Support network

A support network can be really.... well, supportive! I'm not a big one for sharing all the details of my life (anonymous blog, geddit?) and I can in fact go a bit the other way and tend towards isolation in my liking for privacy. Privacy is kind of comfortable; there's no accountability in secrecy, no... Continue Reading →

May 21, 2019 5

The sweetness of nāda yoga

Recently I haven't felt much like moving. It's the time of year maybe. English winters are so terribly dreary; not cold enough, not dark enough, just endless grey days of mild drizzle or dampness. Everything stagnates. For a while I tried fighting through which resulted in some very messy classes where I just upset myself... Continue Reading →

December 15, 2016 0

Yoga poses in sync

I just realised that what I spell as 'synch' most of the rest of the world writes as 'sync'. Hubby things I'm being pretentious in my spelling, but honestly this is how I hear the word. "In Greek it would be spelt with a chi not a kappa," I plaintively assert! He knows this is true,... Continue Reading →

November 3, 2016 10

Perfect yoga leggings

I wear a Ganesha pendant on a chain that I originally thought was long enough for it to disappear under my clothing most of the time. But it doesn't. And people keep commenting on it. A lot just recently, for some reason, so I'm feeling hyper-sensitive. At work people simply ask what it is; at... Continue Reading →

October 25, 2016 4

Cruelty in Sanskrit class!

“Can I be cruel?” my Sanskrit teacher asked in class this week. Actually all he was proposing was that we read out loud the new vocabulary lists rather than listening to him introduce us to unfamiliar words. Not so terribly cruel after all, but the rules of engagement for adult learning are very different to... Continue Reading →

May 19, 2016 2

Final Sanskrit class of the term

I just had my final Sanskrit class of term. In truth I'm ready for a break. I've been packing all sorts of extras into my time during the last few months and it'll be nice to have less on my plate (festive obligations permitting, ha!). But what a joy Sanskrit has been so far! We raced... Continue Reading →

December 9, 2015 2

Lamp Posts and Bus Stops

I gave a mini-English lesson this evening as I waited for the bus home. I always have interesting moments at this bus stop after yoga class. Is it the bus stop? Maybe it's like the lamppost in Narnia -- where meetings happen! No, it's probably more likely another curious side-effect of yoga. Maybe somehow I give... Continue Reading →

December 1, 2015 2

Getting back to basics — it’s in my hands

After being rocketed into reading Sanskrit and finding the pace of my class too much, I've gone back to basics. Something my āsana practice has taught me: when in doubt go back to the simplest thing. Find stability before you move on; seek joy in the small details and linger there a while before your ego speeds... Continue Reading →

October 26, 2015 5

In which I bid farewell to the Sanskrit professor…

Regular readers will have copped a little of my frantic first week of UG level Sanskrit classes. Workload was heavy and the pace was frenetic. I had occasional joyous moments where I could keep up with what was happening, but mostly it was a lot of hard yards at home going back through classwork as well as preparing... Continue Reading →

October 20, 2015 4

The Joy of Sanskrit

I hauled myself down to London last night (it's never my fave destination and my icky cold isn't going away so this was a big effort). I'd booked on to a Sanskrit seminar weeks and weeks ago and I didn't want to waste the opportunity. Actually it turned out to be great timing since my local... Continue Reading →