Heart and ears

At work today I've been listening to a recording of a live kirtan hosted by a local Hindu group. I did this as a strange stress relief measure as I tackled an inbox burgeoning with technical queries that I must somehow understand and recommend solutions to. It pretty much worked -- though it didn't do wonders for... Continue Reading →

March 27, 2017 6

Mantra-asana

I boldly offered my teacher some unsolicited thoughts recently about how to chant the mantra we're working with in class at the moment. I should probably refrain from doing that, but it was interesting to receive a comment back about how the mantra changes with time, as he repeats the chant. I wonder how much chanting... Continue Reading →

February 28, 2017 4

In praise of husbands — and KD

So I am BEYOND EXCITED that I have just booked tickets for Krishna Das's kirtan in London this summer. Anyone else going, I wonder? And I am also beyond excited that a beautiful friend of mine (lost for more than a decade, recently very happily reunited) is coming with me. She's new to KD, new... Continue Reading →

February 9, 2017 6

A further taste of Iyengar

Finally I got to an Iyengar class! I had attended an introductory course at the Iyengar Institute in London a couple of months back, but given the distance and awkward schedules I haven't made it back there for a 'normal' class. Meantime I was recommended a teacher locally, and although her small class is regularly... Continue Reading →

January 4, 2017 6

Seismic yoga

Practise, practise, practise is the message I'm getting from my teacher right now. Not my own practice, my teaching practice. He encourages me to get used to verbalising instructions so the words aren't a foreign language in my mouth. This is surely right and I'm happily muttering instructions to myself as I wander to and from... Continue Reading →

July 21, 2016 3

2 days in

Ok super-quick post -- just because friends have been asking... I'm two days into teacher training. I am already Tired (note the capital T). But also Exhilarated (also a capital!). It's been amazing to start in baby steps (increasingly quick ones today) to teaching one other person some simple stuff. So many small difficulties, so many... Continue Reading →

July 2, 2016 5

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

Ostrich yoga

First yoga class after the Christmas hiatus was not on the face of it very much fun. My tricky hamstring is not at all happy right now and after a fraught Christmas I was in a very emotional place too. The opening chant lokāḥ samastāḥ sukhino bhavantu reduced me to tears before we'd even done a single... Continue Reading →

December 30, 2015 3

Last night’s music and yoga

Yesterday evening I was way too excited and jittery feeling. I was not at all in the right headspace for yoga class. Music helped to calm my mind a little. I listened to something intense and sobering on my walk to the studio: Pergolesi's Stabat Mater. Too beautiful. Such passion (in our current sense of... Continue Reading →