Who’s Who and What’s What at 5 of the Internet’s hottest studios Whilst it’s true that London – like many of the world’s capital cities – has more yoga studios than ever before, it can still be difficult to get to class. With long days in the office, kids’ after-school rotas, socialising and the need […]
Yoga is a practice, it is a study, it is discipline, it is a pleasure but most of all it’s a way of being. Yoga opens us in ways we never thought imaginable, usually starting with the body but ultimately opening our mind. Yoga can be intense, relaxing, strenuous, easeful. Yoga is many, many things,
What does feeling connected mean to you? How does this relate to your yoga practice? Read on to discover why our fourth niyama, svādhyāya, is crucial to a truly mindful practice. Say What? Svādhyāya translates roughly as self study; sva meaning self and dhyaya meaning to contemplate, or think. It’s also thought of as spiritual
Picture this. You’re in the middle of teaching a lesson. Perhaps you’re still relatively new to teaching, maybe this is a much bigger class size than you’re usually used to, or this could just be your regular class with regular students. The class is going great, you’re in your element, when someone starts to cry.
Neophilia is the love of the new. It’s not so much focused on love for brand-new, straight-out-of-the-box things, but much more on the seeking out of new experiences. Neophiles are people who love novelty, who seek the thrill of doing things they’ve never done before. And they’re not necessarily adrenaline junkies; you can be a
Jonathan Thompson is an Ashtangi, YogaLondon 200-hour teacher trainer, and a deeply sensitive and emotionally intuitive person. Here he talks to us about the impact of his father’s early death, the mutually supportive relationship he has with his mother and how, for him, yoga, coaching, and psychology are all different sides of the same coin.
So we’ve been going through the Eight Limbs of Yoga for the past few weeks. We started with the grossest, or most physical of the limbs, yama and niyama, moved on to asana, pranayama and pratyahara. We’ve also explained why we practice these limbs: to tame that ever-mischievous monkey mind. Now we start getting to the
What can’t you live without? Whether it’s not knowing when to say no to that last drink, eating one too many cakes, or even being attached to how you think your body should look on the yoga mat, attachment isn’t about giving up the pleasures in life, more about learning how to enjoy them. Renounce
Ever looked in the mirror and not liked what you see? Ever criticised yourself for being too fat, too skinny, too tall, too short? Do you congratulate yourself on your long legs, flat stomach or shiny hair? Whether it’s positive or negative, these thoughts and beliefs towards ourselves are a classic example of our ego
If you’ve been following my series of the eight limbs of yoga, you may be aware that I’m rather fond of a good analogy. This article is no different, as we venture into the ever-subtler aspects! Limb six was dharana (concentration), and our seventh limb of dhyana develops our practice further from there. The analogy I
