Yoga practice as a band aid

I have been touched by some expressions of care from readers following some recent posts where I've been confronting the fact that practice isn't always an uplifting experience and can be downright troubling. Blogging about personal experiences -- like yoga itself -- is a bit of a leap of faith. But if I'm finding something... Continue Reading →

April 25, 2016 1

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

The Colour Purple

I've just read Alice Walker's The Colour Purple for the first time. Yeah, I know: I'm so culturally impoverished and all that... But my excuse is that I was in the remedial class for English at school and we didn't actually read books (though we watched a few film adaptations), so I missed out on the... Continue Reading →

January 29, 2016 0

Discomfort in my yoga practice — and not how you might think

I've been reading recently about Conan Doyle (he of Sherlock Holmes fame) and his interest in Spiritualism (ectoplasm, fairies, and psychic phenomena). In the later part of his life Conan Doyle explored Spiritualism as a way of trying to resolve his religious upbringing and Jesuit education with his scientific training as a doctor: "Victorian science would... Continue Reading →

December 14, 2015 1

Reading Kaminoff’s ‘Yoga Anatomy’

I've started reading Kaminoff's Yoga Anatomy again. I hope now that I understand a bit more overall about yoga I'll be able to get more benefit from it compared to a bewildering first perusal. I'm still in the front-matter and loving their notion of the body as laboratory for the exploration of what it means to be human and... Continue Reading →

August 9, 2015 7

Brahman and bacteria

Class started today with the teacher asking what came before Siri. His rhetorical line was to trace back a sequence of ‘what came befores’. What was before the internet, before reference books, spoken language, sound, breathing… "What was before breathing?" I volunteered "anaerobic respiration" which got a laugh at least (I am in a very... Continue Reading →

August 4, 2015 4

Time out with Patanjali

Happy monthi-versary to me -- it's now just over a month since I started back attending yoga classes after a few months off with injury. I just realised this and can hardly believe it's been so little time. A real case of time flying. It made me think that I should pause, take stock of the... Continue Reading →

May 20, 2015 4

Silence is the language of God

“Silence is the language of God. All else is poor translation.” Rumi A while ago I wrote a first little something about the ineffable quality of the divine wondering what I might do with the notion of union with the divine in my own yoga practice. This is uncomfortable territory for me: I was brought up in a god-less... Continue Reading →

March 15, 2015 5

breathe. feel. be.

breathe. feel. be. don't push. don't strain. don't let your attention wander. don't panic! breathe. feel. be. I've been following physio's orders and holding off asana practice for a couple of weeks, giving my hamstring a chance to heal itself. So first practice today. Yes, in some ways this feels like the first practice ever.... Continue Reading →

January 31, 2015 4

The state of the union

Eternal God (for whom who ever dare Seek new expressions, do the circle square, And thrust into strait corners of poor wit Thee, who art cornerless and infinite), I would but bless thy name, not name thee now; And thy gifts are as infinite as thou Upon the Translation of the Psalms by Sir Philip... Continue Reading →