Beginnings

Beginnings

It was October 1979 mid-week, I don’t know what day. I walked into the yoga premises on the first floor of a rather run-down building on Spring Street Bondi Junction. Really I was walking into the rest of my life.
I’d heard about this mad Yorkshire man teaching something called Iyengar yoga, but I never got around to seeking out a class until a year after the recommendation.
There was no internet then so I couldn’t check on class availability so I just rocked up. […]

Tired

So unsexy to be tired. It’s something to get over as quickly as possible but how?
A band-aid yoga pose is viparta karani (legs-up-the-wall), which can include Supta Upavistha Konasana (5 min.),  Supta Baddha Konasana (5min.), Supta Sukhasana (3 min. each side) for a little more than 20 min. […]

Do-It-Yourself

Do-It-Yourself

Gradually I have been colonising more and more of the shed space for yoga practice. It’s a building which also serves as two-bedroom accommodation for guests. Most of our guests fortunately have been yoga practitioners. A couple of other guests who were yoga virgins gave it a go, recognising the superb ambience of our sanctum.
Lately I’ve been feeling a little like Kevin Costner in that film “Field of Dreams”. […]

Gardens

Gardens

I don’t know a whole lot about gardening. I don’t even know if that expression “pottering around” in the garden would apply to what I do. What I do is more like “messing around”. I make mistakes and kill things off, and plant stuff that never makes it past the neonatal stage. However, recently (and with Heather watching) I planted winter tomatoes and lettuce, and they are happily thriving. It feels good to grow things.
The photo is of some of the garden beds that we have been building since Dec./Jan. […]

Power

A saying I ran across in the nineties while I was participating in a Human Awareness workshop went like this: Real power is based on vulnerability.
It sounded good, but I don’t think I really understood what it meant.
It’s so hard for me to be vulnerable, and maybe the only shard of comfort is that many other people feel the same discomfort with vulnerability.
And, it’s such a good thing to be vulnerable. There is power in it because a person who is willing to own their weaknesses has nothing to cover up or resist. […]

Oh Happy Day!

What is it about sirsasana that lines people on opposing sides – mainly love-hate. I’m on the love side and I haven’t been able to do headstand for more than eight weeks. […]