Yoga Practitioners and Teachers: Be Tenacious

Yoga Practitioners and Teachers: Be Tenacious

When I started teaching, my first classes were not altogether successful in terms of bums-on-mats. It took tremendous staying power in the beginning to keep coming back week after week to small classes when I wasn’t making a living. One has to continuously calm the negative mind and recreate motivation for practising and teaching. Who knows if or when one is going to make a go of it? How long will it take to be a good teacher?  How long will it take to ‘be yoga’?

Corpse Pose: Needed and Wanted

Corpse Pose: Needed and Wanted

via pinterest
Every now and then, I fall off the wagon. I recognise that I need to re-incorporate corpse pose into my yoga practice. Writing a post about this pose will inspire me, and you too, if need be.
I first learned about corpse pose (savasana) from one of my yoga teachers, Martyn Jackson. As Martyn explained it, corpse pose isn’t meant to be in any way considered a morbid notion. It defines the ultimate state of letting go.
When we do savasana, we may rise from the pose feeling we’ve slept the sleep of the dead. […]

Do "Be Better Lists" Annoy You?

Do "Be Better Lists" Annoy You?

I really, really, really dislike the kinds of lists that tell us: 50 ways to be a better lover; 3 airtight arguments against eating meat; 5 most liberating yoga poses….
It’s too easy to write an article or post in this reductionist fashion, and maybe it contributes to black-or-white, right-or-wrong thinking. Such lists often represent just one person’s opinions anyway.
Nevertheless (you knew that was coming), I like the list below so much that I’ve decided to throw my prejudices to the wind. […]

Swings and Roundabouts

I’ve been on a gentle roller coaster ride.Early in the morning, I cleaned the Yoga Shed and it sparkled with sunny energy. Then, I did my yoga practice in the shimmering space.I don’t know why it happened; I just got caught in the ruminating jaws of my mind, and became grumpy thinking of too many tasks to do and not enough time. After a practice that was supposed to make me peaceful, I then took my grumpiness into our office and tried to deposit it in my husband’s lap. He’s too smart for that, though. […]

Yoga Practice, Not a Performance

Yoga Practice, Not a Performance

The sun was shining this morning, the temperature balmy, and not a skerrick of a breeze – a respite from the hard rain we’ve had over the last few days. In the Yoga Shed, I felt inspired to do surya namaskar and included all the standing poses I could think up. […]

Yoga Practice, Not a Performance

Choice as Yoga Practice

I’ve had a hard time today getting my writing wheels turning. A few minutes ago I realised that I’d started the day having gotten up on “the wrong side of the bed”, and blamed it on lack of sleep.
Being rather rest deprived, I pulled in some more evidence that it was a Bad Day because it happened to be rainy. […]

A Whole Lot of Bloggin' Going On

A Whole Lot of Bloggin' Going On

Over five years ago, a friend said, “You should write a blog about what you are creating as your vision”, i.e. living in community. I took her advice.
Not knowing the first thing about creating a blog, about what content to put on it, or even what the heck I was doing it for, nevertheless I carried on…and on. “Yoga Suits Her and “The Ville” blogs probably comprise nearly 1,000 posts by now.
I used to be so shy about revealing myself that most of my early posts displayed only photos. […]

Yoga Practice, Not a Performance

Does Yoga Help You Lose Weight?

I wish I could answer that question. Really. Even more, I wish I could answer in the affirmative.
I haven’t seen evidence that the claims of weight loss directly due to yoga practice is true. In fact, I know quite a few long-term yoga instructors who have stacked on weight as they get older. […]

Yoga Practice, Not a Performance

Vulnerability = Aliveness

It’s probably no wonder that people are wary of allowing themselves to be seen as vulnerable. The dictionary defines being vulnerable as “susceptible to physical or emotional attack or harm.” According to that way of looking at vulnerability, you’d have to be mad or masochistic to practice it. Perhaps I am somewhat crazy then, as I do try to cultivate vulnerability and openness. Why? I’ve discovered over time that the effort it takes to keep up defences only serves to make me isolated, inauthentic, and not fully self-expressed. […]

Yoga Practice, Not a Performance

Generosity

As good yogis we are meant to practice the precepts set forth by Patanjali in the Yama and Niyama. One of the “thou shalts” that I needed to work with today is called Aparigraha – the practice of non-greed.
I’ll just say that I fall from yoga grace not infrequently. When I do, I try to remember two things.
1. The reason it’s called yoga practice is because I’m still working on it.
2. […]