen table in Adelaide. The trip that was cancelled 3 times due to border changes, it would appear that it was 4th time lucky. The last few years we have been shrouded in fear, separated from our loved ones, and unsure if anything we planned would actually go ahead. As I prepared for this trip, I knew my practice was helping me stay steady and grounded. I’m sharing this to share hope, and to share the true treasure of our practice ..read more

Students experience of online yoga Part 2 by Sandra Palmer Practicing yoga at home via online classes “Since the arrival of Covid 19 into our world, the way we teach yoga has changed.  Studios and teachers rapidly adapted to close brick and mortar studios and many immediately started teaching online. Some teachers and students love this online environment and, equally, many people loathe it”. Registered Psychologist and Yoga Teacher, Sandra Palmer shares her insights and experiences on the student’s perspective of practicing yoga online. Less rush, more time Pre lockdown #1 in March 2020 ..read more