Kindling hope

I am starting to feel a slight warmth in my heart again. It is a comfort, a small illumination from my inner self. After time in the wilderness where I have felt nothing but fatigue, compassion worn too thin, energies depleted and my patience and temper frayed, this small glow within brings me feelings of gratitude. And... Continue Reading →

March 24, 2016 2

My new normal

I feel so good most days now (recent bouts of flu aside) that I often persuade myself I'm fully well. I so want to be fully well. I'm done with having a half life. I find myself at a transition point, a no-man's land between well and unwell. Symptoms are reduced, energy is higher. My doctor has... Continue Reading →

March 16, 2016 8

Laughing and listening

The cue I was given about tucking the lower ribs in Kapotāsana made no sense at all -- my brain didn't understand and said so. "Why would I want to do that?" I asked my teacher. "Why indeed?" was his rather Delphic response which made me giggle. And hey presto -- it turns out that the... Continue Reading →

March 14, 2016 2

Turning my practice upside-down

Class the other day was all about change -- making changes oneself and accepting changes that occur. Some amusing thoughts, as always, from my teacher on his experiences of yoga. I liked his consideration of how many friends you might lose through yoga because you become apparently boring -- finding more pleasure in the emerging spring flowers... Continue Reading →

March 13, 2016 3

Painful steps

When I wrote about my hamstring injury last year, I was totally self-absorbed. Of course! It was my first yoga injury and I had a lot to learn about all aspects of handling it. A voyage of discovery into working with a physio, starting to understand some anatomy (what are the hamstrings anyway?) and how muscles... Continue Reading →

March 8, 2016 2

Love and acceptance on Mother’s Day

It was Mother's Day in UK yesterday. Yes, we like to do things differently! My parents stayed for the weekend and I took my mum out for dinner -- and we graciously let our husbands come along too! I confess I'm a bit ambivalent about Mother's Day. I put it in the same category as... Continue Reading →

March 7, 2016 2

Drip, drip, drip

I'm confessing a bad habit: I often drink only half glasses of water when I'm at home. I leave the half-drunk glass somewhere and when I remember it, I throw the water away and start afresh. Hubby joked a while ago about charging me for this as a contribution to the water bill he pays! But... Continue Reading →

March 2, 2016 7

Yoga + stress = practicing patience

GP appointments on the NHS are standardly 10 minutes. What can you do in 10 minutes? A lot as it turns out -- if you're experienced and have good rapport with your patient. I was back with my GP yesterday as a follow-up to my original appointment to talk about workplace stress (blogpost: does yoga... Continue Reading →

March 1, 2016 0

The hunt for ethical yoga pants

It comes to all of us doesn't it: that moment when you start evaluating your yoga clothes not so much for how they make your butt look but for what impact their production has on the environment. I'm not claiming any particularly high morals here, but there is something a bit iffy about going to yoga class... Continue Reading →

February 26, 2016 0

Does yoga help with stress?

"How come you're stressed? You do so much yoga". I've just been signed off work for a week for stress and my friend clearly found this slightly paradoxical, even a little amusing which is the prerogative of old friends! I don't think she was being massively critical, but like a lot of us (yogis and... Continue Reading →