Table of contents for Issue 1 in YOKE Magazine

The ancient Sanskrit root for yoke is ‘YUJ’ युज् which is the root word of yoga योग. The word yoga means 'to be yoked' the spiritual concept of 'being yoked' means to join or connect, to form a bond, to unite. YOKE is a rupture of many delicious things. It's a tantalising playground and a connection between both art and yoga. It's about lifestyle and choices, it's about humans and how we interact, it's about art and process, it's about how yoga is more than just the mat. It's a devotion to merging ancient philosophies with the present, to come to a place that reminds us that we are really all the same, with an opportunity to see ourselves through someone else's eyes. At the root of this magazine are…

CAT KABIRA “I've been practising yoga since I was 17 years old. I got into it because I was anorexic, about 85 pounds. My first experience on the mat was the one moment when I felt at peace and wanting to be in my body. I didn't even care about the yoga poses. I actually couldn't figure out where most of my body parts were. I was so thin that I wasn't even comfortable just being in my body. But there were those rests in between, and I could feel these sensations running through me and it was just like, what is this, it is so magical! Why is no one talking about this? I felt like I was hitting bliss and leaving on a happy high contentment, and for…

SIMON BORG-OLIVIER “Happiness is the choice that you make any time in your life. Sometimes you choose to be sad, sometimes you choose to be happy. The way you feel is how you choose. If it makes you happy to feel sad, sometimes people want that. The moment you choose to have enough of sadness, you can choose happiness. The realisation that you have that power is something that for me came from yoga. It's available to everyone. If there is one message I could give to people, that's an important message. But you have to realise: the biggest teachers are our kids. They laugh 300 times a day. Adults laugh three times a day. We have something to learn, I think.” What are your thoughts on yoga? The simplest…

Actor and stand-up documentarian Emma Beech is having an ongoing conversation - with, about and through community. A keen observer and deep questioner, her curiosity feeds her live art to make us think and tell us the story of what we know. By “stand-up documentarian” Emma means she uses her curiosity to research a theme, and then performs it. “And often when I am performing, I am standing up and talking to people. So that is what I say I do.” Take her show Homage to Uncertainty - winner of the Melbourne Fringe Tour Ready Award at the Adelaide Fringe - which played in Melbourne in September. In it she distills gestures she has observed and stories she has been told about uncertainty into a “standup theatre piece, which is…

“You know, it only takes one person to make pasta. And it's nice to have other people around… But if everybody wants to stir it with the same spoon at the same time, it's kind of a pasta cluster-fuck.” Despite the Gods opens on filmmaker Jen Lynch perched in her director's chair wryly surveying her Bollywood film set. It's hot and dusty and there's a background babble of car horns and scavenger birds fighting over scraps. A bored clapper loader strolls into shot and kicks at the dirt. Jen leans in towards us as if gossiping over a ciggie: “This is my pasta cluster-fuck.” In the 1990s Jen Lynch made her mark penning The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer, a spin-off from her father's hit TV series Twin Peaks. At…

“I can't go without working for too long. When life gets a little too busy and I forget to make the time, it's when I start feeling sickly almost or just not right. When I get back into the studio and start working again, everything balances out again and I can feel happy again almost.” In downtown San Francisco, tucked away in the time-warped decor of a 1950s diner, I meet prolific American artist Timothy Cummings. His demeanour is welcoming, his eyes like vulnerable volcanoes ready to burst into wild laughter or soft tears at any moment. They captivate me in the same arresting way the subjects of his paintings do. As if to mock his otherworldly quality, he munches on a bowl of nachos drowned in bright orangey-yellow American…

A little boy lies on the floor in the shape of a cross. His classmates crouch around him as their teacher tugs at his outstretched hands, taps his head and points to his toes. She is describing the floor plan of the cathedral through the limbs of his body. Local tourists smile, linger and listen to the young teacher's lesson. They even interrupt and ask questions. The teacher embraces the moment; animated and engaging, she's willing to share knowledge with whoever wants to learn. I'm standing inside Basilica de la Sagrada Familia. The sun is warm, the sky rings blue and the sound of children playing in the park nearby floats through the holes of the halffinished roof. I've experienced the meditative seashell curves of Antoni Gaudi's Casa Batllo and…

