my yoga journey
Sometimes in my everyday life I feel as though I'm a terrible yogi -- off the mat I mean. I feel as though my attention is fragmented, I struggle to fit into my days all the things I want to and I always feel as though I should be somewhere else, doing something else. It... Continue Reading →
I spent the afternoon with my ex-student-cum-yoga-artist today. She wanted to draw me in my practice, with time for her to really look at the shapes, learn to see the anatomy and capture the essence of the poses on paper. So I put myself in her hands and asked her to instruct me on what... Continue Reading →
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 →
An artist comes into one of my classes each month to sketch the students in their asana practice. She’s a yogi herself and is learning to draw the human body in movement. We have some great conversations about how to read anatomy in the way we each need to. She told me that in life... Continue Reading →
Porridge that's not too hot, not too cold, but just right. A chair that's not too big, not too small, but just right. I reckon if Goldilocks practised yoga, it would be not too forced, not too relaxed -- just the right amount of effort for sthira sukham asanam. My own yoga fairy story is... Continue Reading →
I recently saw the film Walk With Me, about the Zen Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh. At first there was something slightly surreal about tucking into my chocolate ice cream, and Hubby with a glass of vino, settling back comfortably to be a voyeur on the simple Zen life. But life is a paradox, so I... Continue Reading →
It's not often that someone tells me repeatedly that I'm amazing, doing everything right, and they wish more people they encountered were like me! But this was the message I got yesterday -- and from a psychiatrist of all people. I was referred to him by my GP for the difficulty I've been having sleeping.... Continue Reading →
I'm trying to get out of my head more in yoga asana and practise simply as a physical exercise for a while. I know this might be in reverse of the usual yoga journey trajectory, but I do like to do things my own way! It's part of an exploration of what my body is... Continue Reading →
Now that I’m teaching yoga in a gym setting, there are all sorts of questions I ask myself about my own practice, my teaching, and about what yoga is — or what I might reasonably assume a regular office worker wants it to be in their mid-week lunch break. Interesting questions, for which I don’t... Continue Reading →
