Health Matters
The Essence of Yoga & Ayurvedic Health Science
If you have never heard of the term ayurveda, or you have, but are not sure what it is exactly, you might be interested to understand a little of the philosophy and thought behind yogic health and ayurveda, its sister science. Just as Traditional Chinese Medicine offers natural alternatives towards better health outcomes, ayurveda is the ancient […]
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Trust Me… (I’m Not Making This Up!)
Hands up who watches “Trust Me I’m A Doctor”? If so, you will know that last night, among other stuff, there was an interesting study on joint pain etc which kind of proved that the most beneficial thing was to make sure you did strengthening exercises around the area. This is an important thing to […]
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How do we get More Oxygen into our Blood?
Healthy blood cells contain more oxygen, but how do we get more oxygen into our cells? You might imagine that we just simply breathe more – as in we tend to be aware that we inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide. But inhalation has very little to do with storing or “holding on” (to) oxygen […]
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How Yoga Quietly Strengthens Your Core (No Sit-Ups Required)
It’s a bit of a mouthful – Niralamba badha ardha chandrasana – or “Unsupported bound half-moon pose”, but it’s one of my all-time faves because it’s very accessible and there is loads going on here. For example, you might be surprised to know that unsupported balance poses like these are a far better way to […]
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What is Meditation Really?
All health seekers understand that meditation is good for us, but what image do we conjure up in our brain when we consider what it means? I had a conversation with someone last night who suggested that it was good, sometimes, to be “forced” into stillness if you were an otherwise “busy” person. In other […]
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Healthier Mind Habits
In yoga philosophy one of the main principles yogis are advised to work towards when it comes to the pursuit of happiness is non-attachment. But what does mean?
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Practising or Teaching Yoga? Ahimsa Must Prevail; Do No Harm…
One of my longterm students asked me last night in class why we hadn’t practised shoulder stands for a long time. I think of these things often, but for a few years now, my philosophy in a group class has been to teach something reasonably dynamic and doable that the most amount of people in […]
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Do Chakras Really Exist?
Do chakras exist and what does it mean to “balance” , “open” or “activate” them? Let’s face it, it’s unlikely the chakras exist the way they are depicted in most images but if we can suspend our disbelief for one moment, we could accept that many ancient cultures were incredibly sage. It appears they managed to work out […]
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What is the Surprising Difference Between Yoga & Meditation?
…for many years, I practised the physical part of my yoga as if I was training for Olympic gold! At the end of the class, like lots of others, I would gratefully flop down into Savasana for a rest, often with twitchy muscles because I had completely over-stimulated my nervous system.
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How Breathing Affects Our Weight….
Strangely – or not! – as someone who is quite small, I am often asked what I eat. The answer is, pretty much whatever I want! But what do I want to eat? Yesterday I wrote a post about how the majority of health stuff will come back to the breathing. I wrote: “…Our diet […]
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