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

Flirting with Iyengar

Since TT I've been reflecting simultaneously on how I proudly recognise how much I have learned and understood about yoga as well as humbly how little I know and how limited my experience is. If I want to teach, this will limit what I can offer. And as I try to explore the limits of my own... Continue Reading →

October 4, 2016 6

Getting (un)comfortable

My teacher often talks about playing the edge. I'm still not sure I get where this is exactly. Maybe that's part of the game, part of the playing -- first finding it, then flirting with it, finally staring it down rather than running away. I always thought I was good at the staring game, unblinking,... Continue Reading →

October 3, 2016 1

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

Joie de vivre

"F*ck, man, look at her!" I was on my way home last night after a long day of work plus yoga plus dinner with a friend. This guy was hanging around outside some bar and he shouted out at me as I walked past. I was a bit suprised. I'm not really the head-turning type.... Continue Reading →

September 22, 2016 1

Krishna love

"Where-ere-ere-ere is love? Does it fall from skies above? Is it underneath the willow tree That I've been dreaming of?" Today I feel as though I'm going to break out (most uncharacteristically, I must say! 🙂 ) into a Walt Disney tune! We've been exploring love and compassion in class a bit recently, using Krishna... Continue Reading →

September 19, 2016 0

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 →