The Yoga Suits Her Blog
I’ve been blogging for 15 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.
Intimacy
One of the things that comes out of sharing with girlfriends is discovering what you think, for one thing, and then getting accurate feedback for another (like it or not).
This is what happens at our women’s reunion that we’re having this weekend in South Australia.
Each of us may talk for an hour or so and during this time stuff comes up that may have been lying below the surface for a while, or it surfaces upon probing.
The truly beautiful thing among we seven women here is the willingness for each of us to be vulnerable. […]
Women's Reunion
I don’t really like flying; actually I don’t much like traveling. I love the new places and the new experiences once I get there, but I’m a hundred percent behind teleportation. This is coming from someone who has done the Pacific Ocean crossing from Australia to the U.S. maybe 20 times.
From someone who served with Trans World Airlines for three years as a flight attendant, with working trips to places like Reykevik, Vladavostok, Ryadh.
This time it’s only a little hop to Adelaide for the Deep Creek Women’s annual reunion, the eleventh of such gatherings. […]
For Winter – Everybody Upside-Down
Some yogis love their inverted poses while others struggle with them or find them fear-inducing. Some wonder, “Why bother?”
I admit I’m biased. I’ve been doing headstand and shoulderstand for 35 years. But I’ve also never had whiplash, compressed cervical vertebrae, or even much neck stiffness. […]
East Meets More East
An amazing invitation came across my desk today enveloped in an email from the BKS Iyengar Association of Australia. A China-India Yoga Summit is being held in Guangzhou City June 16-19, 2011, which will feature “the greatest yoga master in the world”, Guruji himself.
Advertised as perhaps the last time that Mr. Iyengar, well into his nineties, will teach for the general public, the Master will be accompanied and assisted by a retinue of hand-picked teachers. […]
Powerless
Sitting at a blank blog screen tonight, wracking my brain for inspiration, I saw my computer and all things powered by electricity in our house shut down, flicker on, then off, and finally just off. So, how am I writing this post? On the iPad, tethered in some way I don’t understand, to Daniel’s iPhone. (And, while on the subject, what is a dongle?)
See, my problem is I don’t really care enough about electronic devices to learn to understand them. As Daniel says about his relationship to yoga, I’m just a consumer. […]
Sunday Sleep-in
I have an ingrained habit of doing yoga practice each morning, and I’m in the fortunate position of not needing an alarm to wake me. I just get out of bed, walk to the studio, and begin. I don’t ever take this privilege for granted.
This chilly Sunday morning, I chose to do what most people do, curl up under the doona, sleep in, get up, make a cup of tea, get back in bed, have a cuddle. […]
What does yoga have to do with digging a hole?
How hard can it be to dig a hole? Have you ever thought about where people would be without holes dug. Probably still living in caves.
It used to be you could just go ahead and wing it…digging your hole. Now you can do a Google Search and discover “How to Dig a Hole”. It takes 5 steps on wikiHow, as a matter of fact. The first important step is to locate your utility lines, and call your council if you don’t know where they are.*
Today I dug a hole in order to transplant a severely root-bound palm. […]
Stellar Summit
Today’s wake-up was at 5 am. Hey, we’re semi-retired, living in the country. Why would anyone wake up at that time if they didn’t have to? For an adventure, of course.
Way before sunrise, rugged up to the eyeballs, we headed out to the beach on Mitchells Island. Even as the car headed in that direction, we saw the objects of our expedition: the brilliant convergence of Jupiter, Venus, Mercury and Mars in the northeastern sky.
You know how amazing Venus looks in the early morning. […]
iPad-masana: An Apple A Day
If you happen to have an iPad, or get to a chance to look at Yoga Suits Her on one, you might just like it. Because it looks fab. I take no credit. […]
The Art of Yoga Adjustments
A couple of years ago, I wrote an e-book with accompanied with an audio c.d. called The Art of Adjustment. It’s basically a manual for yoga teachers, trainees and keen students. I’m sorry to say the book has languished on the Live Yoga Life site where it is for sale, possibly because I retired from teaching in Sydney not long after it was launched. Well, launched is a rather grand word for what happened. Appeared might better describe its debut. […]
Refreshing Your Savasana
When I teach the yoga relaxation in winter’s chilly temperatures, I see students getting into their lying down positions, pulling socks and jumpers on, and wrapping themselves up in blankets as tight as mummies. Of course we want to keep warm but not at the risk of creating a tense and resistant position.
