Larkin’ about with my mum and dad

They fuck you up, your mum and dad. They may not mean to, but they do. They fill you with the faults they had And add some extra, just for you. It's really unfortunate that Philip Larkin's words are echoing round in my head after a weekend with my parents! It seems super-ungrateful,... Continue Reading →

April 2, 2017 2

The secret formula

I saw one of my teachers recently whom I haven't seen in a while and perhaps only a few times since TT. We had a great chat after the class he gave. He asked whether I was teaching and because he's one of those quiet steady types with eyes that see right into you, I found... Continue Reading →

March 24, 2017 3

Equal parts of hope and doubt

I had lunch today with a fellow new graduate. She wanted to talk through the questions she's asking herself right now about teaching. It felt funny with her seeking my perspective on this. She has much, much more yoga experience than me (not just more years, but wider experience of different traditions) and her teaching... Continue Reading →

March 16, 2017 1

Who wants a strict teacher?

Someone has asked my teacher to be more strict. He mentioned it in class last night. I don't know what he made of this request (inscrutable yoga teacher!) but it rang alarm bells to me. More strict? Seriously? For me he's strict enough already. But subtly so and only if I choose to meet him there (some... Continue Reading →

January 13, 2017 5

Saplings

I was teaching a complete beginner recently. What an experience! A challenge, but mostly just a delight. And an honour. Teaching challenge: How to describe the shapes, when the names of postures are meaningless? How much to demonstrate as a short-hand description but how to avoid setting an impossible standard (not that my shapes are... Continue Reading →

December 17, 2016 0

My whispering heart

I bumped into a friend today who asked me how my early steps in teaching were going. I told her about the practice class I'd just done with two teachers at my local studio, getting ready for teaching a charity class there later in the week. The mentor teacher had offered me some quite amazing... Continue Reading →

October 11, 2016 6

Flirting with Iyengar

Since TT I've been reflecting simultaneously on how I proudly recognise how much I have learned and understood about yoga as well as humbly how little I know and how limited my experience is. If I want to teach, this will limit what I can offer. And as I try to explore the limits of my own... Continue Reading →

October 4, 2016 6

Myself as a question mark

Hubby came and sat with me the other day at the end of my āsana practice. I was playing some music he liked, so we just listened, breathed, did whatever we each did for those short moments together. He's a bit cautious with physical practice at the moment which is entirely good and fine but I'm trying to... Continue Reading →

March 30, 2016 0

Elephants, god, and sex: lost in translation

I've been learning Sanskrit for a few slow months now. Progress is not as fast as I'd like. But then when is it? But actually I high-fived my rather staid class-mate yesterday -- we'd read a page together reasonably fluently during that lesson. OK, it's really simple stuff: stories my teacher has written with really basic grammatical constructions (strictly... Continue Reading →

January 20, 2016 5

What’s your story?

"What's your story?" is a question I seem to get asked a lot these days. I guess that's exciting -- it means I'm talking to new people who want or need to know more about me quickly. Asking an open question can be very revealing -- it's a tactic that I love to use in my professional... Continue Reading →