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.
Sydney Shock
A four hour drive from Mitchells Island to the Sydney CBD. In the rain. The last 30 minutes of which we were navigating one-way streets and bus/taxi lanes in the city, unable to negotiate a turn into the Jamison Street location of our lodging.
How one deals with the strangle of city traffic is the true test of whether one has polished one’s character enough not to snarl at one’s partner who is flummoxed by high-rise interference with the usually reliable TomTom and iPhone GPS.
Testing one’s spiritual capital with sharp words and raised voices, admittedly on both sides. […]
Good Bearing
One of the things yogis can congratulate themselves on is good posture. I’ve been singled out in crowds because of my straight back – a good signature for a yoga teacher….
No matter how hard you’ve worked your forward and backward bends, there comes a time when you have to work that much harder just because of advancing years. […]
The "D" Word
Doing yoga practice is one of the most beautiful activities I do. […]
Yogini Gallery
Mandy Geddes
Marian McNaught
Angelika Knorzer […]
Connections
This weekend I have a Sydney visitor, Lesley, staying with us. She and I go way back to the mid-nineties days of Sydney Yoga Centre. I learned something about living in community from seeing how Lesley enjoyed being part of a communal household with Sue Biggs and Alan Lovell. I taught all of them, plus a few others, at their home for several years. […]
Easter Renewal
Here’s a relaxation for your Easter break, a time when you hopefully
have a little more time to renew yourself. You might want to record this “script” for your iPod or iPhone so you can make the words your own.
Relax your eyes and forehead. Allow the skin on your forehead to drop towards your eyes, your eyebrows release out to your temples, and the skin on your temples drop to the back of your skull. […]
Stop and Smell….
I have such a privileged life. On this day in April 2011 at 10 pm on Mitchells Island, NSW, it is quiet, the weather is temperate and autumnal, and we have a houseful of dear friends.
Things can change in a flash, and they certainly do. […]
Not Sitting, Moving
I’ve discovered I spend way too much time at the computer. This might surprise you, as I am a yoga teacher. I should know better and do better.
It takes me 30-60 minutes to compose a post for this blog. Snappy and short as they are, they take some crafting. […]
Everyday Meditations
Are you the sort of yogi who dozes off in savasana? Who loses track of watching your breath during pranayama? Who ends up thinking about your to-do list in the midst of asana practice?
Well, then, you are probably a Normal Person. […]
You Never Know When the Penny Will Drop
Yoga teachers try and try by any means possible to get their students to do home practice.
It seems counterproductive, in a way to, to encourage students to practice outside of class attendance. After all, it’s by students paying for classes that the teacher earns his/her livelihood. […]
We Had A Dream…Fulfilled
Eight years or so ago, Daniel and I got together with two other couples – Rick & Heather, Mike & Judy – and gave birth to the dream of forming our own small community. We bought a four acre property with a shed on Mitchells Island, NSW, in 2004. […]
Mighty Words
If you are a yoga teacher – any teacher, really – be very careful what you say to your students because it may come back to haunt you. You are a sort of god/goddess in the classroom and your words go in and may just happen to stay there.
I know this happened to me with my teacher. I still have some of that programming although it was more than 30 years ago. […]
Global Community
In olden times, community gathered in little pockets separated by vast distances, secular ones in villages and hamlets, spiritual communities in monasteries, nunneries, ashrams, hermitages.
On the other end of the spectrum, the Internet has helped community leap its boundaries and lets us connect with people we might only know from their Facebook profile.
What’s great for yogis is that we have information on anything yogic at the click of a mouse: retreats anywhere in the world, yoga props and fashions, on-line courses in Sanskrit or anatomy, virtual classes, forums, blogs, videos, and podcasts.
One of the most interesting stories […]
Yoga in Paradise
Yesterday I paid a visit to Falls Forest Retreat to check it out as a possible venue for holding a yoga retreat in the Spring.
We made a party of it and stayed overnight – Daniel, Rick, and Heather and I – in one of the six two-bedroom townhouses that serve as accommodation. […]
On Writing, Take Two
Is it true that every person has a book in them? It does seem that writing a book is an endeavour many people think about and even have a go at. I’ve written two yoga books (one of them an e-book) and I confess to dreaming about penning an autobiography. […]
So You Want to Be a Writer
Back in 2008, when I was last working as a yoga teacher trainer, I taught a course called “The Professional Yoga Teacher.” The curriculum comprised professional ethics, how to run a yoga business, occupational and health safety, and information on yoga associations and continuing professional development. The main assignment was: write and present to the group a vision plan for the next five year period.
Since “The Professional Yoga Teacher” course was usually taken in the trainees’ last term of their training, they were looking towards what/where/how they wanted to express yoga in their lives. […]
Graceful Ageing
The Sydney Morning Herald Spectrum on Saturday ran a piece called “Beautiful At Every Age”. Basically, the article was making a case for doing exercise, especially for the senior population. […]
T.G.I.S.(Sunday)
Sometimes we are so busy and stressed that, even when we have down time, it’s impossible to switch off.
So, here’s a practice for your Sunday restorative or recovery yoga session. It’s an interpretation of a practice by Linda Sparrowe and Patricia Walden.
Remember though, if you keep ending up depleted at the end of the week, it’s time to balance your lifestyle. […]
Sad/Happy
While I was practising with Heather in the Yoga Shed this morning, she told me this story which follows on my post yesterday about our choir’s concert at the Wingham nursing home.
Eve, your post reminded me of a time when my father first went into a nursing home, at age 87, in the final stages of Parkinsons disease. Parkinsons is especially nasty because it often gives people what’s called a mask or frozen face, resulting in the inability to show any expression or even to speak. […]
Overwhelmed
One of the communities I belong to is my choir. I attend the practices on Thursday nights, and always feel happier at the end of the 90 minutes. The same joyful experience as practising yoga in the Shed each morning.
A dearly beloved choir member, Leo, asked us to perform at his retirement home, which about 30 of us did tonight. There were about 35 or so in the audience in the dining room, including some staff.
I was surprised the acoustics were so good, and our choir sang so beautifully. […]