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

Teaching prep

Prep for teaching today: a couple of hours on the sofa, clutching a hot water bottle against my stomach cramps, a box of tissues within hand's reach. I have a cold and it's rocked my system a bit overall; it doesn't take much to throw me off balance. It's OK, it'll pass, I know that.... Continue Reading →

January 25, 2017 4

Mind the step

I've just stepped on the train heading home after a weekend with my parents. A 4 hour train journey ahead, laden with food from my mum (including a piece of her chocolate cake!). Suddenly she asked anxiously, "How will you spend your time on the train? Do you need a book to read?" She always... Continue Reading →

January 22, 2017 2

Heart stopping yoga

I thought I was going to have a (thankfully metaphorical) heart attack in class the other night. Not because I was pushing myself too far, certainly not because the teacher was driving us hard, and not because I'd stepped up to face my inner demons and taken myself (and the demons) along to the weekly advanced class,... Continue Reading →

January 20, 2017 0

In the way but moving in the right direction

Crazy, wonderful Tuesdays. Up early for some teaching practice before breakfast. Then a busy day at work including a full-on couple of hours with my boss working through something bogglingly technical together because it was a two-brain problem, my lunchtime spent writing a little story in Sanskrit for my homework, then finally running out of the office... Continue Reading →

January 17, 2017 5

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 →

January 13, 2017 5

Everyday beginnings

Periodically I have a bit of a yoga crisis. I wonder quite seriously whether I'm any good at it at all. Not in the impossibly bendy kind of way; I've never especially aspired to that (though obvs I'm not immune to craving certain poses). Rather I become so acutely aware of the critical voices in my... Continue Reading →

January 3, 2017 10

Awesome mindfulness

The really hard thing about mindfulness, moment to moment non-judgmental awareness, is in overcoming the over-familiar, not going on auto-pilot and missing half the story because it's so obvious it doesn't seem worth noticing. Changing some aspect, creating a different background, shakes things up and helps you notice more. I feel this in yoga asana: putting the... Continue Reading →

December 28, 2016 0

Christmas Yoga

One of the things I love about being away from home is that you have only limited possessions -- for a while at least. I'm not brave enough to do this at home in the context of my normal life even though I'd love to really pare stuff down, but when I'm travelling for a... Continue Reading →

December 26, 2016 3

Gone surfing

Destination reached and now we're properly on holiday after an epic journey. So much impatience in the modern world about arriving when really the idea of travelling half way round the world for a week's holiday is on a certain level quite bizarre. Certainly an indulgence, however you look at it, but one I'm prepared... Continue Reading →