Until relatively recently I used to watch myself practise and not recognise myself. Who was that strong girl who moved through vinyasas with grace and ease? Where was the girl with dark rings of exhaustion under her eyes, the unwashed hair (simply too much effort), and the cautious movements that anticipated pain and weakness in... Continue Reading →
Chasing the challenge
I’m starting to write this in the evening time, but I’m almost too tired to sit up (or slump on the sofa) to write, maybe too tired to think coherently. I’ll likely to have to finish writing tomorrow. My whole body is aching and I think it’ll be early to bed for me. Why? I... Continue Reading →
One two, buckle my shoe
One, two buckle my shoe I wake up from my after-work nap and it's completely dark. The absolute last thing I want to do is go out. I could so easily transfer my tired body from the bed straight to the sofa for the evening. But instead I put on my yoga clothes including ridiculous... Continue Reading →
Angel face
"Practise with the face of an angel". Advice recently given to me, and slightly reluctantly received. What is an angel to me? I'm a good student, I try to see how I can follow the words of my teachers. But this? What business do I have seeking to present an angelic face to the world?... Continue Reading →
Holiday pleasures
Before I left for my holiday my yoga theme in practice and teaching was about examining preferences. I was mostly thinking about how to learn to let them go, following the philosophy that preferences are a cause of suffering, preventing one achieving the equanimity that the Bhagavad Gita teaches yoga to be. Now I'm on... Continue Reading →
Yoga everywhere
I recently got caught up in a discussion about 'Egyptian Yoga' and whether ancient representations of the human body in various shapes depict yoga asana. I know this is a fashionable idea in some circles as yogis seem to desperately seek some ancient validation of modern postural yoga. It's a nice idea, but intellectually dishonest,... Continue Reading →
No feeling is final
“Go to the limits of your longing... Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final” (Rilke) Practice at the moment is an experience of longing. I feel a deep yearning to be more fully with myself, to let go of the past, to feel the reality of the... Continue Reading →
A quiet revolution
I saw my physio again today for my rotator cuff injury. We've been working on this together for 5 months or so. I find these appointments really interesting. They become a ground for self-observation as much as āsana practice or meeting with my yoga teacher are. When I first needed physio appointments I was not... Continue Reading →
Running wild
When I first started Rolfing, my homework was about skipping and leaping, encouraging me to find a bit of joy in simple movements. I did my best, feeling a little foolish, needing to force the movements rather than finding them arising naturally. More recently my Rolfing homework has been about my effervescent ears. Same underlying... Continue Reading →
Jumping for joy
Rolfing is an odd process. It takes me by surprise over and over: how I feel in my body, what I learn, what I talk about with my Rolfer, and how endlessly wise she seems so me -- yet how subtly she conveys her teaching, through her fingertips and quiet patience with me as much... Continue Reading →