Yoga practice as a band aid

I have been touched by some expressions of care from readers following some recent posts where I've been confronting the fact that practice isn't always an uplifting experience and can be downright troubling. Blogging about personal experiences -- like yoga itself -- is a bit of a leap of faith. But if I'm finding something... Continue Reading →

April 25, 2016 1

Books vs body

Prof Mark Williams -- the proponent of mindfulness meditation for depression and other chronic illnesses (a kind of British Jon Kabat-Zinn if I may) -- really spoke to me when he said that he once thought he could learn everything about Mindfulness by reading about it. And then he realised that it's a practice. And... Continue Reading →

March 23, 2016 2

Yoga + stress = practicing patience

GP appointments on the NHS are standardly 10 minutes. What can you do in 10 minutes? A lot as it turns out -- if you're experienced and have good rapport with your patient. I was back with my GP yesterday as a follow-up to my original appointment to talk about workplace stress (blogpost: does yoga... Continue Reading →

March 1, 2016 0

Smiles and kindnesses

Today has been a series of small kindnesses by those in my life and those passing fleetingly across it. Outside the yoga studio I heard a really exuberant "Good morning!" and belatedly realised it was directed at me. So this friendly stranger and I stood for a peaceful moment our faces turned up towards the spring... Continue Reading →

February 19, 2016 2

Seek and ye shall find?

A girl turned up to yoga last night and found she had left her yoga clothes at home. She laughed as she told me about looking in her bag for a third time not quite believing that they weren't there. She couldn't shake the feeling that if she just looked again a bit harder they'd... Continue Reading →

February 10, 2016 5

Why I love the cold virus

"Having a cold is really funny!" I told Hubby. He begged to differ. "Not if you've had as many as I have" was his grumpy reply. But seriously, it's no biggie really, even if temporarily it saw me in bed for a few days and has kept me away from the yoga studio for more than... Continue Reading →

January 28, 2016 2

Yoga by moonlight

I was chatting a friend over coffee today and conversation turned as often to yoga. We're both busy with relationships, work, family, keeping well/feeling ill... the usual flow of life stuff. And for myself I'm feeling a little overwhelmed by work right now (I'm covering the essentials of my boss's workload while he's on extended leave).... Continue Reading →

January 13, 2016 7

Gladly home

I'm home now, back in my space. I'm happy to be here, but my heart aches for my family left behind after Christmas. My body aches too after some days of a different routine -- strange bed, different food, activity (or the lack thereof) and so on... Now I have the luxury of some days... Continue Reading →

December 28, 2015 1

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times

I'm quite a fan of Christmas. I love my family, faults and all. They love me back, they always have and I know they always will. The liberation and contentment that comes from unconditional love is the most special thing on earth I think. In my last yoga class before Christmas my teacher urged us... Continue Reading →

December 27, 2015 5

A daily necessity?

My teacher dropped the s-word into class this week. Sādhana. He glossed it as 'daily devotional practice' or something like that. Then he tried to qualify this, to restate it, perhaps wanting to soften the definition somehow. I don't know, I'm just guessing from how I remember it. I sometimes wonder how many people in... Continue Reading →