Pinca Mayurasana

I tried Pinca Mayurasana today for the first time in years. It’s one of my ‘avoidance poses’, ones I am so freaked out by that I never try them. But the past year or two has been a slow process of beginning to understand where the fears come from and how to tiptoe forwards, keeping... Continue Reading →

April 15, 2021 1

Love from the inside out

Until relatively recently I used to watch myself practise and not recognise myself. Who was that strong girl who moved through vinyasas with grace and ease? Where was the girl with dark rings of exhaustion under her eyes, the unwashed hair (simply too much effort), and the cautious movements that anticipated pain and weakness in... Continue Reading →

April 1, 2021 3

Au revoir yogi

A year on almost and I still can’t decide how I feel about teaching yoga on zoom. I’m guessing I’m not alone in that. You know how it is — some days it feels great and the connection with students feels real and useful, other days it feels full of frustrations and communication fails and... Continue Reading →

March 23, 2021 0

Feeding the wolf

They say the wolf that grows bigger and thrives is the one you choose to feed. Lately I’ve been taking care what I ‘feed’. Or to put it another way I’ve been taking care how much I listen to the inner critical voices (the wolf inside of me), lessening the amount of fuel I give... Continue Reading →

March 11, 2021 3

Viva la Evolucion

“Ksero ta vasika Ellinika” my husband proudly announced to me recently. “I know basic Greek”. He’s been using a language learning app every day for nearly a year since UK went into first lockdown. He does a couple of exercises everyday with an occasional splurge of more concentrated work. It’s a classic case of the... Continue Reading →

February 25, 2021 1

Lockdown easing

In UK news the prime minister just announced the measures to ease us out of lockdown. My personal opinion is that the ‘big bang’ return to schools of all age groups simultaneously is misguided and likely to lead to an increase in the R number with who knows what consequences... But at least friends and... Continue Reading →

February 23, 2021 4

Shrödinger’s cat

I want to ask a question. I’ve been sitting on it for a while now, but it remains unasked. Unvoiced. Or in this modern age, unsent. How else in lockdown do we communicate other than via email? Although such is the seriousness of the question for me as the suppliant that I almost think to... Continue Reading →

February 12, 2021 5

Yoga conversations

I had a lot of ‘conversations’ about yoga today, albeit in a lockdown kind of way. A stranger wrote to me asking for advice. They know I teach part time and they asked me how I could do this, and didn’t I feel divided because I wasn’t a full time yogi. For them yoga was... Continue Reading →

February 11, 2021 3

Whispers in the wind

I go out for a little run once a week. It’s a big deal for me. For several years now yoga has been my refuge, a way of slowly reconnecting with my body one breath at a time. I used to take it really easy, following the advice to listen to my body. Until I... Continue Reading →

January 17, 2021 5

Storytime

We walked by the river today. A beautiful winter’s day with a blue cloudless sky and discernible warmth from the sun. The footpath was flooded after the recent rain and eventually we had to turn back. Not only was it threatening to wash over the top of my boots, but there was a pull from... Continue Reading →