The Burning Man is an edifice that is 70 feet tall and includes a several story internal stairway for us to walk up and view the whole of the “Playa” – a rough circular shape that’s 7 miles in circumference. The Man is packed with burnable material so the main event of the week, the burn goes off spectacularly and efficiently.
Yesterday was fun. One event Daniel and I participated in was the Human Carcass Carwash. Too hard to explain. […]
Community
Circle the Wagons
Today my step-son Ben, girlfriend Jade, and their 3 Aussie friends picked up their huge RV for the trip to Burning Man Festival.
Since Ben heard about the event a year ago, he’s been planning and saving for this exciting trip.
Daniel and I are hooked up with a dear friend Donna to join Kevin (old yoga student from ’85) and Californian Laura in their RV. We’ll leave for Burning Man tomorrow morning. Fortunately the site of BM – hard Nevada desert – is not expected to be as hot as some year’s past. […]
Routines Take 2
Happily, a few years ago on another trip to San Francisco, I discovered a yoga school, would you believe based Iyengar-style, nearby.
I can walk there from Cousin Merle’s on 8th Avenue, which I did this morning. Much better using the studio instead of the small floor space of our visitor’s accommodation.
I did a Level one (read “beginner-ish) class with a very good beginner-ish (read 1 year) teacher. […]
Giving
One week from tomorrow I will be an attendee at one of the bigger festivals on the planet called Burning Man. It’s held somewhere named Blackrock, Nevada.
As a joiner of this instant, albeit temporary, community of 50k or so, I’m encouraged to bring gifts.
Something from Australia seemed
appropriate, even from Mitchells Island.
Here’s a photo of my offering. […]
Potted Versions
I may be way wrong on this observation, but I’ve been detecting a growing penchant for micro versions of stuff.
An obvious example is a Tweet. I think of it as a kind of micro blog limited to 120 characters. That’s characters, not words. Is it possible to write anything meaningful in such a constrained environment? Well, it would seem yes. Twitter is meaningful to millions of people around the world in all nations and all races, judging by so many little Tweets whizzing around the planet. […]
A Night In Rio
Well, actually the Night happened in Wingham, a sleepy, charming little town not far from Taree.
What was it? Part of an on-going series of events that draw on local performers. The last event was held at the Wingham pub and was a Burlesque Cabaret, in which Daniel and I both performed.
I’ve been blown away by how many people turn out for these evenings and how they enjoy getting dolled up for them. […]
Friends
One of the benefits of doing yoga is that it opens the door to beautiful friendships, ones that can last for decades. It’s easy to find like-minded people in classes, retreats and workshops, and yoga becomes the matrix that reinforces relationships.
I received a phone call from an old friend last week- we’re talking more than 30 years – who asked if he could come for a visit and an overnight stay.
Trevor Tangye and I did yoga teacher training with Martyn Jackson in the late seventies and early eighties. […]
Party Time
Sydney yoga community gathered to celebrate Simon Borg-Olivier on the occasion of his 50th birthday last night.
There were gorgeous stilt walkers, singing, techno dancing, wholesome food, body painting, and everyone in costume.
For instance:
I met Simon when he was 24 and a grad student working on his masters at Sydney Uni. I was the director of Sydney Yoga Centre, one of the early schools. We had a wonderful program of 6 am two – hour classes and Simon was a lively, natural yogi, attending those sessions faithfully.
One of the funny stories re. […]
Nature Trip
Today we were a sightseeing party of four, driving out to the very beautiful attraction ellenborough Falls, out past the hills villages of Bobin and Elands.
Never heard of those places? Neither had we till we became immigres to Mitchells Island. Which may be another area unfamiliar to you.
Located on the Bulga Plateau, about an hours drive north-west of Taree, Ellenborough Falls are a spectacular site. […]
Defining Moments (Take Two)
Defining Moments (Take Two)
We usually think of defining moments as peak experiences or monumental decisions that change our lives forever.
A less common but equally justifiable view is that we are defined by many tiny moments occurring over time. Like the way stalactites or stalagmites are formed – little droplets of water doing their thing over perhaps eons.
I think you know where I’m heading here. Ah, yes, the yoga mat, or, if you will, the meditation cushion. […]
Defining Moments
I was enjoying listening to the Dixie Chicks this morning on my iPhone while working out with some free weights (yes, I do weights sometimes and yoga). If you haven’t heard of the Dixie Chicks, I’d be very surprised because, as of 2010, they were rated the top selling female group in the U.S.
They also had one heck of a defining moment in their music careers – one of those “S” bends that shows who you are and possibly spins you off in unforeseen directions.
In 2003, on the cusp of U.S. […]
The Yoga Circle
When I left Sydney in November of last year, I had a niggling concern that I was going to lose contact with my yoga community there. So, I instigated this almost-daily cyber writing, sending missives off into the ether, like homing pigeons with little messages attached to them. […]
Red Birds
The other day, writing on this blog, I was trying to explain a yoga concept called vinyamaya kosha – not entirely successfully done, judging by a couple of comments I received.
I always put the responsibility for communications which the readers finds are abstruse back on the communicator. […]
The Mind
Have you ever done a ten-day Vipassana course? I attended a couple of these meditation courses in the 80’s with some of my yoga friends. The courses are conducted completely in silence.
I didn’t think the sitting/walking meditation would be very challenging for me because, hey, I’m a yogi!
It’s true that I didn’t suffer as much as some people did from the hour-long sitting sessions. What I wasn’t expecting was that when the room was quiet and my body was motionless, my mind went into overdrive. […]
Out There
I was patting myself on the back – a good yoga exercise 😉 for having no trouble writing a post each day. Then, last night nothing came.
But I felt guilty. My blog guru says the way to keep my public profile is to post every day.
But what if my muse doesn’t speak to me?
Writing is a discipline like placing yourself on the yoga mat each day, but blog writing can also overlap with marketing. I don’t want to write just to keep my face in front of you. […]
Performers
Saturday night Daniel and I stuck our necks out and joined some other locals as part of a burlesque cabaret being held in the riverside town of Wingham.
Daniel’s neck was further out than mine, which you might discern, from the attached photo. […]
So Happy!
First of all, this post has nothing whatsoever to do with Kookaburras, but they are so darn cute that I thought you would like to see them. There were 5 of them hanging around in the trees back of the house, not making a sound. Perhaps all the wet weather dampened their intrinsic mirth.
What I really wanted to say today is how happy I am to be back in the saddle, that is, teaching. I have a really lovely group of people coming along already. […]
Lineage
I have been quiet on my blog for the last several days because I’ve been completely absorbed by Darwin and one of it’s great emissaries, Carole Baillargeon.
This a pretty charming place. I shouldn’t be surprised because I’ve been hearing about it for years. The city is little by most standards – just 100,000 and very friendly because lots of people are newcomers.
We had the most amazing experience in Kakadu, going in on the cusp of wet season transition to dry. On the Saturday night big storms kept campers from getting to one region. […]
Gifts Keep Giving
The other night I was honoured with an invitation to a Buddhist meditation led by an ex-pat, Rio Helmi, an amazing international photographer – www.riohelmi.com.
He’s a “civilian” rather than a lama, who has set up an amazing sangha space in his Ubud home. […]
One Student
Do you as a yoga teacher resent having small numbers of students in your classes?