Darkness in surya namaskar

I know the yogic drill. I'm supposed to be present. I'm supposed to let my body move through the sequences, breathing through any intensity, avoiding nothing. Today the choreography of movement was some exquisite torture. Each surya namaskar was a physical confrontation to my desire to retreat, to curl up and make myself small. Instead... Continue Reading →

February 12, 2016 2

head vs heart

the head tells me it has true understanding. it offers up endless sequences of thoughts, seductive in their logic. they fit together, they sound good and neat, so they must be true. they cohere. they adhere, sticking to me through the years. through thick and thin. the characterisation they offer must be how things really are.... Continue Reading →

February 11, 2016 0

Seek and ye shall find?

A girl turned up to yoga last night and found she had left her yoga clothes at home. She laughed as she told me about looking in her bag for a third time not quite believing that they weren't there. She couldn't shake the feeling that if she just looked again a bit harder they'd... Continue Reading →

February 10, 2016 5

Being dim

"Do you think I'm really dim?" I asked Hubby. "Uh... yeah!" he told me. Mock incredulity. Did I really need to ask!! We were talking about yoga. Of course. Specifically we were talking about breath leading the movement. Clearly pretty important in yoga. Clearly very important in vinyasa style. But hard, right? Or is it? Am... Continue Reading →

February 8, 2016 8

Easy does it

Blurgh. This was my first thought on waking up today. A lousy night's sleep and I'm feeling really sick. Plus it was raining hard. But I went to yoga class anyway. This two hour class on a Sunday morning still feels like such a gift and I don't easily reject the offering. I was uncertain... Continue Reading →

February 7, 2016 5

Make mine a double

A few months ago my teacher made a half-joking suggestion that I could try taking two classes back to back. I didn't even know that was allowed! My first thought was "shouldn't I ration my class attendance so everyone gets a look in"? I'm so law-abiding! My quick-following second thought was all about whether I would... Continue Reading →

February 5, 2016 0

Feel the burn

Hubby's been working his socks off recently, finishing a big submission for publication. 50,000 words no less! His students struggling currently with their 8,000 word dissertations couldn't believe this level of work or what it represented in understanding and knowledge. I'm super proud of him -- of what he does and how he does it.... Continue Reading →

February 3, 2016 8

From plank to standing on my own two feet

I passed this sign today outside a café -- as I was following my head and heart to the yoga studio! My teacher was leading a small workshop looking at Chaturaṅga Daṇḍāsana. Such a luxury to spend more than an hour on a single āsana. And in really nice company. I got the feeling that everyone there... Continue Reading →

January 30, 2016 8

Making space and giving way

I've been having a tough time of it at work recently. Too much to do, not enough time, not enough resources of any description. Necessity might be the mother of invention but all I'm able to create from this is a whole lot of stress. I can feel it in my body. The tight muscles,... Continue Reading →

January 27, 2016 2

How do you know?

My bedtime reading right now is a novel about a little girl who went blind and had to learn afresh how to interpret her world, how to navigate it in a very practical way, as well as how to interpret it on the basis of the different sensory inputs she now has. On the other side... Continue Reading →