I was at a wedding recently. It was loads of fun, with mealtime conversation ranging widely and lots of laughs, although we didn't know each other. A beautiful moment of coming together with strangers as we shared a common love for the bride. One small part of the conversation came back to me recently. A... Continue Reading →
Days of rest
Two days before I went on vacation I taught a yoga class. It was restorative style. I joked with the students about how difficult I find holiday-time, how it takes me a few days to slide from habitual busyness towards rest and days that are not filled with obligations and self-imposed duties -- yes, they... Continue Reading →
Mindful teaching
I'm part way through teaching a short course on mindfulness to a small group of students. It's my first time teaching a sustained course over two months and my first time teaching mindfulness. I was not at all sure it would work, that I could do it, or what the students would bring to it... Continue Reading →
Dropping in
I just took my first overseas trip since covid began. Not long planned, just a sudden realisation that I could join my husband for a few days of his work trip in Greece and use up a travel voucher that was about to expire. That gave me two nights only. Not long to orientate oneself... Continue Reading →
Asking for it
When I finished teacher training I asked the studio if I could teach for them. I didn't get a reply which I interpreted as you might expect. Fair enough. The last message I remember us getting as little trainees was that we were 'babies who knew nothing'. Not quite the graduation pep talk I was... Continue Reading →
Timelessness — as always
I told my teacher recently about a photo I saw of a girl in urdhva hastasana. Not a pose I've really thought about much, until recently. Now it's come up as part of a self-project of settling more deeply into my surya namaskar. I have the idea of elevating it beyond the physical exertion of... Continue Reading →
Decluttering
My husband wants to move. Our place is quite small, a two bedroom apartment -- or you could say it's a one bed apartment with a yoga room 🙂 After two years of working from home in a space small enough that we can hear every detail of each other's meetings and phone calls, he... Continue Reading →
Three, two, one… Go!
"OK, 10 burpees in 3, 2, 1... GO!" The trainer clicked his stopwatch and looked at me expectantly. He had the power-stance that trainers adopt, almost military-style with feet apart, one hand 'at ease' behind the back, stopwatch held in the other. I didn't move. "I don't know how to do that," I told him... Continue Reading →
Mountains of my mind
Early morning (well, early for me on a Sunday) and despite single-figure temperatures I'm out and running across the local fields in shorts and vest, hopping around the puddles, taking care in the muddy patches, enjoying the movement and being outside in nature. My cheeks burn (from blood pumping or the cold air?), my feet... Continue Reading →
Kind space
I made a small trade with a friend today: she offered me some glass storage jars which she'd just bought only to realise they were the wrong size for her needs. I gave her in return a rug we had stored away which matches her new curtains perfectly. Now I have freed up some space... Continue Reading →