When you reflect on today's food and health landscape, you have to wonder how we ever got this far away from nature. As a society, we have become increasingly disconnected from real food and from the earth's energy. The Western diet is simply hastening the path to chronic disease heart disease, diabetes, cancer, obesity and mental illness. We have a very concerning food supply system where only a few big players provide access to most of the population's daily groceries. And when you walk into these places, you are bombarded with products and marketing, dazzled and over-stimulated by the shiny packaging as you try to navigate the aisles in search of the elusive real food. Foods that are highly refined, processed, chemicalised and adulterated appear every which way you turn.…

shirtlifter24 I loved you, you loved me, we dated, you broke up with me, but still I'm thankful for making me the happiest guy in that 2 years. #throwbackthursday #tbt #loveloss #instaboi #instagay #followme #uae #love #dxb #abudhabi abdulla_rak, robzsastre, oliverpadriquela and 24 others like this. amoreislove My drawing diary* #hurt #inspiration #beautiful #loveloss #eyes #cry #depression #heart #sketch #drawing #nawden #art #bestdrawing #miiart sherriveron I hope you feel better and get through what it is you're going through. Art is a good way to express yourself and from what I see in this drawing you have alot of talent. Push through it everything always gets better. It always does, the reason I know is because every hurt is a lesson learned and a lesson learned makes you a stronger…

Cynthia Sciberras believes that when you come from an authentic place of love and creativity, all is possible. When not consumed as Editor for Yoke magazine, she can be found with her camera shooting humans of many different ages and angles, living her yoga in sunny Sydney, hanging with her two beloved rescue cats and partner, who totally understands her wig fetish. cynthiasciberras.com Dominique Antarakis is a journalist, editor and storyteller, and founder ofThe Copy Collective, a global network of creatives working on print and digital content for client projects. thecopycollective.com Andy Richter is a photographer based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His desire to connect with others has led him to over 40 countries with his camera in hand. andyrichterphoto.com Alison Teal has lived out of a backpack her entire life.…

MICHAEL HALL Over the past six years Michael Hall has produced a captivating - and at times haunting - body of work. He loves the world so much and cares so much for its future, that he can't help but capture its beauty and majesty in a way that shows how degraded we are as blatantly wasteful people. In his work and in our conversations, Hall appears to be a man on a mission, a devoted activist, searcher, someone who in both his profession and life - is seeking to change the way we see what we humans are doing on this planet. Here, he discusses how the planet has become his subject and how he feels it's his mission to live by example and simplify his own existence. “I…

GREGOR MAEHLE In the four books Gregor Maehle has written on yoga, he combines knowledge of scripture with straightforward descriptions, leaving the reader astonished by the depth of his insight. He obtained his anatomical knowledge through a degree and has also studied history, philosophy and comparative religion. Gregor first travelled to India more than 30 years ago, and started his study with various yogic and tantric masters and traditional Indian sadhus. He lived several years as a recluse, spending his days studying Sanskrit, yogic scripture and practising yogic techniques. Gregor describes teaching as difficult and humiliating, although he is highly sought-after. And, as a seasoned yogi and compassionate teacher, he manages to guide students through the history and lineage of yoga, and the fundamentals of breath, bandhas and vinyasa. In…

Have you noticed that every yogi seems to have a dog or two? The more I witness the bond with animals, the more I realise how important they are in our lives and the connection with yoga. A Sydney yoga school allows dogs into the shala, and so they should. I think pets should be doing yoga with us because they have much to teach us about its ultimate practice and realisation. Dogs have an evolutionary need for close emotional ties. They are social animals, like people, and rely on emotions to bond with other dogs and people. It's important to acknowledge the pets that give our lives fulfilment. Dogs, like other pets, teach us much, such as: To serve - that a caring and giving relationship comes from a…

