Yoga is embarrassing

It's about 5am right now in my corner of the world. I'm awake. I'm hungry and thirsty so I'm taking care of that. My mind is restless, so this blog is my way of trying to take care of that. I can't sleep. I'm full of awe and excitement and I'm happily sh*t scared of... Continue Reading →

February 14, 2016 9

From plank to standing on my own two feet

I passed this sign today outside a café -- as I was following my head and heart to the yoga studio! My teacher was leading a small workshop looking at Chaturaṅga Daṇḍāsana. Such a luxury to spend more than an hour on a single āsana. And in really nice company. I got the feeling that everyone there... Continue Reading →

January 30, 2016 8

How do you know?

My bedtime reading right now is a novel about a little girl who went blind and had to learn afresh how to interpret her world, how to navigate it in a very practical way, as well as how to interpret it on the basis of the different sensory inputs she now has. On the other side... Continue Reading →

January 23, 2016 5

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

Gratitude in the dark

Gratitude has become one of those fashionable things. We're all at it. My Facebook feed is full of people listing stuff they're grateful for. I guess it's great that they're practicing this and taking the time to think. Except that cynically I'm not sure it isn't all a bit superficial. Most of the things people express... Continue Reading →

December 18, 2015 6

Being and laughing — good in any language

In the next thrilling instalment following my farewell to the Sanskrit professor and his super-fast class, I'm happy to report I've already found myself a new teacher! He teaches an adult group for just one hour a week, and it slots in perfectly right before my favourite yoga class of the week. Wow! Now Sanskrit feels like... Continue Reading →

November 10, 2015 6

In which I bid farewell to the Sanskrit professor…

Regular readers will have copped a little of my frantic first week of UG level Sanskrit classes. Workload was heavy and the pace was frenetic. I had occasional joyous moments where I could keep up with what was happening, but mostly it was a lot of hard yards at home going back through classwork as well as preparing... Continue Reading →

October 20, 2015 4

A pearl fisher in camouflage

Spoonies are masters of disguise. I sure know that with years of diligent practice I've developed the art of camouflaging how I feel: I only go out on good days, and the bad days spent curled up at home are invisible to everyone but my nearest and dearest. I sometimes don't even offer my friends the... Continue Reading →

October 14, 2015 7

Teenage crush or the real thing?

I often hear people proclaiming how in love they are with yoga, obsessed even. They must tell me, they have to share. They have a light in their eye and they are full of enthusiasm and energy. Being in love is wonderful, right? So why does this make me feel uncomfortable? Surely it's not just because I'm... Continue Reading →

October 2, 2015 8

Losing control

It was one of those magical practices when the yoga happens and all you can do is let it. Let the breath come in and go out, let my limbs find their shape in each asana, let my body feel where to go -- bodily sensations only, no brain involved. The teacher's words resolved themselves in my movements.... Continue Reading →