Listening to Chopin

I'm feeling a certain softness and tenderness towards myself these days. It's growing a little within me. My teachers are inspiring some honest self-care. Not the self-soothing warm baths and small indulgences type of nurturing that seems commonly advocated in popular media but which I suspect has little to do with yoga. Theirs is a... Continue Reading →

Weed in my hair

The heatwave continues in the UK. I love it. The warmth brings me alive. I have more energy, my body is more open. The days are lighter for longer and I am filling them. Also in this weather, I don't feel guilty for taking a siesta in the afternoon when I get home from work!... Continue Reading →

Beautiful practice

My Rolfing session today ended as it began with me walking around the room. At the beginning of a session it's all about body observation, her watching my way of locomotion, how my body negotiates gravity and travels through space. Specifically in my case, how I don't use my toes when I walk, they are... Continue Reading →

Holding space

Holding space. It's an expression that pops up a lot in yoga, as perhaps in more directly therapeutic work. I guess the idea is about creating a safe container for someone, to allow them to have their time and space. The teacher's role is to provide the context for the examination but not the answers.... Continue Reading →

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 →

It’s not on my list

"Did you do any yoga while you were away?" my teacher asked me. I gave a ambiguous response -- confused, not quite believing this was a real question. "So what exactly did you do while you were away?" this time from my boss, and I gave a slightly more considered answer, because after all he... Continue Reading →

Guru in cyberspace

Before I left home for a few weeks, a couple of my students came to talk to me about how they could continue practising while I'm away. I had this great conversation with one student in particular, a newbie who's attended two classes only. I asked her what she wanted in her practice, so I... Continue Reading →

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 →

Practice time

Time was when I'd wear a watch to every class so that I could keep an eye on the time. I wanted to pace myself so that I'd have enough energy to take me through the full sequence. I needed to reassure myself that I could get to the end OK. And aside from lacking... Continue Reading →

A little bit Christmassy

This week my yoga boss offered me a bag of Santa hats in case I wanted to give them out during the last class of the year... ...I didn't! But I did offer my class a festive treat my own way -- I taught them to chant lokah samastah sukhino bhavantu, with some of my... Continue Reading →

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