After seven years away, it was time for something new. Our friendship developed naturally upon my return home to Minnesota. My grandmother, Louise B. Moore, was approaching 90 at the time and, on some level, we needed one another at this moment in our lives. I longed for meaningful connection and to simply slow down and be. Perhaps she needed company, for at this stage in life, many of her friends were fading away. Time slowed when we were together at her home of 65 years on South Wilder St. Our conversations were honest and never forced. Her presence grounded me, in a manner that only one with many years of experience and wisdom can. We would listen to oldtime music on her porch and sip wine in the afternoon…

“Daddy, Daddy! Don't let me go!” In her 2011 feature documentary Connected, Tiffany Shlain recalls going on a childhood ski trip with her father, Leonard. As their chair lift ascends the summit, she falls out of her seat. Her father grabs her by her jacket and holds on but there are rocky cliffs ahead. He tells her it's safer to let her go over the snow. Tiffany begs her father not to. He looks into her eyes and says, “You're going to be OK”. He lets go. Two weeks before Tiffany's second child is due, Leonard's last-hope cancer treatment fails and he loses the ability to speak. Tiffany holds his hand and says, “Daddy. I'm going to be OK. You can let go.” What began as a film on global…

For Sydney artist Nell, her vitality in the studio runs parallel to Zen meditation and yoga – three strands of knowing oneself. Nell's major themes of sex, Zen and rock'n'roll (or birth, life and death), are continually re-explored while mining new materials for qualities and sensations. Nell, who often speaks of life's essential dualities, is playful and monastic, embraces the whimsical and the epic, and evokes sadness and joy. Nell brings the entire spectrum of life into her work, allowing momentary gestures equal space beside works that have consumed hundreds of hours. Her lexicon is universal and everyday, her subjects (egg, tree, mountain and lightning bolt) dynamic, each appearing anew, across many years of creation. The meditating figure is core to Nell's practice, literally and as an image for self-awareness…

“The strongest people in my life have been women. The ones that I loved the most extraordinarily have always been women. And as an actor, what was most challenging to play were female characters.” Tommy Bradson One wanted to be a writer, the other a rockstar. But somehow both Tommy Bradson and Paul Capsis found their way into cabaret, as an avenue to express their art and music, to embrace the feminine, and as a conduit for their amazing talents, slipping between identities and genres. Singer, actor and theatre-maker Paul – known for his role as a Greek-Australian transvestite in Ana Kokkinos's 1998 film Head On, as well as his searing solo music shows in which he appears to channel divas from Janis Joplin to Billie Holiday – was shocked…

I think we often have quite a pessimistic notion of young relationships and forget that sometimes the simplicity of young love can form very strong relationships. Our first love is a relationship we never forget and can act as a template for future behaviour and expectations. A relationship free of worry, responsibility, experience and future plans can ultimately lead to one of fun and intimacy. Perhaps young people rely on relationships to ease the burden of adolescence and all its uncertainties, finding support in someone who will not judge but share the experience. Who will, despite our fears and insecurities, accept and love us. But this is not to invalidate this partnership, as we all engage in romances for our own reasons. Creatures of self-gain, it is through our ties…

It's in the telling of stories that I make my most useful contribution. My stories all demonstrate the truth from which this book is born, which forms the path that I have walked and the truth that defines the activity of my life. I'm content to be a storyteller, although I value the activity known as philosophy and think there is still a place for it. I understand well enough the history of philosophy and particularly the journey to postmodernism. I accept the positive contribution of postmodern philosophers and I also see such contributions as growing out of the history of philosophy. Nevertheless we live in an age of self cancellation and are in real danger of throwing out the baby with the bathwater, as we deconstruct every meta narrative.…

