Remember, remember

I started my class this week by asking if anyone could remember what we'd been chanting the week before, a simple sutra, familiar enough to me now that it readily springs to mind or lips in particular situations. It can be something of an anchor when I feel drowning in a sea of new (half)... Continue Reading →

July 5, 2017 6

Waiting for the fall

The fall? Not the season, transatlantic friends. I'm waiting for the fall that follows pride. Because I'm feeling unusually proud of myself at the moment -- in the balancing acts I'm currently managing, small steps in flowing a little more gracefully along with life, floating over some old obstacles that would have tripped me up... Continue Reading →

June 2, 2017 4

Raw yoga

One of my reports at work has just been refused a place on a management training course, as part of a cost-cutting exercise. She's disappointed and she feels as though she's missing out on something. But really she's been doing just fine without this course for more than a year. "You don't need it," I told... Continue Reading →

May 19, 2017 0

Month by month

I'm a few months now into my routine of a monthly private session with my teacher. It sort of feels already like an indispensable yoga must-have, but it also feels like early days in something new, something that I am/we are feeling our way into. What do I want from this opportunity? Help with figuring out... Continue Reading →

May 14, 2017 1

Laughing plank

I went to a long class-cum-workshop at the weekend. Honestly it wasn't quite what I expected but of course I learned heaps from it nonetheless. It was a deliberately very challenging sequence with the explicit aim of 'pushing our buttons' and seeing what happened, providing a laboratory for us individually to observe our responses and... Continue Reading →

May 1, 2017 2

Country mouse yogini

I committed the ultimate London yoga studio faux pas -- I spoke to people in the changing room!! I had had a great class. ...Well apart from two name calls from the teacher during class which I found slightly embarrassing -- being asked to translate Sanskrit after the opening chanting (of course not a chant I... Continue Reading →

March 10, 2017 4

Mantra-asana

I boldly offered my teacher some unsolicited thoughts recently about how to chant the mantra we're working with in class at the moment. I should probably refrain from doing that, but it was interesting to receive a comment back about how the mantra changes with time, as he repeats the chant. I wonder how much chanting... Continue Reading →

February 28, 2017 4

Optimistic hopping

Spring is in the air -- I've even opened the window during home practice today. I'm feeling a bit uplifted. I had a wonderful one to one with my teacher this week and it's perked me up as always and inspired me. I had optimistically hoped to be handstanding like a pro after some dedicated attention, but... Continue Reading →

February 24, 2017 5

Will the day be bright or cloudy?

We got yoga homework from class last week -- maybe that's my teacher's take on being more strict! On the theme of change: the challenge was to see if we could take a different route to work each day. Of course that's just the 'physical practice', the real interest lies beneath. What might this change in a... Continue Reading →

January 23, 2017 2

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 →