A good telling off

I don’t like being told off. “Don’t shout at me” I often say to my husband. “I’m not shouting” he usually retorts and at some volume. He’s from a more adversarial family than I am, whereas when I was a child, we never raised our voices. Ever. Well, I did as a teenager.... But I... Continue Reading →

September 14, 2019 3

Postal vote

This past week seems to have been a week of difficult communications. My day job involves firing off emails in all directions and although I pride myself on taking care with the clarity of my communication, it's still very functional stuff. I'm just doing a job, trying to be efficient and effective. In my personal... Continue Reading →

August 30, 2019

Holiday pleasures

Before I left for my holiday my yoga theme in practice and teaching was about examining preferences. I was mostly thinking about how to learn to let them go, following the philosophy that preferences are a cause of suffering, preventing one achieving the equanimity that the Bhagavad Gita teaches yoga to be. Now I'm on... Continue Reading →

August 16, 2019

Building a life

While I was on holiday in Rome I visited the place my mum used to live many years ago, when she was a lot younger than I am now. She asked me to see if I could find it and it turned out the road was not too far away, just the other side of... Continue Reading →

July 25, 2019 0

Tourist manners

It's funny being such a tourist for a while. I'm not very used to it. Childhood holidays were pretty low-key affairs and usually in quiet, more rural locations with only occasional forays into the larger towns to see the museums and cultural sites. Now I'm in central Rome in the height of summer. Everywhere I... Continue Reading →

July 20, 2019 0

Yoga everywhere

I recently got caught up in a discussion about 'Egyptian Yoga' and whether ancient representations of the human body in various shapes depict yoga asana. I know this is a fashionable idea in some circles as yogis seem to desperately seek some ancient validation of modern postural yoga. It's a nice idea, but intellectually dishonest,... Continue Reading →

July 17, 2019 3

My best yoga friend is leaving town

Maybe I didn't present quite as much equanimity as I was aiming for. My teacher called out to me after class as I was unlocking my bike to go home, asking me if I was OK. Of course I'm not OK! My best yoga friend had just announced that she was moving back to her... Continue Reading →

June 8, 2019 2

Support network

A support network can be really.... well, supportive! I'm not a big one for sharing all the details of my life (anonymous blog, geddit?) and I can in fact go a bit the other way and tend towards isolation in my liking for privacy. Privacy is kind of comfortable; there's no accountability in secrecy, no... Continue Reading →

May 21, 2019 5

Rupture and continuity

One of my best friends nearly died recently. A ruptured appendix, a bungled diagnosis and delayed surgery. I've been visiting her in hospital, feeling helpless in the face of drips, oxygen, and the indignity of surgical gowns. She was weak and confused. I'm not sure she remembered if I'd been with her or not; she... Continue Reading →

May 16, 2019 0

A quiet revolution

I saw my physio again today for my rotator cuff injury. We've been working on this together for 5 months or so. I find these appointments really interesting. They become a ground for self-observation as much as āsana practice or meeting with my yoga teacher are. When I first needed physio appointments I was not... Continue Reading →