Ever noticed how time slows down a little up here? The mountain air feels cleaner, the stars a little brighter, and the mind... a little quieter. If you’ve ever left Happy Buddha Retreats thinking, “I wish I could bring more of this into my everyday life,” you’re not...
Consider this your official Happy Buddha love note 💌. Once a month, we share inspiration from our Happy Buddha Retreats crew — exploring themes of yoga, life, and joy. This edition comes from the gorgeous and grounded Vanessa—retreat yoga teacher and Blue Mountains...
Why host a retreat? Imagine sharing your knowledge and passion with motivated individuals in a serene setting, seeing firsthand their profound shift in thinking and mindset. That’s the power of a retreat. When you host a retreat, whether it’s around art, yoga or...
A Culture of Shortcuts Our modern society places a huge focus on efficiency and pace. This applies to fitness and unfortunately our bodies too; as reflected by fad diets, pills, and crash exercise programs. When our objectives become too narrow, for example 'to lose...
Here at HB, one of our favourite tools for strengthening body, mind, and spirit is yoga. We’re also advocates of practising different yoga styles, and tapping into the full potential of this ancient practice. As well as all the usual benefits (strength, circulation,...
Hello, Autumn. This week officially marks our first equinox of the year. Throughout history, cultures across the world have honoured this annual event; the moment when day and night are of equal length. Marking the transition into the winter months of the year, the...
We once discussed that while Yoga is often associated with just physical postures, fitness, and flexibility, it’s actually also a deeply philosophical and spiritual practice with a rich history rooted in ancient India. While physical postures, or asanas reflect one...
Floral aromas in the air, birds singing and the sun’s restorative warmth... our favourite season (and consequently spring yoga) is back! Here, we get to shake off the density of winter and embrace this new season of renewal, activity, expansion and growth. A time of...
We began exploring the ancient yogic framework that is the chakra system, here. Progressively working with the chakras can be a way of bringing reflection, clarity, and transformation into our lives. Thus far we’ve solidified our foundations, explored emotions – and...
Whether you’re eating intuitively, following an Ayurvedic or TCM approach, a natural detox can be incredibly restorative. Imagine a bear hibernating all through winter. He assumes that when the sun returns to melt the snow, he’ll be able to frolic and hunt for salmon...
If you’ve ever wondered who yoga is suitable for, our short answer is: everyone! Regardless of whether you’re currently less fit or super active, younger or older, under or overweight… yoga will bring unique benefits to both mind and body. Try not to be put off by...
Many moons ago, we explored and reviewed a few of our favourite yoga mats to buy in Australia. You can read our first yoga mat article here and I personally still love the mat I discovered in the process, but four years on seems like a nice point to explore what other...
Here’s how to experience the benefits of meditation without sitting in a quiet room…
Pregnancy is an exciting time – but also a time when you might be feeling an extra need to relax and recharge…
Pranayama or yogic breathing, is one of the main eight branches of the yoga sutras. Performed with or without asanas (yoga postures), pranayama also has an enormous amount of benefits, for mind body and spirit. When we break down the word… ‘prana’ refers to breath,...
We’ve all been here. That place where we want to relax, but our minds decide to race onwards instead. One beautiful antidote for such situations is aromatherapy; the art of using essential oils to shift energy and support healing. As humans, our sense of smell...
Lockdowns aren’t great for about a million-and-one reasons… but if we can’t travel externally, let’s travel internally. With so much going on in the world around us, there couldn’t be a more valuable time to nurture our inner and spiritual worlds. Today we continue...
'It is in the roots, not the branches, that a tree’s greatest strength lies.' - Matshona Dhliwayo Last month we spoke about the seven chakras – those powerful centres of energy that sit within our etheric body. Each chakra holds a very specific vibration and purpose,...
Oh, the holidays. Carols, lights, gifts, shopping, family, parties, food, food and more food. For even the most grounded person, it’s easy to caught up in the buzz this time of year. The season can bring up a myriad of issues such as stress, obligation, exhaustion,...
‘Through Ayurveda you will discover all the forces of Nature working within you, and that you yourself are a replica of the cosmos…’ – David Frawley Ayurveda, or the ‘science of life’ is the five thousand year old Vedic natural healing system of India. As we...
Yoga mats for everyone! With the variety of yoga mats available these days, searching for the right one would overwhelm even the happiest of shoppers. From sticky mats to towel mats - there are yoga mats for almost every branch of yoga. Finding the best yoga mat for...
Happy Buddha is on TV!Talk about happiness!! In the midst of winter a film crew retreated with us and here's the final result. We can't thank Angie Hilton and the crew from Destination Happiness enough for having a laugh and experiencing what it's like to...
‘What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.’ ― John Steinbeck While our neighbours in the northern hemisphere move into summer this weekend, June 22 brings us the Winter Solstice. A solstice describes the annual moment when the...
When you’re feeling grounded, you’re like a big, strong tree rooted firmly into the earth. Fierce winds may ruffle your crown, and you might even lose a few leaves and branches. But still, you remain standing - and your life force helps you to recover quickly from any...
Derived from Hatha yoga, the practice of Yin yoga is based on the Taoist concepts of Yin and Yang; the opposite and complementary principles of reality. Simply put; as an energetic state, yin is feminine. It’s stability, passivity, downward moving and cold. Yang on...
