The Yoga Suits Her Blog
I’ve been blogging for 12 years now. At first, I was quite nervous about publishing my thoughts. Because I was shy about writing, my old posts were almost exclusively photos of the view from our bedroom in our Tambourine Bay house.
Remarkably, my original Ville Blog still exists. Does anything on the internet ever go away? It ran from November 05, 2006 to January 12, 2010 and it’s still just where I left it. If you’d like to have a look, the address is http://thevilleblog.blogspot.com.au/.
These days, because there are way too many YSH posts to browse through-over 1200-I’ve put some major themes together in The Vault. I hope this makes it easier to find exactly what you want.
Four Walls
“Four Walls”, if memory serves. Is a Cold Chisel song, maybe spawned from one of the band members who did time?
I’ve been spending time between four walls, one week in hospital, one week here in Rehab, with one more to go.
It’s not like I’m in prison. I’m grateful for the remarkably cheerful staff. All the facilities are clean and my small room is comfortable for my needs. […]
Pedestals
Eighteen years ago, when I was first diagnosed with osteoarthritis of the hips, my ego got crushed like a stepped-on grape. I was convinced the diagnosis spelled career suicide for me as a yoga teacher. […]
Now
I watched a movie last night that had a scene with two small kids playing on a beach, seabirds flying around. I realized that was the first time I’d seen birds since the end of January.
I’m sure there’s birdlife out there, but I’ve been inside – a week at Mater Hospital, now nearly a week at Hunters Hill Rehab, and one more to go.
I’m not complaining; this is what I’m here for. I’m not even close to going outside. […]
Portion Control Take Two
The wise ancient, Patanjali, identified certain human frailities and offered ways of correcting them in his “Yoga Sutra”.
One of them is particularly relevant to the above topic and in Sanskrit is called “aparigraha”, the practice of non-greed.
Greed is spectacularly obvious when we read about excessive Goldman Sachs’ executive bonuses or Bernie Madoff’s financial blood-sucking.
But greed presents with much more of a slippery edge when it plays out in yoga practice.
You might decide to go that little bit further in Uttanasana because you felt you didn’t do enough yesterday. […]
Portion Control
I’m sure I could become the next guru if I could explain to people how to do “portion control”. These two words didn’t fall together so often until relatively recently, until the “obesity epidemic” started mushrooming.
I can imagine my sensible Midwestern-born 90 yr.-old mother-in-law saying, “You just push your plate away when you’re full. That’s all.”
I’m a member of that camp – stop eating when you’re full. Scientists link this ability with something called an “appestat”, like a thermostat for central air control on the wall, only appetite control is in your brain. […]
Say "No" to Drugs (Sometimes)
Miracles of modern times. I’m sitting here in my chair, with my 6 day old happy hips and sending my words out across the globe. Trishna and Krishna, twins conjoined at the back of their brains, are separated and live to tell about it. Faces are transplanted. Eight children are born in one labour.
This is only possible through advances in medical technology, surgery and drugs. […]
Swiish, swiish
There’s a particularly delicious sound that the in-line rollers of rollerblades create when you’re moving with a rhythmic stride. I’m sure it’s theta wave inspired like what happens when the sadhus chant “Ram, Ram, Ram” for hours on end. The potential problem here is that the blader can get hypnotized by the music of his feet and crash!
Today for the first time I learned to use crutches, practising walking with my new prosthetic hips. I’m a tiny bit embarrassed to say I experienced some of the exhilaration of my old blading days. […]
Tears
Yesterday I had quite a few tears. Happily sadness doesn’t scare me. To the contrary, I consider it to be cleansing and revealing. The emotion that was coming up each time I cried was associated with a certain feeling I’d been stuffing down and not allowing myself to experience. I was surprised when I realised that part of the blues was caused by the fact that I hadn’t told people I love how much they meant to me.It’s not unusual to misinterpret or ignore strong emotion. […]
Hesitancy
I noticed I was avoiding writing this post as it makes very real that I am beginning the surgery process. I’ll check in to the hospital in just an hour for pre-admission, with my bilateral hip surgery scheduled for tomorrow morning.
My intention is to keep you posted 🙂 about what this process is like, especially from a yogini’s point of view. […]
Smooth as….
The rocks in our local surf are rough and shiny, but I by the time I take them home they are dull, dull, dull.
Approximately four weeks of shaping, smoothing and polishing and the rocks are as pretty as gemstones. They actually have to lose a fair bit of their mass in my rock tumbler to finish up being satiny and attractive.
A number of years ago I heard a renowned yoga teacher say that it takes at least 12 years for a trainee to become a skilled teacher. […]
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