Well, hello aching muscles! You haven’t been around for a while!

I totally surprised Hubby the other day (and I mean surprised to the point of speechlessness) when I ventured that I don’t really think of myself as ‘sick’ anymore, more as someone pretty well, but just being careful. [If not you’re not a regular reader, I was diagnosed with ME (aka Chronic Fatigue Syndrome more... Continue Reading →

August 21, 2015 5

Doing nothing is doing everything

I think of energetic people as active, always on the move. Energy equates in my mind to restlessness. But paradoxically, the more energy I come to have, the more I discover greater depths of patience. More energy means I can move more, but it also gives me a greater capacity to be genuinely still. At... Continue Reading →

July 28, 2015 3

The injury count

I'm now more than 48 hours after my immersion finished, so I reckon I can tally up the damage without anything further coming unpleasantly to my attention: my physio tells me that tendons have a latent period, meaning that you can't tell if you've upset them until two days after practice. While some friends were really... Continue Reading →

July 8, 2015 0

A weekend of celebrations

Happy International Yoga Day, yogis and readers! I was excited that my home studio was offering 'bring a friend for free' today to celebrate the occasion. Ordinarily this would have been a great opportunity for me to mix up my yoga with my social life and maybe introduce someone new to yoga. But I wasn't... Continue Reading →

June 21, 2015 2

Sick and scared, but going to yoga class anyway

I don't remember what Sunday mornings used to be like before the introduction into my routine of a 2hour vinyasa class. Now I look forward to springing out of bed at 8am for a quick shower then getting a couple of miles across town without stopping for breakfast. Well, I always look forward to the idea of... Continue Reading →

June 14, 2015 3

When even restorative yoga class is too much

I felt totally bleurgh today. Nothing dramatic, nothing life-threatening. Just an M.E. day. How does that feel? It's boring to describe, but basically like I've run a marathon, have jet-lag, with a dose of proper flu on top. The longer, and slightly more boring, version is something like: severe headache making me feel sick, muscles feeling... Continue Reading →

May 22, 2015 5

Happy Birthday!

Happy birthday me! I'm 40 today. I thought I'd get the number out of the way up front. If I say it quickly enough, maybe we won't any of us notice it... My day started beautifully across town in my home yoga studio. My first two-hour class in a long while. Perhaps even the first of... Continue Reading →

April 19, 2015 3

Why I love it when my muscles ache

Nearly 48 hours after my last class. I didn't think I'd been working my body too hard. I kept very firmly within my (new) limits - ahimsa to the hamstring! I'm loving being able to practice sun salutations now, though I suspect they are the least graceful ever executed and must be excruciating to behold -- but... Continue Reading →

April 16, 2015 2

Walk, don’t run!

As a child I ran everywhere. And if I wasn't running, I was skipping. Not with a rope, just the basic hopping-twice-on-each-foot bouncing form of forward motion that you can only do un-selfconsciously until you're about ten years old. (Probably much earlier, in these more sophisticated days) I can still vividly recall the physical impatience I... Continue Reading →

February 13, 2015 2

From parachutes to why I started yoga

"Weave your parachute every day, don't wait until you need to jump out of the plane" -- Jon Kabat-Zinn So I jumped out of the plane this week. My hamstring niggle combined with a temporarily-absent husband, some long-running emotional family stuff, a failing project at work, plus the usual hormone cycle to create the perfect storm. I... Continue Reading →