The sattvic way of eating

One might assume that if you’re in an ashram,  you’d be be getting the same bland, vegetarian dishes day in, day out. The ashram I stayed at however, offered a variety of different meals full of aromatic spices and fresh vegetables which I’ve since tried to replicate at home. As I’ve mentioned before, the ashram […]

Life’s little learning experiences

I’ve just returned from India where I stayed in ashram for a month living the yogic lifestyle. That means 5 a.m. starts, 4 hours of daily yoga practice, maintaining a strictly sattvic diet, undergoing cleansing techniques, chanting, meditation, karma yoga and so much more. It sounds so cliched, but in this short time I feel […]

Meditate on it

The benefits of meditation are well known. People have been known to meditate through stressful situations in life, during childbirth, after operations for pain relief and in a range of other circumstances. There are many different styles of meditation to try including mindfulness meditation, transcendental meditation, mantra meditation, breathe meditation and guided meditation. I’ve tried […]

Building blocks of success

I was once critical of using props in yoga. Admittedly, there was a bit of pride involved in it. Props were well and good for people that did not have the flexibility or perhaps had restrictions that did not allow them to hold the posture, but not I. I could already achieve the full benefits […]

Unleashing the silent mind

Yesterday’s yoga class was a bit different. After our standard 3 “Oms” to begin the class our instructor gave us some theory on the mind. I have always enjoyed the theory side of yoga. Although I have attempted numerous times to brush up on yoga theory (my latest effort being the Hindi sacred scriptures, Bhagavad […]