I passed this sign today outside a café -- as I was following my head and heart to the yoga studio! My teacher was leading a small workshop looking at Chaturaṅga Daṇḍāsana. Such a luxury to spend more than an hour on a single āsana. And in really nice company. I got the feeling that everyone there... Continue Reading →
The Colour Purple
I've just read Alice Walker's The Colour Purple for the first time. Yeah, I know: I'm so culturally impoverished and all that... But my excuse is that I was in the remedial class for English at school and we didn't actually read books (though we watched a few film adaptations), so I missed out on the... Continue Reading →
Why I love the cold virus
"Having a cold is really funny!" I told Hubby. He begged to differ. "Not if you've had as many as I have" was his grumpy reply. But seriously, it's no biggie really, even if temporarily it saw me in bed for a few days and has kept me away from the yoga studio for more than... Continue Reading →
Making space and giving way
I've been having a tough time of it at work recently. Too much to do, not enough time, not enough resources of any description. Necessity might be the mother of invention but all I'm able to create from this is a whole lot of stress. I can feel it in my body. The tight muscles,... Continue Reading →
How do you know?
My bedtime reading right now is a novel about a little girl who went blind and had to learn afresh how to interpret her world, how to navigate it in a very practical way, as well as how to interpret it on the basis of the different sensory inputs she now has. On the other side... Continue Reading →
My practice goes viral
Despite an insane hand-washing routine from both parties, Hubby has bequeathed a mild version of his flu to me this week. I have a rather exciting cough to prove it. So even without the laryngeal irritation of ujjayi breath, physical practice hasn't been much of an option for me. Or has it? I haven't actually... Continue Reading →
I take my hat off to the little gem
Free stuff at work today! And not just 'action points' from meetings which are always dispensed very liberally in my direction....! A nice young man (I feel almost old enough to say this non-ironically!) from the local council came in to dispense advice and information about doorstep recycling. We had a great chat about the 'stretch... Continue Reading →
Elephants, god, and sex: lost in translation
I've been learning Sanskrit for a few slow months now. Progress is not as fast as I'd like. But then when is it? But actually I high-fived my rather staid class-mate yesterday -- we'd read a page together reasonably fluently during that lesson. OK, it's really simple stuff: stories my teacher has written with really basic grammatical constructions (strictly... Continue Reading →
Do your yoga pants vibrate?
I was always a bit of tech girl. I do like a cool gadget if it does the job well. My reaction to the prospect of having to buy a new iPad after mine took a bit of a hit recently? -- Squee!!! But yoga's changing me a bit. I'm actually starting to have second thoughts about... Continue Reading →
National Iyengar Day, UK (almost)
Today is apparently the first ever National Iyengar Day in UK and Ireland. I had thought to mark this occasion by going to my first ever Iyengar class. A local teacher was offering a free session as an intro and it seemed like a great coincidence since blogging friends (you know who you are!) have... Continue Reading →