Lineage of a sort

Recently I've been talking a lot on the phone with my original guru -- my high school classics teacher who was a fundamental influence on my intellectual development. He stopped me being a lazy and arrogant teenage sh*t, he set me on the straight and narrow and kept me there through some pretty tough discipline, and... Continue Reading →

June 26, 2016 2

Healing — with champagne

I usually run fast away from anything that has the word 'healing' associated with it. The mere word triggers an angry reaction in me that there's something broken that needs fixing, that I'm vulnerable or impaired, to be felt sorry for. I feel patronised. But... I ended up at a Yin workshop yesterday that was all... Continue Reading →

June 19, 2016 3

Giving it up, gladly

I've been having more fun with my āsana practice the last few classes I've been to. How does this sometimes occur and other times I make a meal out of the simplest practice? Is it setting an intention to be more focussed on joy? Is it keeping the practice lighter and deliberately having fun in... Continue Reading →

June 11, 2016 1

Warrior 3 with a coffee

I sometimes wonder if I should give up coffee. Not because I'm a yoga fundamentalist who thinks that this kind of drug is incompatible with a dedicated yoga practice (please no!), but simply because I'm now more aware of how it makes my body feel and the aftermath of a strong coffee isn't so great: it... Continue Reading →

June 4, 2016 5

Beloved hamstring

My hamstring is grumbling again at the moment. I can't deny I'm a bit scared by this: I start TT in less than a month and I can't help wondering what that would be like with an injury. But if it is, it is. I'll just have to figure it out. My classmates will also... Continue Reading →

June 3, 2016 10

Talking-to-the-plants-yoga

I've been trying to have a day or two without yoga. It's been a bit intense recently and I'm feeling a bit wary. Or do I mean chary? Either way, I thought consciously stepping back for a short time might be no bad thing. It's weirdly harder than you think! Yoga seems to have permeated my... Continue Reading →

May 29, 2016 4

Finding the right direction

I walked home from restorative yoga class this evening feeling ... well... restored. A little restored at least. A little more at peace with the world, a little more sure of my steps within it. I was amusing myself singing along to KD's Rama Bolo as I walked along. Everything felt OK. So when I encountered... Continue Reading →

May 27, 2016 3

The art of simplifying

Hubby overheard me the other weekend fielding my mum's questions about my yoga. I was frustrated that she just asked one new question after another without following up on anything I said. Did she actually hear? Was she listening? It felt as though she was just going through a questionnaire, where the act of asking was... Continue Reading →

May 22, 2016 8

Yoga in the closet

I'm just back from a weekend visiting my family. A time for deep connection with those who know me most intimately, back in the house I grew up in. A time for reminiscing and replaying familiar jokes. A time for easy company, and well-established roles. In some senses a total reconnection with where I came from.... Continue Reading →

May 15, 2016 8

More joy, less effort

A coincidence of reading a (highly controversial!) research paper about the personality type most often associated with ME/CFS and the associated habitual swinging pattern of activity levels (overdo it then need to rest, then get bored/frustrated so overdo it again...) plus advice from my teacher on handling my current emotional reactions to backbends (even out the... Continue Reading →