I spent time this weekend playing in my parents' garden with my little niece. She's four and a half, full of energy and apparently fearless. She loved rolling down the slope where my brother and I used to do the same thing several decades ago. She revelled in doing a run-up to perform multiple forward... Continue Reading →
Careful
One of my teachers seems to me to be indomitable. I don't know her well personally, but from what she shares publicly I know she's been through a bunch of sh*t. Most recently she underwent pretty serious surgery and from a distance I followed her steps towards healing and mobility with a sense of awe.... Continue Reading →
Snow-ga
I once heard someone say you should never take up yoga if you like a good personal drama, if you're attached to making your life more exciting than it perhaps needs to be, if you actually enjoy getting a bit high on the everyday stresses. I think you'll know what I mean. I can fall... Continue Reading →
Tee-shirts and labels
I wrote a while ago how imposter syndrome made me feel ridiculously self-conscious about labelling myself as a serious enough yogini to merit mat-storage room at my local studio. Yeah, yeah, I know....!! The problems we create for ourselves! But, seriously -- calming my imposter syndrome down is a very real work in progress. Part of the practice for... Continue Reading →
Back to school
My Facebook feed recently abounds with proud pictures of friends' kids in their new uniforms all ready for the start of the school year. It gives me the heeby-jeebies. School definitely wasn't the happiest days of my life. Hubby confesses that he still has anxiety dreams about school exams, and once I got through uni finals... Continue Reading →
atha yoga anusasanam? now my yoga starts?
So I completed the 3 day immersion I was fretting about so much. And I've been trying to figure out how to write about it in a reasonable sized blog post... but I can't! It was just too much of an experience to boil down to anything sensible. Plus my heart, mind, and body are... Continue Reading →
Not waving but drowning
My three day yoga immersion is approaching and I have to say I am scared. What felt at the time of booking like a bold step forward now feels like a blind leap into the unknown. I guess the metaphor of an immersion requires you to be out of your depth. And for this babycrow... Continue Reading →
Sharing my practice: yoga with a friend
Two mats are better than one! A good friend of mine is becoming increasingly interested in yoga -- probably because it features in almost every conversation we have despite my best intentions not to inflict yoga on all those around me. She should stop asking me what I'm doing at the weekend/evening/lunchtime... It always involves something yoga-related. She's... Continue Reading →
The mad dream that is a yoga intensive
Real email exchange at work today: Me: Would you please let me know soonest if it's ok to book off the above dates as annual leave? Manager: Sure. Me: Thank you! I’ve logged it in the holiday tracker now. So I’m now committed to 28 hours of yoga in 3 days… Manager: Wow. Have you told... Continue Reading →
Sick and scared, but going to yoga class anyway
I don't remember what Sunday mornings used to be like before the introduction into my routine of a 2hour vinyasa class. Now I look forward to springing out of bed at 8am for a quick shower then getting a couple of miles across town without stopping for breakfast. Well, I always look forward to the idea of... Continue Reading →