Quality not quantity

Numbers are one of my least favourite things. If you can have a phobia of numbers, then I do. I prefer things I can count simply on the fingers of one hand. Thankfully, leaving the magic 108 aside, yoga seems mercifully free of numbers. Or is it... After all, I have an Astanga-trained friend who... Continue Reading →

August 29, 2018 6

All too human

Recently I spent the day in London with an old friend from way, way back. I was interested to go to the All Too Human exhibition at the Tate. It seemed to me a rather eclectic collection of paintings (plus a few photos) from various artists which "celebrates the painters in Britain who strove to... Continue Reading →

August 23, 2018 1

Deep compassion

I've been avoiding someone from my past life for a while now. They hurt me a lot, in ways I'm only just coming to recognise, let along come to terms with. For the past few months these memories, long suppressed, have come out in my yoga practice. That's my laboratory and place of experimentation. How... Continue Reading →

August 20, 2018 4

Two year teaching anniversary

Facebook just alerted me to the fact that it's been two years now since I obtained my yoga teaching certificate. So I've been teaching that long! A 'time flies' moment if ever there was. How can I have learnt so much AND so little in this time? I remember one of the things that vexed... Continue Reading →

August 17, 2018 4

Uno yoga!

We have family visiting which is a joy. We're scattered quite widely across the globe so times together are precious. We're all anglophone but of different flavours and I love how this reveals so many differences in understanding beneath a common language and similar enough cultures. For example a really fun dinner time conversation last... Continue Reading →

August 13, 2018 2

Art therapy

I spent the afternoon with my ex-student-cum-yoga-artist today. She wanted to draw me in my practice, with time for her to really look at the shapes, learn to see the anatomy and capture the essence of the poses on paper. So I put myself in her hands and asked her to instruct me on what... Continue Reading →

August 8, 2018 2

Running away and coming back

First words from the teacher, first breaths on my mat and nothing felt right. I never know how to handle this start to practice, when I just don't jive with what's going on around me and everything feels wrong. In my own practice time I never have a plan to adhere to so I don't... Continue Reading →