Here’s some guidelines for teachers to follow in giving their students the optimum set-up for a deep relaxation:
1. Use a folded blanket like a pillow to support the neck and head. Especially with lower backache or sciatica, use a bolster under the knees.
2. […]
Steering by Starlight
The idea of creating our Mitchells Island community of three couples, living in a beautiful home of our design, was hatched about 7-1/2 yrs. ago. The six of us were fairly accomplished at creating a vision and then fulfilling it. I think our project was successful, in some measure, because we harnessed the powerful synergistic energy of the group.
I taught vision-making as part of The Professional Yoga Teacher course at Nature Care College for 10 years. I still hear from trainees who created their 5 year plan and then manifested it. […]
Food for Thought
While in Sydney I came across some useful reading I wanted to share with anyone who is interested in healthy habits , and specifically around eating.
“The Seven Kinds of Hunger” is a chapter from the excellent book Mindful Eating by Jan Chozen Bays, M.D.
In it the author describes why we feel like eating and suggests that if we can tune into the kind of hunger we are experiencing, we can approach eating in an appropriate, mindful way.
Here are the seven:
* Eye hunger – I had an experience of this type of hunger last night when we went […]
The Purpose of Yama and Niyama
When I first learned yoga and for many years, I knew nothing of the yama and niyama. I didn’t know that they are actually stepping stones in the practice of yoga.
With the popularity of hatha yoga these days, it’s common for students to do asanas hoping to make their bodies strong. However, hatha yoga is just one of the eight limbs of the tree, which includes yama and niyama.
The point I made in yesterday’s post is that progress is futile if one’s inner life isn’t evolving. […]
In Good Conscience
Oh, how I hate to bust myself. Not as difficult as standing still in a fire ant hill, but still awfully uncomfortable.
Without going into a lot of detail, today I felt some strong emotions and spoke them, tinged as they were with just a smattering of blame. Almost immediately I regretted what I’d said and then had a job to mop up. […]
Out of Your Head
One of the really good reasons to get out of your head and into your body is that is where all your senses are. There are so many things in the world to appreciate through sense of smell, taste, hearing, sight and touch if only we’re awake in our senses to enjoy them.
Today I went to the beach for a walk, even though there was a mean westerly wind blowing and the chill factor was high. […]
Kid's Yoga
Back when I was a girl – 27 yrs. old – I was lucky to find a yoga class of any kind. Yoga was a very fringe happening in those days of hootenannies and the Beatles’ magical tour with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
These days we can find a yoga program for every season and reason – one of the most popular niches being yoga for children.
At a recent yoga conference I attended, a panelist whose topic was “Yoga of the Future” brought out a group of kids to do a demonstration of their poses for us. […]
Lullaby Land
The other night I woke up at 3 in the morning and couldn’t get back to sleep, a relatively rare occurrence for me. My mind started firing, after having been in lullaby land, and didn’t want to shut up.
Have you noticed how time expands when you’re awake in the middle of the night? It’s said: A sleepless night is as long as a year. The mind keeps buzzing as sleep recedes more and more.
If sleeplessness is a regular event in your world, there are some sensible routines called “sleep hygiene” you might put in place. […]
Letter to a Hip Arthritis Sufferer Who Does Yoga
Today I received an email from a correspondent facing the prospect of hip surgery after many years of managing his symptoms with yoga. I thought that since many who read this blog are yoga teachers and trainees, or maybe have osteoarthritis themselves, they might benefit from my publishing the letter here.
Dear Joe,
Where do you live? Hopefully somewhere where you can find a good orthopaedic surgeon, hospital and rehab centre – all of which you’ll need for a successful hip replacement. […]
Back Saver
So great to be home again….We encountered no less than 5 rainbows on the journey back as we were showered on intermittently. At this moment, our property is green as springtime and as wet as the washing on the line – beautiful!
The following maybe not be exactly a lifesaver, but is certainly a back saver, after 8 hours in the car over a two day period…. […]