Savouring the moments

I'm currently having an emotional wobble, trying to ride the sweet spot between the warm glow of nostalgia and the darkness of melancholy. I've been with old friends these past few days -- such sweet reunion and now such sad farewells. During this time we've had coffee, drunk wine, and shared lunch, dinner, and breakfast -- and done yoga! We've relived our youth... Continue Reading →

May 21, 2016 4

I can’t hear you

When we OM in class, my teacher often encourages shy types or newbies by saying when you OM no-one can hear you. Well, maybe not technically true... but I try to suspend my disbelief with things my teacher says that I don’t immediately get. What d’ya know – there’s always some wisdom in there, even if I... Continue Reading →

May 20, 2016 5

Cruelty in Sanskrit class!

“Can I be cruel?” my Sanskrit teacher asked in class this week. Actually all he was proposing was that we read out loud the new vocabulary lists rather than listening to him introduce us to unfamiliar words. Not so terribly cruel after all, but the rules of engagement for adult learning are very different to... Continue Reading →

May 19, 2016 2

What if no-one sees?

I caught up with a work colleague the other day who was dabbling in Mindfulness practice last time we spoke some months ago. I asked her how it was going. She looked vaguely guilty and said she hadn’t kept it up because there was no motivation, no way of tracking her progress or knowing if... Continue Reading →

May 18, 2016 4

How does Yoga work?

I've just finished reading How Yoga Works. I'll say it's not a book I would have chosen to read and I did have to dig in a bit to see it through to the end, but it was loaned to me by my teacher and so I took the recommendation seriously and gratefully. I can't remember... Continue Reading →

May 11, 2016 2

Yoga practice as a band aid

I have been touched by some expressions of care from readers following some recent posts where I've been confronting the fact that practice isn't always an uplifting experience and can be downright troubling. Blogging about personal experiences -- like yoga itself -- is a bit of a leap of faith. But if I'm finding something... Continue Reading →

April 25, 2016 1

Yoga at the British Museum

Last night I went to a panel discussion at the British Museum called "Yoga: austerity, passion and peace". I was encouraged to go by Jason Birch now at SOAS and working with James Mallinson and Mark Singleton on a fascinating research project documenting the history of Haṭha Yoga. I encountered Jason as the patient tutor of an... Continue Reading →

April 9, 2016 5

Is yoga ‘creative’ — and should it be?

We had a chat the other night at the beginning of class about whether yoga is creative or not. It sprang from someone asking my teacher if his classes were creative. He then got thinking about what that actually meant and brought the question to class for a little discussion. Immediate reaction from the class... Continue Reading →

April 6, 2016 10

Walking by myself and talking to myself

My teacher often urges us in class not to close down at the end of our practice but to arrive at a place of mental and physical resolution where we can walk out into the world carrying our yoga with us in some way. Yoga doesn't stop with the closing OM, right? Class ran over... Continue Reading →

March 24, 2016 2

Books vs body

Prof Mark Williams -- the proponent of mindfulness meditation for depression and other chronic illnesses (a kind of British Jon Kabat-Zinn if I may) -- really spoke to me when he said that he once thought he could learn everything about Mindfulness by reading about it. And then he realised that it's a practice. And... Continue Reading →