Open to learning

The guru mantra got me from the first time I encountered it. After all I love learning, exploring, and sometimes mastering new things; I've always enjoyed finding ways to teach myself and I've been blessed with some truly phenomenal teachers through my life. I'm married to a teacher too! So I guess the surface message about learning... Continue Reading →

May 27, 2017 4

Raw yoga

One of my reports at work has just been refused a place on a management training course, as part of a cost-cutting exercise. She's disappointed and she feels as though she's missing out on something. But really she's been doing just fine without this course for more than a year. "You don't need it," I told... Continue Reading →

May 19, 2017 0

Change challenge

I hate yoga challenges, you might have heard me say this before. But now I'm thinking about setting myself one... Bear with me. I love to be contrary, you know! So here's the story: A student of mine posted a lovely note on my FB page last week, telling me I'd been top of her... Continue Reading →

May 15, 2017 4

Month by month

I'm a few months now into my routine of a monthly private session with my teacher. It sort of feels already like an indispensable yoga must-have, but it also feels like early days in something new, something that I am/we are feeling our way into. What do I want from this opportunity? Help with figuring out... Continue Reading →

May 14, 2017 1

Buddha and the badger

How hard is it to sit still? It's one of those things that seems easy until you try it! I took up yoga precisely to help me with sitting still. Ah, the irony that movement has become such a dominant part of my practice now...! But even so I like to think I'm a tiny bit better now... Continue Reading →

May 6, 2017 2

Laughing plank

I went to a long class-cum-workshop at the weekend. Honestly it wasn't quite what I expected but of course I learned heaps from it nonetheless. It was a deliberately very challenging sequence with the explicit aim of 'pushing our buttons' and seeing what happened, providing a laboratory for us individually to observe our responses and... Continue Reading →

May 1, 2017 2

Enough already!

"Enough already!" It depends how you say it. It's either a slightly tetchy way of telling someone to stop doing something or it's a kind acknowledgement of the sufficiency in all things. I'm flip-flopping back and forth at the moment with both ways of talking to myself. I am having serious 'enough' issues, feeling never... Continue Reading →

April 28, 2017 2

Layer (not lāya) yoga

I found myself quite naturally using the model of koshas when I was talking to a friend recently, a yoga friend that is, so it wasn't as weird as it sounds. She was expressing fear or frustration about decision-making and I was speculating that good decision-making was a matter of getting quiet enough to hear... Continue Reading →

April 26, 2017 3

Hotel yoga

Hubby and I are away for a few days' holiday by the sea as a birthday treat. OK, April in UK isn't exactly beach weather, but we've been enjoying some lovely sunshine, a lot of ozone, and the most wonderful sea view from our balcony. Hotels are fun as a temporary home offering all sorts... Continue Reading →

April 19, 2017 4

The luck of yoga class

A busy class means you have much less say in picking your mat neighbours. I was 50% lucky. The guy on one side was someone whose practice I marvel at and I love his internal-ness during practice. He's just solid and it helps me feel grounded and more sure of myself. Great! But 50% lucky... Continue Reading →