Born in Riga, Latvia to European aristocracy in 1899, Indra Devi was the first female to been allowed into an Indian ashram (let alone the first woman to study in an ashram) in the 1930s. Studying with the “godfather” of modern Hatha Yoga, Krishnamacharya (famous for also teaching Iyengar and Pattabhi Jois), Indra Devi is […]
The Yoga Sutras were composed nearly 2,000 years ago and have become one of the classic yogic texts. You may have seen it on the bookshelf at your local studio, on the reading list for teacher trainings, or heard it alluded to in class. But it can often remain shrouded in a certain mystery. So,
This January, why not make your New Year’s resolution to hit the mat every day a whole lot more fun by doing your yoga practice with a friend? Get more out of your yoga practice AND spend quality time with your best buddies. We all start the year with good intentions, determined to shift the
Unless they’re rushing off, most teachers are happy to hang around after class and chat with their students, but people don’t always take advantage of this. For most of us, yoga is our special ‘me’ time. That time when we put our lives on hold and do something restful that is exclusively for us. On
Between 2010 and 2017, celebrity chef and eponymous domestic goddess Nigella Lawson, has gone from a ‘voluptuous’ size 16 to a ‘svelte’ size 12. These are not my words, but the words of lifestyle magazines and tabloids, who have endlessly focused on the way that women in the public eye, like Nigella, look. It’s a
Yoga makes us stronger – fact. Yoga increases flexibility – also fact. But how? Going From Strength To Strength Yoga poses, or āsana, are a wonderfully effective form of strength training. It is easy to strengthen muscles, you just need to work them harder than they are used to and they will get stronger. “Which poses build strength?” I
The gravity-defying arm balances of an advanced yogi are truly magical )and the envy of many less experienced yogi’s). There is no getting around the fact that the flexibility and strength needed to perform pincha mayurāsana (feathered peacock) or tittibhāsana (firefly) are way beyond most of us. But that does not mean that arm balances are off
Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch Me Do you like adjustments? To me they are magic. I love receiving them, and they can make me aware of a part of my body in a flash. They can help me feel a pose in a whole new way and I can feel tension melt away with the slightest, compassionate
What’s it like going to a big yoga convention or festival? Can you really learn anything amongst hundreds of other yogis? Is it worth the money, time and effort? Poppy Pickles writes about her experience at the Iyengar Yoga UK Convention in Harrogate in May this year. Going to a yoga convention or festival away
In order to be a yoga teacher you need to start teaching yoga. That’s it. There are no legal requirements or regulations governing the yoga teaching world, but there are plenty of organisations out there purporting to be national, international and even global governing bodies. What Exactly Are the Yoga Regulating Bodies? Up until the late 20th
