This week’s interview is with Michaela Sangl – one of the most experienced teachers of yoga for children in New Zealand and the founder of Yogi Kids Professional Development.
Her primary focus is now sharing her wealth of knowledge with educators, yoga teachers, practitioners and caregivers.
We begin a series of Contemporary Yoga Training graduate interviews. Our first graduate interviewee is Madeleine Lifsey.
Madeleine completed her Contemporary Yoga 200 hour teacher training during 2020. She offers body-positive, rainbow-inclusive, inquiry-based children’s yoga over Zoom on Outschool.
Yoga teacher and trainer, Karla Brodie talks with Body-Mind Centering (BMC) educators Olive Bieringa and Amy Matthews during a BMC somatic movement education programme in Melbourne, Australia, February 2020.
Karla: Thank you for being here. Every morning of training we’re starting the day with a warm up so I have a few warm up questions for you both.
Amy: Okay.
In November 2020, in preparation for her January 2021 workshop in Auckland, Donna Farhi and I talked about resilience. We share the highlights of this interview below in a few shorter extracts.
What is resilience?
Resilience, self-love and care
Resilience and vulnerability
Resilience tools
Resilience is the capacity to bounce back that is dependent on having invested in one’s fitness over an extended period. Here, world-renown Yoga teacher of teachers shares what resilience means to her, and how we may develop a resilience as we face difficult times.
As we re-emerge from lockdown, we are stepping out into the midst of changing times. The seasonal change is upon us as autumn transitions into winter and we are all navigating impacts of coronavirus in our lives and worldwide.
Ayurvedic wisdom brings us back to balance with tips to soothe and strengthen body, mind, heart and soul.
Amy also offers a delicious Autumn Chai recipe!
Have you ever been told you can’t sing?
For those of us who have, there are a few paths we consciously, or unconsciously, choose: we either stop singing, or we contain our singing to the shower or car, or to when we’ve consumed the right amount of alcoholic beverages to let ourselves belt out the anthems of our youth.
Yet in my work, my voice is one of my most important tools I use in teaching Yoga. It’s not just what I say, but how I say it. Here I share my journey with reclaiming the power of my unique voice.
I LOVE music. I am constantly astonished by music. By the endless creativity of musicians to produce beautiful, moving, wild rhythms, melody and harmony. I could never imagine life without it. What a blessing music is in our lives!
Yoga is my other love. I regularly join the two together in my own practice and in my classes you will often hear me playing music to support the Yoga. Sometimes I may even bring my guitar and play live for people.
Erich Schiffmann teaches what he calls Freedom Yoga – the freedom to teach and practice any style of Yoga he likes! His approach is about tuning in, listening to guidance from within, the inner teacher, and then doing as is prompted.
This encourages and empowers the student to listen and respond to their own body and movement, to practice in a way which respects their body, and how they find themselves at the beginning of each practice.