Is drinking alcohol incompatible with yoga?

Wine is a wonderful thing! And since I started practicing mindfulness meditation I find I enjoy a glass even more. I now drink more 'mindfully', taking time to savour the flavours in the wine, wonder at the alchemical process of winemaking, imagine the sunnier climes the grapes were grown in, and enjoy the company I'm keeping.... Continue Reading →

February 23, 2015 3

Simplicity

I've been struggling to write something about bhakti yoga, about devotional practice, about letting go of the small self and all one's quotidian concerns, the trivialities that make the world go round and make my head spin. I just let all that go for today at least. Instead I lit a candle, rolled out my... Continue Reading →

February 16, 2015 0

Walk, don’t run!

As a child I ran everywhere. And if I wasn't running, I was skipping. Not with a rope, just the basic hopping-twice-on-each-foot bouncing form of forward motion that you can only do un-selfconsciously until you're about ten years old. (Probably much earlier, in these more sophisticated days) I can still vividly recall the physical impatience I... Continue Reading →

February 13, 2015 2

Asana as the icing on the (yoga) cake

Now that I'm currently spending very little time actually on my mat (a browse through my January archive of posts will tell the story why) I'm asking myself not just about the role of asana practice within yoga, but also how I can practice yoga without asana. Actually I think this is a pretty funny question, since it... Continue Reading →

February 4, 2015 2

breathe. feel. be.

breathe. feel. be. don't push. don't strain. don't let your attention wander. don't panic! breathe. feel. be. I've been following physio's orders and holding off asana practice for a couple of weeks, giving my hamstring a chance to heal itself. So first practice today. Yes, in some ways this feels like the first practice ever.... Continue Reading →

January 31, 2015 4

Thinking on my feet

Since seeing a physio about my hamstring, I've been following her advice: conscientiously doing my exercises patiently resting from asana practice and awkwardly attempting to minimize time spent sitting. I thought stopping asana practice for a while would have the greatest impact on my life. Actually I'm surprised by how cheerfully I've been able to comply... Continue Reading →

January 25, 2015 0

From parachutes to why I started yoga

"Weave your parachute every day, don't wait until you need to jump out of the plane" -- Jon Kabat-Zinn So I jumped out of the plane this week. My hamstring niggle combined with a temporarily-absent husband, some long-running emotional family stuff, a failing project at work, plus the usual hormone cycle to create the perfect storm. I... Continue Reading →

January 17, 2015 4

Yoga practice as a ‘keystone habit’

I've been having a very gentle couple of days doing very limited asana practice at home as I nurture myself and my unhappy hamstring. This was the candlelit view from my mat today: I've been moving slowly, exploring what causes pain and investigating how to modify poses to suit my current physical state. It's humbling and... Continue Reading →

January 12, 2015 0

Hamstrings and humility

I've been excited about getting this blog set up for so long now. But truth be told, this is not the blog post I thought I'd be writing first up. I'd planned my blog as a tool to help me find my yoga. I needed space to process the ceaseless stream of thoughts, ideas, and... Continue Reading →