Opening up

I taught a community/charity class at my studio recently. I got some wonderful emails of support beforehand from fellow new graduates. One of them told me that I'd be great provided that I taught from my heart. She's a wise one. She sought me out afterwards: "So how did it go? Did you open your... Continue Reading →

October 16, 2016 4

Sitting and standing

"Don't teach if you're tired or not feeling well" my teacher advised us during TT. I'm sure this is overall good advice, but a little hard to put into practice in the real world. Especially for me. I'd got a good early night, definitely not feeling well. Just low-level stuff. It could be a cold... Continue Reading →

October 13, 2016 9

P*ssing about in yoga

I went to my penultimate Iyengar class (5/6 introductory classes done) this weekend. Arriving early at the Institute I decided to roll out my mat in the neighbouring park. The October sunshine was warm enough to roll lightly through some parts of my teaching sequence, establishing it in my body-brain ready for a few classes I'm leading this... Continue Reading →

October 12, 2016 4

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

Yoga imperative

We just started to learn the imperative in Sanskrit. Since our verbal paradigm is bhavati (to become) I felt on familiar ground with the forms bhavatu ('may he become')and bhavantu ('may they become') presented in the textbook. My teacher quoted to me from the Upanishads: Om Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinah... And I thought of the mantra we use... Continue Reading →

September 30, 2016 3

Thanks to the gods in my world

I sent out a few written notes of appreciation after my teacher training course. I felt super self-conscious doing this. Not helped by Hubby making some flippant remark about sucking up to the teachers! Uh, I really hoped it wasn't perceived like that. For myself I just feared it might be seen as overly dutiful... Continue Reading →

September 28, 2016 1

Singularly depressing

Yesterday I was really looking forward to meeting up with some of the other graduates from my recent yoga teacher training course. And we had a pretty nice time together catching up and looking forward. But actually I came home really depressed. So depressed that when Hubby asked me if I had a nice time, I... Continue Reading →

September 26, 2016 2

Teaching truths

My boss has been super-supportive since I finally fessed up to him that I'd completed yoga teacher training this summer. I'm on a bit of a satya (truth) jag at the moment. My habit is to keep my counsel, cards close to the chest, cautious testing of the waters. Now I'm trying to trust a... Continue Reading →

September 14, 2016 8

Meditating on teaching

I went round to my new yoga-friend last night to practise teaching. She'd done a day's work, taught a yoga class at work, and now it was her turn for some time on the mat. So there we were in a corner of her home (which made for some fun cues involving directions like 'stretching... Continue Reading →

September 8, 2016 0

Sweet yoga at home

Hubby offered to guide me through practice the other day. He could see that I was struggling with fatigue, physical and mental, and that I was finding it difficult to find the energy or inspiration to practise on my own. I received his generous and loving offering rather ungraciously I'll admit! I'd like to say... Continue Reading →