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

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

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

Larkin’ about with my mum and dad

They fuck you up, your mum and dad. They may not mean to, but they do. They fill you with the faults they had And add some extra, just for you. It's really unfortunate that Philip Larkin's words are echoing round in my head after a weekend with my parents! It seems super-ungrateful,... Continue Reading →

April 2, 2017 2

Yoga Odyssey

In a different life I spent years studying Homer's Odyssey. It's an epic and it's in Ancient Greek, so that's why so many years were needed to achieve even my simplistic understanding! Dressed up as an adventure story, it's ultimately a poem about nostalgia -- a longing to return home, a bittersweet sense of something lost infused... Continue Reading →

March 18, 2017 6

Tired of tired

I've seen a couple of news items recently about Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Two different research teams coming up with different hypotheses about what triggers abnormal fatigue. Both firm in their message that this is a physiological, not psychological, condition. There's even some hint of a drug treatment... perhaps. The New Scientist piece was even accompanied... Continue Reading →

March 1, 2017 6

The silence of yoga

I was introduced to the concept of mauna this week. Silence, the silence that underlies everything, the real essence and heart of things. Not just an absence of noise, but something more profound. Something essentially beyond description. I wonder: is the practice of yoga just about learning to get comfortable with this quality of silence, the essential loneliness of existence? And perhaps... Continue Reading →

February 26, 2017 0

Optimistic hopping

Spring is in the air -- I've even opened the window during home practice today. I'm feeling a bit uplifted. I had a wonderful one to one with my teacher this week and it's perked me up as always and inspired me. I had optimistically hoped to be handstanding like a pro after some dedicated attention, but... Continue Reading →

February 24, 2017 5

Will the day be bright or cloudy?

We got yoga homework from class last week -- maybe that's my teacher's take on being more strict! On the theme of change: the challenge was to see if we could take a different route to work each day. Of course that's just the 'physical practice', the real interest lies beneath. What might this change in a... Continue Reading →

January 23, 2017 2

Mind the step

I've just stepped on the train heading home after a weekend with my parents. A 4 hour train journey ahead, laden with food from my mum (including a piece of her chocolate cake!). Suddenly she asked anxiously, "How will you spend your time on the train? Do you need a book to read?" She always... Continue Reading →