INTERVIEWS WITH YOGIS GREGOR MAEHLE, CAT KABIRA, SIMON BORG-OLIVIER AND DANIEL AARON Image stills taken from interview footage We live in exciting and challenging times, when technology is connecting humans around the planet, allowing us to be and do more than ever. However, within this rapidly growing digital age, we are struggling to keep up, and the lack of real human interaction has made us more superficial than ever. Technology is clearly changing us, and the way we connect with our loved ones and our world. Meanwhile the business of yoga is growing rapidly, too. You don't have to look far to find a yoga shala (studio) if you live in a city such as Sydney or San Francisco. People in the Western world spend billions each year on yoga…

“Parts of her started sifting away, making their journey to the other world in sections.'' She was brave and sometimes nervous, but always filled with love. Such big-busted strength shielding her vulnerable heart. She was my kindred spirit, a master storyteller and the most insightful, intelligent and funny woman I have ever known. She passed away two years ago and life hasn't quite been the same. It was odd when she left. She had been suffering from dementia and, along with her memory, had lost all of the expression in her face. I remember looking into the wrinkles where her smile used to be, trying to find her. And I'd wonder. Where did you go? What did you leave behind? Parts of her started sifting away, making their journey to…

Anyone out there have an answer to that? We seem to accept the opposite view quickly and without question: “I'm not creative.” I can't draw. I'm not good at art. I went to an art class once and I sucked. I just don't have any talent. I wasn't born with any creative talent. I'm too old to learn. I don't have time to create. Please feel free to insert a few of your own thoughts about your creative ability and I can guarantee I've already heard them. You see, I have been facilitating people's creative processes for almost two decades and in that time, the story has not changed. Do you find that unusual? I do. To me it's like a Jungian archetype - though one I've invented. I call…

Darshan Hindu deities have been depicted endlessly through painting and sculpture. Therefore it's surprisingly sweet to see Mumbai-born, Brooklyn-based artist Manjari Sharma bringing to life these gods and goddesses through the production of photographic film, each perfected within the camera. To make these 6ft images from scratch required exhaustive research, gathering a team of more than 30 Indian craftsmen, including set and prop makers, prosthetics, make-up and costume designers, carpenters, art directors and jewellery makers. Rivalling a Bollywood film in complexity and budget, each elaborate installation reproduces the experience of a Hindu temple, to accurately recreate classical images pivotal to Hindu mythology. Darshan, a Sanskrit word meaning “vision” or “view”, is most commonly used in the context of Hindu worship. It can also be translated as “an apparition or a…

What do a former childcare worker and social psychologist have in common? A desire to nourish individuals, communities, small businesses and farmers. Shann Akkersdyk, 41, and Bridgette Di Fernando, 37, do this through their not-for-profit organisation Bondi Food Collective, created in June 2013, which gives members easy access to real, chemical-free food. The foodie duo met through Transition Bondi, part of the worldwide Transition Towns movement that originated in the UK to build resilient communities and which is heavily influenced by permaculture principles. They also worked together in the Truck Off campaign, trying to stop the big supermarket chains setting up in Bondi, the famous Sydney beachside suburb. Says Bridgette: “It was a development proposal for one of the major retailers to come in, even though there were so many…

chocolate_unicorn_4 I've tried and tried. But nothing seems to work. I'm tired of fighting. He dosint trust me. I think I'm done:-/ #hopeless #loveloss #imthinkimdone b_diaz23, original_border_hopper69 and haleysweeet_ like this. kflo0913 I may not love you, but i still care. I'm gonna miss you when you're gone.. #loveloss emilymaee2014 and gitlinr like this. imyerlady21 #love #instalike #igers There is so much more to explore than holding yourself down.:)) ylevolbabes, 256adygator, iamtheponcedeleon and 3 others like this. rawrlenadawn You used to put the biggest smile in my face. #skulls #dreaming #loveloss #heartbrokenchild #lost #HELP!! #smile #asorableshittoo anjacatrine likes this. theshas Your loss #tweegram#epicpic#lipstick#loveloss supreme_ricky_1997 likes this. mydazeinseattle Haven't had KFC in a long time. The song Summer Sadness came on and got me thinking (along with a Dr's call), and…