The wise soul’s capacity

I’m still somewhere in the weird, uncharted territory of the grief cycle as it pertains not to an actual death but from a loss of a relationship, namely breaking up with my long-time yoga teacher. It’s not a socially-acceptable kind of grief and likely sounds all cultish and dependent and creepy to anyone not in... Continue Reading →

February 28, 2024 2

No feeling is final

“Go to the limits of your longing... Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final” (Rilke) Practice at the moment is an experience of longing. I feel a deep yearning to be more fully with myself, to let go of the past, to feel the reality of the... Continue Reading →

March 18, 2019 0

Moments of disbelief

My class laughed when I said I was going to miss them while I'm away for a few weeks. They often laugh incredulously at the things I say. They don't believe that I will actually miss them, just as they don't believe that teaching times are my favourite times of the working week, that I... Continue Reading →

September 16, 2018 2

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

What am I really teaching?

My own teacher's professional biog has something about him teaching to affect head and heart. I don't remember the exact words but I do remember the wonder I first felt in his classes, still feel very vividly even a few years on. In my own practice I'm still very much figuring out the power of... Continue Reading →

January 27, 2017 2

Lone goose

I'm doing one of Norman Blair's Yin Yoga workshops soon so I was browsing his website and reading some of his writings. The one that struck me was his reflections on his experience of acute appendicitis and the recovery after surgery. He had difficulty allowing himself to be ill -- continuing to teach a workshop even though... Continue Reading →

November 26, 2016 1

Behind the words

I've been writing some thank yous this past week. Offering a few words to my TT teachers. Better late than never maybe, since TT was some weeks ago. But honestly I can't begin to capture what they offered and the new avenues they variously opened up for me. I certainly can't express the gratitude I have for their efforts... Continue Reading →

September 18, 2016 0

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

Whispers of love

I'm back. I'm back in my body. And I'm back in class. Happily so. OK, so I've been here all along in this same body, but now it feels more at ease, less as though I've gone a few rounds in the ring and come off distinctly the worse. So practice in class today was less... Continue Reading →

September 6, 2016 2

Sitting with authenticity

I'm just back from a professional development course on authenticity. I loved that the course ended with the choice of staying on for networking and conversation -- or for the self-confessed introverts to leave and 'find a dark corner' in which to reflect. So clearly I've done the latter. I'm tucked up at home at... Continue Reading →