YOKE Magazine

Lord Krishna’s instruction to Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita — You should do your duty —is a clear theme in an ancient text which has inspired millions with its timeless teachings. The primary teaching of Krishna to Arjuna is the importance of Karma Yoga and Nishkama Karma. The meaning of Nishkama Karma is to do one’s duty without worrying about the results. Doing one’s duty is not easy; Arjuna was constantly tossing up between his duty and his egocentric desires. But at least he knew what was expected of him — to fight in battle. In this modern age, how do we do our duty if we don’t even know what it is? In this fourth issue of YOKE we went in search of this slippery word ‘duty’. Like Arjuna, we discovered a…

It’s taken yoga several thousand years to journey from a handful of monasteries dotting the Himalayas to the myriad studios of London, Lower Manhattan, and beyond. Whether bathing with holy men in the Ganges or joining the chorus of a thousand voices chanting “om”, photographer Michael O’Neill has devoted himself to experiencing and recording the world of yoga at this critical juncture in its history. The result is a powerful photographic tribute to the age-old discipline turned global phenomenon, with over 250 million practitioners united in physical, spiritual, and mindful practice worldwide. Setting out to make portraits of the most influential yogis of our time - B. K. S. Iyengar, Shri K. Pattabhi Jois, T. K. V. Desikachar Rodney Yee, Colleen Saidman & Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa - for Michael, it was…

EVE GRZBOWSKI, MARK ROBBERDS, MATY EZRATY, TREVOR TANGYE ‘Duty’ is a double-edged sword of a word. It can suggest all the stuff we don’t want to do but must. Yet certain duties have the capacity to liberate us - or at least, in asking for our disciplined awareness, offer up a path to growth. Parenting, for instance, or any labour of love. Here we can flip the word over: duty can be elevated to devotion, something we may be bound to, but out of love, an inner feeling or sensitivity. So what is duty in the context of yoga practice? Is the thing that gets us onto the mat in the first place the same thing that keeps us going? What compels some practitioners to take the extra leap to become teachers? Could…

LULU AND MISCHKA, SHARLEE GIBB AND MATT WILKINSON, BEC MATTHEWS AND SARAH WARD, LOUISE WHELAN AND JOHN OGDEN People often think that a meaningful profession must come at the price of a meaningful relationship, or vice versa, but it is possible for the two to come together in surprising and creative ways. Working alongside your soulmate can bind two people closer together and expand the potential of their creative expression. For some couples the sense of duty they have towards each other merges into a mutual desire to express that sense of duty in the wider world. Whether it be through music, art, food, photography or family, each of the couples we spoke to are working together in their own unique way to make the world around them a better place. Expressing the…

We get nervous using the word ‘morality’, I think. Without much analysis of its meaning we tend to think of it as a set of instructions, proscriptions from on high. From the perspective of religious philosophies that assert a creator, that’s literally what it is. I asked ajesuit priest friend of mine what defines a sin, an immoral action and indeed he said, a sin is “doing what God said not to do”. It seems to be the same in our parents’ households. When I was a little girl it’s certain that when I asked my mother why I shouldn’t do something she told me not to do, her answer would be “because I say so”. In the world at large, too. We’re always on the lookout to avoid doing what…

ROB GINNIVAN When Rob Ginnivan was 34 and in the corporate world, drinking, smoking marijuana and stressed out, his doctor warned him that he was heading for destruction. One day, unable to breathe, he parked his car by the side of the road and suddenly realised he must learn to become mindful, practice compassion and help others. He looked outside himself and his consciousness and his awareness shifted. He studied with the great gurus and doctors and came home to Canberra a pioneer, to concentrate on helping veterans suffering from PostTraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). His new book is called Now and Now. We are living at a time when I think yoga and meditation are acknowledged, particularly in the Western world. They have been a big part of your life. Do you…