Once good, twice even better

So I just gave my Second Ever Yoga Workshop today. I'm feeling super-proud and a teeny bit accomplished! But I'm keeping things really modest, baby steps and all. The groups were really small, a handful of students each time, and the second workshop was essentially a repeat of the first for those missed it. Repetition... Continue Reading →

June 16, 2018 2

QED

I walked in on coffee-time conversation at work this week, with colleagues discussing how they hated the fact that the gym instructors don’t actually do the class themselves. The point was that they just didn’t believe some things were possible. The teacher screams at them to do another set of reps, to go deeper, push... Continue Reading →

June 3, 2018 2

Pretzel time

Limiting beliefs are wonderful things to have! Aren't they? They keep one's expectations nicely contained, prevent you aiming so high you set up for an embarrassing fail, and just keep everything safely within reach. I'm not known as a shirker among my friends, family and work colleagues: I have the reputation for being hard working,... Continue Reading →

April 28, 2018 2

Singing, not singing

I used to love singing as a child. As a small child that is. I used to happily hum away to myself in the back of the car, so much so that if I was quiet my parents tell me they had to turn to look to make sure I was still there! When I... Continue Reading →

March 26, 2018 2

Head first

I was talking with my teacher last month about how frightening I find yoga. I can't figure out why other people don't also seem more scared by it. I was thinking big at the time, about the shifts in one's sense of self and personal identity, about developing a different perception of reality, a new... Continue Reading →

March 24, 2018 3

Photo shoot

In real life I have an IG account and a FB page for my yoga stuff. They existed long before my teaching qualifications: I'm not into self-publicity, I'm not drumming up business or collecting followers, I just like to share thoughts as a way of helping me be a little more present in my own... Continue Reading →

February 24, 2018 3

Whiskey with ice

I had coffee with a dear friend this week. We talked a bit about her Stuff. She’s facing some pretty hefty demons right now, ones that she’s been living with for too long. She’s got a bit of separation anxiety at the thought of letting them go. But it’s time. She’s decided it’s time. Around... Continue Reading →

November 8, 2017 6

Complimentary yoga

“So pretty” is not a phrase I hear often when I’m in class. My teacher is very sparse with anything that might sound like a compliment. He’s big on no judgment, no expectation: everything is simply along a spectrum of experience, where we practise non-attachment to any particular outcome. It’s strong yoga medicine: ultimately good... Continue Reading →

November 2, 2017 3

Teach, learn, teach, learn

A big, beautiful, affirming week in the yoga aspects of my life. Around the office job, I taught three times this week, which is more than usual, with a full range of activities — a mixed class of 15 or so at work, a semi-private with two pretty experienced girls, and a private with a... Continue Reading →

October 28, 2017 1

One of the crowd

Here’s another Yoga First: in hot vinyasa class recently I deliberately put myself in the front row, the row right in front of the mirrors. 75 minutes of practising about 10cm away from my own reflection. I would usually avoid this position, preferring to hide from myself in the second row. But I’ve been embracing... Continue Reading →