Blogging and practicing yoga — more similar than you think

My domain renewal came round today reminding me that it's been about a year since I set up my blog. In my little life this is quite a big deal! So I'm celebrating what this means to me. Blogging would be nothing but an online journal if it were not for you reading. Nothing wrong... Continue Reading →

January 6, 2016 4

New year without resolutions

Although I used to be quite an advocate, I'd really like new year's resolutions to go out of fashion! I always love a project, especially if it's focussed on my favourite topic of all -- myself! And on the face of it, making intentions to improve ourselves in some way can only be a good thing. But... Continue Reading →

January 1, 2016 5

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times

I'm quite a fan of Christmas. I love my family, faults and all. They love me back, they always have and I know they always will. The liberation and contentment that comes from unconditional love is the most special thing on earth I think. In my last yoga class before Christmas my teacher urged us... Continue Reading →

December 27, 2015 5

Presents and Presence

So Christmas time. We're home at the ancestral babycrow nest with my parents for a few days. Veggies have been peeled and chopped and glasses polished to make things easier tomorrow, and we're now just settling in for a quiet evening of chatting and catching up, with Champagne accompaniment. The presents are wrapped and underneath the... Continue Reading →

December 24, 2015 5

Singing from the heart

I passed the Salvation Army band on my way back from yoga class. I love hearing them play. It's about the one obviously religious charity I happily give to. I find their music very heartwarming -- redolent of reassuringly old-fashioned values somehow. Maybe it's the uniforms! Today they were fronted by two young girls singing.... Continue Reading →

December 20, 2015 2

Sitting with authenticity

I'm just back from a professional development course on authenticity. I loved that the course ended with the choice of staying on for networking and conversation -- or for the self-confessed introverts to leave and 'find a dark corner' in which to reflect. So clearly I've done the latter. I'm tucked up at home at... Continue Reading →

December 16, 2015 2

Eyes on me

I realised this week that I really, really don't like being in the spotlight. I'm not talking hostile interrogation, actually kindly attention -- and even attention that I've invited. But I find it almost unbearable. A private session recently with my yoga teacher, whom I should know well enough to feel comfortable with, induced a state... Continue Reading →

December 11, 2015 10

Final Sanskrit class of the term

I just had my final Sanskrit class of term. In truth I'm ready for a break. I've been packing all sorts of extras into my time during the last few months and it'll be nice to have less on my plate (festive obligations permitting, ha!). But what a joy Sanskrit has been so far! We raced... Continue Reading →

December 9, 2015 2

What a difference a day makes

A friend of mine remarked recently that she would have been sceptical about the 'transformative power' of yoga if I wasn't a living example. She used to see me as super-stressed in the office, always bringing work home, unable to let it go at the end of the day, and offering self-recrimination that I wasn't always... Continue Reading →

December 3, 2015 5

Lamp Posts and Bus Stops

I gave a mini-English lesson this evening as I waited for the bus home. I always have interesting moments at this bus stop after yoga class. Is it the bus stop? Maybe it's like the lamppost in Narnia -- where meetings happen! No, it's probably more likely another curious side-effect of yoga. Maybe somehow I give... Continue Reading →