More joy, less effort

A coincidence of reading a (highly controversial!) research paper about the personality type most often associated with ME/CFS and the associated habitual swinging pattern of activity levels (overdo it then need to rest, then get bored/frustrated so overdo it again...) plus advice from my teacher on handling my current emotional reactions to backbends (even out the... Continue Reading →

May 8, 2016 2

Another year rolls round

What's another birthday between blogging friends? As always it's a time to reflect a little on another year past. But I'm choosing this year mostly to be in the now, rather than in the might-have-been past. Life feels good overall and I'm immensely grateful for that. So by way of a celebration of life, I... Continue Reading →

April 20, 2016 6

New nest

I've just moved into a new office at work. Still sharing -- and in a slightly cosier-sized room than previously, but the environment overall is much more babycrow-friendly, so this is very OK. For a start I've swapped a slightly uninspiring rooftop view for a beautiful tree view. And if you look closely you'll see there's even... Continue Reading →

April 4, 2016 3

If Zorba the Greek practiced yoga

It's not exactly a seismic shift, more a tremble, perhaps still just a wobble. I wonder if my practice is shifting subtly. Or could shift subtly (or even seismically!) if I let it. My teacher has led some truly awesome classes of late that has opened me up to some new ways of practicing. I feel... Continue Reading →

February 17, 2016 11

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

Presents and Presence

So Christmas time. We're home at the ancestral babycrow nest with my parents for a few days. Veggies have been peeled and chopped and glasses polished to make things easier tomorrow, and we're now just settling in for a quiet evening of chatting and catching up, with Champagne accompaniment. The presents are wrapped and underneath the... Continue Reading →

December 24, 2015 5

Singing from the heart

I passed the Salvation Army band on my way back from yoga class. I love hearing them play. It's about the one obviously religious charity I happily give to. I find their music very heartwarming -- redolent of reassuringly old-fashioned values somehow. Maybe it's the uniforms! Today they were fronted by two young girls singing.... Continue Reading →

December 20, 2015 2

Magic faceplants

Yesterday I had the loveliest practice at home, the type that touches a lot of my yoga buttons, why I love my practice: I can practice wherever and whenever I want to, no matter how I feel, what I look like (no dressing up needed). I can make it up as I go along, no planning... Continue Reading →

December 15, 2015 3

Transports of delight

Hubby's thinking about buying a car. We've never owned one, and on a practical level we mostly get by without. Plus it allows me to feel slightly smug about my (otherwise lamentable) eco-credentials! But ever since we guzzumped Eric Catona in a hire car office in the south of France and were freely upgraded to the... Continue Reading →

November 25, 2015 1

Beginner brain and pomegranates

I'm guessing (from the wisdom of my two and a bit years!) that one of the secrets of a long-lasting yoga practice is to retain the 'beginner brain', to keep seeing things afresh, finding novelty in the familiar. Keeping it vital. It's a nice attitude to have in life too and I've been trying to... Continue Reading →