Under observation

First days of TT offered all sorts of new experiences -- obviously. One major feature was observation in various ways. We practised watching each other in a pose; we were asked to begin to reflect on anatomical alignment and energetic qualities. This needs much more experience and understanding than I currently have, but these first... Continue Reading →

July 11, 2016 0

First practice (again)

I've just done my first home practice after the initial teacher training weekend. A practice I've been looking forward to and dreading in equal measure. Of course it all feels weirdly different and I'm as self-conscious as a beginner! Now I have part of a teaching script running in my head, and the first part... Continue Reading →

July 6, 2016 0

2 days in

Ok super-quick post -- just because friends have been asking... I'm two days into teacher training. I am already Tired (note the capital T). But also Exhilarated (also a capital!). It's been amazing to start in baby steps (increasingly quick ones today) to teaching one other person some simple stuff. So many small difficulties, so many... Continue Reading →

July 2, 2016 5

Stick to the script?

It's been a day of scripts. Several hours in the office toiling at my day job that this afternoon meant sorting out a script for regression testing a website. It's super-boring work, I have to say. When I test I prefer to do it more intuitively starting with the most important functionality and then working my way... Continue Reading →

June 30, 2016 3

Lineage of a sort

Recently I've been talking a lot on the phone with my original guru -- my high school classics teacher who was a fundamental influence on my intellectual development. He stopped me being a lazy and arrogant teenage sh*t, he set me on the straight and narrow and kept me there through some pretty tough discipline, and... Continue Reading →

June 26, 2016 2

Yoga in my dreams and nightmares

My favourite daydreaming topic at the moment is my upcoming teacher training. It's never far from my thoughts, and I have been indulging in some epic fantasies about how great it's going to be: the luxury of such an exclusive focus on yoga, the effect it will have on my practice and on me as a... Continue Reading →

June 13, 2016 11

Sunday is not the day of rest

Before Yoga found me and took a hold of me Sundays meant this: a lazy lie-in, followed by a cooked breakfast (with lots of bacon!), an afternoon nap, and then a slightly miserable evening involving alcohol in an abortive attempt to avoid thoughts of work the following morning. OK, so this is a slight exaggeration or simplification,... Continue Reading →

April 24, 2016 7

Too soon to celebrate (much!)

I've been congratulated three times this past week! What have I done to merit this? Nothing at all! Yet. All I've done is pay the deposit for a teacher training course. But actually this does strangely feel like something worth celebrating! For me it's a big step in itself. Finances aside, it's a definite commitment to whatever... Continue Reading →

March 26, 2016 12

Do I care to share?

I try not to be evangelical about yoga, despite how passionately I feel about it. It's too easy to assume you know best what might help other people -- or indeed that they want any kind of help or relief. Suffering of all sorts is complex. And there's some martyr tendency in all of us... Continue Reading →

February 27, 2016 2

Where I become a yoga school drop-out

Question 1: How do we make decisions? Some decisions are committed to consciously, perhaps we weigh up the pros and cons, ask a friend, define our goals or our priorities. Other decisions we make less consciously, often unconsciously even. We might go with gut instinct, or follow our habit. Most of the time it's probably... Continue Reading →