Hope for change

I'm going to share with you the ultimate wisdom (for today anyway!) that I've gleaned from my massive (that's nearly three years 😉 ) of practicing yoga: There'll always be room for improvement and there's always hope for change. What has struck me from a regular practice where I try to do something every day... Continue Reading →

April 1, 2016 8

Laughing ribs

My teacher taught me a magic trick recently -- what I think of as 'the laughing ribs'. It involves a contraction (like when you laugh) that pulls in the lower ribs. Since then I've developed a minor obsession with this, which is I hope is just starting to mature into a bit more of a stable relationship.... Continue Reading →

March 29, 2016 4

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

The hunt for ethical yoga pants

It comes to all of us doesn't it: that moment when you start evaluating your yoga clothes not so much for how they make your butt look but for what impact their production has on the environment. I'm not claiming any particularly high morals here, but there is something a bit iffy about going to yoga class... Continue Reading →

February 26, 2016 0

Yoga is embarrassing

It's about 5am right now in my corner of the world. I'm awake. I'm hungry and thirsty so I'm taking care of that. My mind is restless, so this blog is my way of trying to take care of that. I can't sleep. I'm full of awe and excitement and I'm happily sh*t scared of... Continue Reading →

February 14, 2016 9

Make mine a double

A few months ago my teacher made a half-joking suggestion that I could try taking two classes back to back. I didn't even know that was allowed! My first thought was "shouldn't I ration my class attendance so everyone gets a look in"? I'm so law-abiding! My quick-following second thought was all about whether I would... Continue Reading →

February 5, 2016 0

How do you know?

My bedtime reading right now is a novel about a little girl who went blind and had to learn afresh how to interpret her world, how to navigate it in a very practical way, as well as how to interpret it on the basis of the different sensory inputs she now has. On the other side... Continue Reading →

January 23, 2016 5

New year without resolutions

Although I used to be quite an advocate, I'd really like new year's resolutions to go out of fashion! I always love a project, especially if it's focussed on my favourite topic of all -- myself! And on the face of it, making intentions to improve ourselves in some way can only be a good thing. But... Continue Reading →

January 1, 2016 5

Facing the cobra — together

So finally (I wrote about this nearly a month ago!) Hubby and I looked together at his Bhujangāsana at his request. A big vote of confidence from him, given that all backbends scare him a lot, even tiny baby cobra ones. It turns out he was confused by his teacher's cue to imagine that there's... Continue Reading →

December 19, 2015 3

Eyes on me

I realised this week that I really, really don't like being in the spotlight. I'm not talking hostile interrogation, actually kindly attention -- and even attention that I've invited. But I find it almost unbearable. A private session recently with my yoga teacher, whom I should know well enough to feel comfortable with, induced a state... Continue Reading →