Beloved savasana

My teacher sometimes refers to śavāsana as a 'little death' and I have to fight an immature giggle at what can only sound like a sexual metaphor to my ears. Funny in contrast that his referring to the breath as 'the beloved' simply sounds esoteric and rather pure! Because 'bhakti' isn't from my native language... Continue Reading →

February 21, 2016 0

Purring cats and the power of Om

My teacher's on a thing with Om at the moment. So that kind of means I am too. We've been beginning class chanting PYS 1.28: taj-japas tad-artha-bhāvanam By chanting Om one realizes the meaning of Om He's talked to us about the three sounds that make up Om (AUM) and how they relate to the body --... Continue Reading →

February 18, 2016 3

If Zorba the Greek practiced yoga

It's not exactly a seismic shift, more a tremble, perhaps still just a wobble. I wonder if my practice is shifting subtly. Or could shift subtly (or even seismically!) if I let it. My teacher has led some truly awesome classes of late that has opened me up to some new ways of practicing. I feel... Continue Reading →

February 17, 2016 11

Yoga is embarrassing

It's about 5am right now in my corner of the world. I'm awake. I'm hungry and thirsty so I'm taking care of that. My mind is restless, so this blog is my way of trying to take care of that. I can't sleep. I'm full of awe and excitement and I'm happily sh*t scared of... Continue Reading →

February 14, 2016 9

Darkness in surya namaskar

I know the yogic drill. I'm supposed to be present. I'm supposed to let my body move through the sequences, breathing through any intensity, avoiding nothing. Today the choreography of movement was some exquisite torture. Each surya namaskar was a physical confrontation to my desire to retreat, to curl up and make myself small. Instead... Continue Reading →

February 12, 2016 2

head vs heart

the head tells me it has true understanding. it offers up endless sequences of thoughts, seductive in their logic. they fit together, they sound good and neat, so they must be true. they cohere. they adhere, sticking to me through the years. through thick and thin. the characterisation they offer must be how things really are.... Continue Reading →

February 11, 2016 0

Seek and ye shall find?

A girl turned up to yoga last night and found she had left her yoga clothes at home. She laughed as she told me about looking in her bag for a third time not quite believing that they weren't there. She couldn't shake the feeling that if she just looked again a bit harder they'd... Continue Reading →

February 10, 2016 5

Being dim

"Do you think I'm really dim?" I asked Hubby. "Uh... yeah!" he told me. Mock incredulity. Did I really need to ask!! We were talking about yoga. Of course. Specifically we were talking about breath leading the movement. Clearly pretty important in yoga. Clearly very important in vinyasa style. But hard, right? Or is it? Am... Continue Reading →

February 8, 2016 8

Easy does it

Blurgh. This was my first thought on waking up today. A lousy night's sleep and I'm feeling really sick. Plus it was raining hard. But I went to yoga class anyway. This two hour class on a Sunday morning still feels like such a gift and I don't easily reject the offering. I was uncertain... Continue Reading →

February 7, 2016 5

Make mine a double

A few months ago my teacher made a half-joking suggestion that I could try taking two classes back to back. I didn't even know that was allowed! My first thought was "shouldn't I ration my class attendance so everyone gets a look in"? I'm so law-abiding! My quick-following second thought was all about whether I would... Continue Reading →