Dying for the yoga class to finish

Hot tears leak unwanted from my eyes. They trickle down the side of my face and into my ears making the teacher's voice a little distorted. I'm lying in savasana, corpse pose. Some say it's their favourite yoga pose. How can that be? What do they find there that eludes me? Some say it's the... Continue Reading →

September 12, 2015 6

Brahman and bacteria

Class started today with the teacher asking what came before Siri. His rhetorical line was to trace back a sequence of ‘what came befores’. What was before the internet, before reference books, spoken language, sound, breathing… "What was before breathing?" I volunteered "anaerobic respiration" which got a laugh at least (I am in a very... Continue Reading →

August 4, 2015 4

Pratyahara by the pool, with my ego (and others) for company

I retreated poolside this afternoon. I didn't want a swim, I just wanted some quiet mat-time. But we don't always get what we want. My mum wanted to come with me. She wanted to watch. She also joined in for a bit! Then Hubby came along. Partly I think to distract Mama. He took a few photos.... Continue Reading →

July 31, 2015 4

Doing nothing is doing everything

I think of energetic people as active, always on the move. Energy equates in my mind to restlessness. But paradoxically, the more energy I come to have, the more I discover greater depths of patience. More energy means I can move more, but it also gives me a greater capacity to be genuinely still. At... Continue Reading →

July 28, 2015 3

May was (supposed to be) the month of pranayama

A good few weeks back kiwiyogirunner and I came up with a crackpot notion of tackling our mutual aversion of pranayama by facing it down and bringing it into our practice more during the month of May. I think she might have had a fever when she agreed to this. Her May didn't start so well... Continue Reading →

June 19, 2015 3

The mad dream that is a yoga intensive

Real email exchange at work today: Me: Would you please let me know soonest if it's ok to book off the above dates as annual leave? Manager: Sure. Me: Thank you! I’ve logged it in the holiday tracker now. So I’m now committed to 28 hours of yoga in 3 days… Manager: Wow. Have you told... Continue Reading →

June 15, 2015 3

Letting go of expectations in yoga asana

It started when the yoga teacher said she was 'managing expectations' when she told students who hadn't pre-booked the class that they were unlikely to get a place in class. For my part, I came to class full of expectations. And I didn’t manage them all that well. I expected my hamstring to be tricky to... Continue Reading →

June 1, 2015 0

“God be in my understanding” — a yogi’s perspective

Just because I can't define it or describe it doesn't mean it doesn't exist. I'm talking about spirituality and yoga. Or rather spirituality and my yoga. It's something I feel very uncomfortable about as a lifelong atheist. And yet my yoga practice was never a purely physical practice; it sprang from my meditation. But increasingly I... Continue Reading →

May 9, 2015 0

A lesson in simplicity — meditating with Jon Kabat-Zinn

Life can get very complicated. And I'm great at making even the simple stuff difficult. I have a PhD in it -- pretty much! So it was really refreshing last night to be reminded of how amazing the simple stuff really is. That we can hear sounds and voices and make sense of them, that we... Continue Reading →

May 3, 2015 0

Coming home in a Hatha class (of all places!)

Further to my explorations in restorative yoga last night, I followed up the spirit of trying new things with a Hatha class today. OK, so for most people I imagine [but please correct me if I'm wrong!] Hatha is the beginning, the vanilla yoga, the basic style from which they might then choose to diverge.... Continue Reading →