Practice makes much less than perfect

"I don't want you to be good at this, I want you to practise being really bad at something." My teacher has given me a new chant to practise this week. She's going to give me a new chant to practise every week for six weeks. I'm not supposed to get good at them in... Continue Reading →

May 22, 2023 2

Dabbling

I'm dabbling a little in Vedic chanting right now. I'm not fully committed, just dabbling. Like a duck or a duckling, just very unlike a baby crow 🙂 I am drawn to the simplicity of this form, just as my mother was in a previous life drawn to plainchant. These limited tones carry an infinity... Continue Reading →

March 24, 2023 1

Masterclass in shouting?

I went to a zoom ‘masterclass’ with one of my teachers recently. Hubby wondered what a yoga masterclass is. I don’t really know. These funny words that get used in yoga land! He hears snippets of the classes I attend at home and I think he receives an odd perspective about how yoga classes work.... Continue Reading →

December 21, 2020 0

The privileged view

I remember the first time I encountered the idea of one’s physical posture reflecting one’s mental state, current or past (i.e. whether a reflection of stuff of the moment or a deeper expression of past experiences of whatever sort). It really made me angry. And afraid. I felt as though I was laid bare under... Continue Reading →

October 16, 2020 0

About town

I ventured out one day this week, walking right across town, west to east. All of three miles! It was the deepest into urban space that I have been in the past six months or so of lockdown. I have avoided concentrations of people and enclosed spaces; I simply had no need of them. I... Continue Reading →

October 8, 2020 2

Silence in class

I'm sitting on my own in a library café idly listening to the conversations around me, since I have no-one to talk to. Most people are studying something together. There are some young adults doing university work, something sciency, and a couple nearest me are learning a language and I notice the intricate script (Chinese?)... Continue Reading →

October 16, 2019 2

Postal vote

This past week seems to have been a week of difficult communications. My day job involves firing off emails in all directions and although I pride myself on taking care with the clarity of my communication, it's still very functional stuff. I'm just doing a job, trying to be efficient and effective. In my personal... Continue Reading →

August 30, 2019

Tourist manners

It's funny being such a tourist for a while. I'm not very used to it. Childhood holidays were pretty low-key affairs and usually in quiet, more rural locations with only occasional forays into the larger towns to see the museums and cultural sites. Now I'm in central Rome in the height of summer. Everywhere I... Continue Reading →

July 20, 2019 0

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 →

March 18, 2019 0

Beach time

We've been on the beach most days while we're in Greece. The weather is still fabulous, so how could we not! Although the scenery is beautiful with clear calm waters filled with little fish and acres of gold sand, in truth I find long hours at the beach pretty dull. But Aussie Hubby totally loves... Continue Reading →