Guest Blogger Camella Nair

When I started blogging I had no idea where it would lead me and the connections I would make. I started blogging quite simply as a marketing tool. I thought it would be a great way to communicate with current students and get the word out about Yoga in my small town. My journey with blogging has been something entirely different. I’ve connected with other yoga teachers and enthusiasts all over the United States, Canada and even South Africa. My blog is linked to Teach Street, an online community that brings teachers and learners together. They’ve launched a guest blogger program and I am so happy to have been acquainted with Camella Nair. Camella teaches Yoga and Meditation and runs several Yoga retreats each year. She is currently writing a pre/postnatal yoga certification program. She’s published two books Aqua Kriya Yoga and Prenatal Kriva Yoga and has a CD called Aum Hatha Sadhana that is available on CD Baby and was published in Elephant Journal.

I hope you enjoy her words of wisdom as much as I do.


Yes, we can practice yoga any time, any place, anywhere! As much as I love teaching yoga on the mat and in the swimming pool, I seem to be in demand in the Kitchen.

Let me elucidate. My mother is an excellent cook. Pastries especially, like her mother.(both have cold hands) Me and my sisters seem to have incarnated into a family that puts together food in a pleasing and nourishing way. What then is this yoga in the kitchen?

I live in a yoga community that has a communal kitchen where tenants can volunteer of their time and talents a few nights each month and cook a wholesome veggie meal. We have a lovely lady who organizes the calendar each month and buys the food for us. All we have to do is show up and cook. It takes precious time of course and as I have so many things on my 'to-do' list, sometimes the realization that, 'tonight is my night', comes as lead weight on my already burdened stack of 'things to do.', like teaching asana, writing books, studying, doing ayurvedic body massage,etc.

I can almost hear my inner voice screaming,” When are you going to just be still and take a break?" If I am honest I think of yoga asana most of the time with the same sense of dread. I know the effort it takes to begin the practice and as I often tell my students,” You are here and you could be cleaning the toilet, or clipping the cats nails." It is hard to get onto the mat sometimes and practice asana when the mind would much rather keep wandering aimlessly from one thought to another or giggle at the ease at which we think that cleaning the toilet or clipping the cats nails is more important than doing our asana practice at all. So I think the reticence that I have to cooking is just my mind playing tricks on me. Why? Because once I have begun to peel and chop and steam and bake, I realize that my mind is focused and serene and I am in a state of utter contentment.