Self-isolation, self-sufficiency

I haven’t written much during the covid-19 situation. I guess my feelings vacillate from feeling that the situation is too huge to comprehend, the global scale of it, to my own personal experience of it being on such a small, domestic scale as to feel insignificant on this international canvas. What can I add? Much... Continue Reading →

April 18, 2020 2

Zooming in

I am missing my teachers. When life is chugging along just fine and my practice is flowing and groovy, I can almost convince myself I’m OK alone, that I don’t need a teacher, that I know all I need to already. My teachers would tell me that’s exactly how it is! But back on Planet... Continue Reading →

March 21, 2020 3

On being a quitter

Aside from whatever asanas I’m interested in, my teacher often gives me some creative ‘homeworks’, encouraging me to explore my practice from a whole range of perspectives. Current assignment is to consider ‘what is real?’ Answers on a postcard please! Everything feels distinctly unreal right now, but not in any interesting philosophical way...! Another recent... Continue Reading →

March 20, 2020 2

Keep calm and keep clean

I’m on the mailing list for a few studios where I’ve taken class. So in the past couple of weeks I’ve read a bunch of different emails and newsletters as they reach out to their students in the face of the corona virus pandemic. As a teacher I also got sent advice from YAP about... Continue Reading →

March 13, 2020 1

Choose life

I was with my bodyworker on Monday. As always deep, deep work. She sure likes to give me my money's worth! 75 minutes gets right into the very fibres of my body -- the work on my fascia is just the superficial layer compared to what lies within and beneath. I had wanted to address... Continue Reading →

February 15, 2020 4

The smell of anonymity

In that way of coincidences several people have talked to me recently about the phenomenon of ASMR, the phenomenon of noises evoking particular responses individuals. I think this can get weird quite quickly, but at a simple level it's a familiar idea that certain sounds or smells can take us to another time or place,... Continue Reading →

February 1, 2020 5

Year of Tāḍāsana

On one side of me, my neighbour blundered across my mat to get to her place. She's regular at the studio, regular enough to know better. I suppressed my sigh and my frown and tried to let go of the judgments and the irritation. On the other side of me was a girl who was... Continue Reading →

January 26, 2020 1

Siva and the mind-readers

My husband does this hand gesture: palms pressing together then opened out, like the pages of a book. He uses it to signal to me I don't need to tell him anything more: he knows exactly what I'm thinking. Darn, he's usually right. He knows me so well. Although I love him and happily share... Continue Reading →

November 21, 2019 1

School of unlearning

I spent a lot of time recently with a colleague at work and I noticed she always sat with one foot tucked under her. We're pretty close so I couldn't resist suggesting to her that she might want to alternate her sitting position every now and then. We talked a bit about body imbalances caused... Continue Reading →

November 13, 2019 4

One two, buckle my shoe

One, two buckle my shoe I wake up from my after-work nap and it's completely dark. The absolute last thing I want to do is go out. I could so easily transfer my tired body from the bed straight to the sofa for the evening. But instead I put on my yoga clothes including ridiculous... Continue Reading →