Cape Men's Yoga

Meditation Meditation and yoga are closely connected practices. In classic yoga, meditation is one of the eight limbs of the yogic practice. My own experience progressed from formal meditation into yoga asana, only to discover that yoga asana actually helps still the mind and facilitates effective meditation. It would be great to say that meditation is one thing and this is how you do it. The truth is that meditation is many different things, has different options, and we approach it through unique pathways that are relevant to who we are and our earlier life experience. Still, meditation is a practice with many thousands of years of human experience. There is not much which has not been studied, experienced, practised and taught. What is really difficult about meditation? Getting started and trusting ourselves enough to sustain the practice. Any meditation is likely to be useful, but it is through sustained practice on a regular basis and over years, which allows the deep ...

It is a humbling experience. Imagine having a dream about connecting people and sharing life-skills to bring men into a supportive network of yoga practitioners in the full sense of the word. And then it happens! Twenty-one men gathered at the beautiful Bodhi Khaya retreat centre between Gansbaai and Stanford in Western Cape Province for a weekend of yoga and meditation. The theme of the weekend was exploring four basic elements: air, fire, water and earth and how these link to our understanding of ourselves and the India yogic system of chakras. The focus was on the lower chakras which are associated with the main elements and which are governed by the heart. One can take this literally or figuratively. In either form it creates a framework for considering how our body is truly made up of other elements which have come together in such a configuration that it permits us to be alive. And on another level it is a metaphor for how we live, how we balance our habits and attitudes to ...