Thirty years ago this month, Martyn Jackson and I went to India together. As a long-time student of B.K.S. Iyengar, Martyn was on a mission which unfortunately turned out to be unsuccessful. He asked the great Guru if western yoga teachers could be allowed to teach at the Ramayani Iyengar Yoga Institute.
Martyn’s idea was that if western teachers could be trained to teach at the Institute, their standard of teaching would improve and be more aligned with the Iyengar method. […]
It’s very late, after a long day and full week at Camp Creative. It’s been a remarkable time, as evidenced and summed up by the concert of performing artists who came together this evening – a showcase of all the creative work that’s been put in across many media: instrumental music, singing and dance. Some performers were first-timers, others more seasoned, all with their creative juices flowing.
The most wonderful thing was seeing the range of ages represented. Even in my writing course, the span was from 33 to 81. […]
At the concert tonight we were asked by the emcee to pay homage to the custodians of the Bellingen valley, the Gumbayngirr people. Then, the African drummers who were performing for us said that they were the custodians of the music of their countries – Kenya and Ghana.
This sort of deference, of respect for ancestors, is very much a part of yoga practice. […]
There’s a good spirit here in Bellingen at Camp Creative, despite the soggy state of the district. There were microscopic patches of blue sky today and only patchy precipitation, although I hear rain falling tonight.
The campgrounds were flooded on Monday night, and when people had to relocate, the locals opened up their homes.
Queensland townspeople are suffering loss of life and homes, and Brisbane will be even more massively flooded than it is now by tomorrow morning, with five evacuation centres filling up. […]
This week I’m stationed in beautiful, though at the moment sodden, Bellingen learning to be a better writer. Enrolled in a course called Life Stories with 15 other pupils, we’re part of the overall turn-out of 1,000 students of the 2011 Camp Creative.
I haven’t felt so moved and excited in a learning situation for a long time. I go into the course room, fully awake and alive to discovering some unexamined part of my life for me to dust off and bring back from the past into the now. […]
January 1st of last year I launched Yoga Suits Her.
Therefore it seems auspicious (a word often applied to felicitous Indian things!) to re-launch today – Jan. 1, 2011.
I never realised when I started out e-musing that I would like doing it so much. To be able to stay in contact with friends and students through this medium, and even garner new yoga friends along the way, is a delight. […]
Part of my rhapsodic descriptions of Mitchells Island living are coloured rosy by the great people who I share our property with. We’ve known each other for decades.
Five of the six of us are yoga practitioners, and it’s pretty cool when we’re out in the yoga shed together for pranayama or asana practice.
A few years ago when we were still in the planning stage of our communal experiment, we hit a barrier, not surprisingly financial. It looked like our vision of living together was fast going down the gurgler. One of us had a great idea. […]
Six years ago I and my communal accomplices began planning our retirement. At that time we had no idea exactly what it would look like, but we started talking it over, bouncing ideas, and found enough of a common vision to take some concrete steps….Steps that ultimately led to living on Mitchells Island, with some of us retired, some semi-retired, and some still working.
That’s how it goes. Create a vision, make a plan, and then it turns out more or less.
Friends of mine in the U.S. […]
With a bit of cajoling and a bit of coercing, my housemates and Daniel have agreed to make “guest appearances” on my blog today. (Their views are coloured by their North American origins.)
Here’s what Daniel has to say:
DXmas
Rick describes the antipodal sort of Christmas Day we’ve been experiencing for his Canadian family and friends:
RXmas
And, here’s Heather’s spin on this exquisite day we’ve been enjoying:
HXmas
As for me, today has been the quietest day of the year. […]
Heather & Nick Singing Out
Steve on Piano & Daniel
In the spirit of the holiday season, last night we had a games-playing evening, followed by a songfest at our house.
Do people do this sort of thing anymore? Is it a dying amusement? Am I hopelessly old-fashioned?
You’ll have to tell me.
My relationship with games goes back to childhood, but also incorporates my yoga history.
I guess I was always a renegade yoga teacher. […]
What is it about this time of the year that sets us on a wild emotional ride? Well, maybe not you, but certainly I have been on one.
Some of it was self-inflicted, as in getting overtired and not communicating that important bit of information. Just becoming increasingly crabby until…there is an outburst…like an summer electrical storm – then a downpour, and finally clean air.
I find it’s so hard to stay conscious all the time. Being in a relationship, living in community, sets up extra challenges.
Yoga doesn’t solve all these problems, but the mindfulness we cultivate helps. […]
(The photo has nothing to do with the content of this post, but is redolent of my rural setting, so I wanted to share it with you.)
Many friends of mine have parents who are either moving into aged care facilities or, sadly, have moved on to Another Plane. As a result, family homes need to be cleaned up, put on the market and sold. My friends complain how much work it is to sort out possessions amassed over a long life, especially when the relative has been a serious hoarder.
I don’t save stuff. I’m the opposite. […]
I’ve been blessed this year by having been included in a group of local people who like to sing. Since it’s The Season, we will be performing carols tomorrow evening at the Mitchells Island Hall. (If you’re in the neighbourhood, do drop in. There will be a bar-b-cue, too.)
We singers ran up against a problem with one of the songs in our repertoire because the Anglican Board who are organising the carolling took offence with it. […]
It takes time to practice generosity, but being generous is the best use of our time. Thich Nhat Hanh
The giving season is fast approaching. Perhaps the only time in the year (apart from birthdays) when we rev up to give. […]
Who would have thought? I am 66 yrs. old today. Twenty-three years older than my father when he passed away, and thirteen years older than my mother when she passed on. It may be that their relatively young demises led me to seek out the youth-ifying benefits of yoga. I can’t say for sure.
The first enjoyable thing I did on this beautiful balmy, summery day was head for the Yoga Shed…not to do yoga but to do weights. […]
Well, I have to admit that The Amazing Meeting did live up to its name in yesterday’s afternoon session. The grand daddy of all the skeptics, James Randi, was there. (Where’s there? The Grand Lodge of the Freemasons – The Masonic Centre in Castlereagh St., Sydney, of all places.)
Randi’s age is up there in the mid-80’s or so, and he’s got a story or two or twenty to tell about busting the woo-woo out of any unscientific or new age thinking/inventions going around. […]
At the Yoga Aid event in the Botanical Gardens , Abi and Zoe, amazing performers, perfect the modern art of Acu Yoga.
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On our last full day in the U.S., I was invited to a wine tasting in the beautiful Napa-Sonoma country where we are staying with friends. I was able to see the newly harvested grapes starting their processing journey through crush pads, fermentation room and aging cellars. We were hosted by Margaret Duckhorn, co-founder of Duckhorn Vineyard, http://www.duckhorn.com in a private tasting of a selection of beautiful wines: pinot noir, cabernet sauvignon, merlot, sauvignon blanc….
It was a privilege to hear Margaret describe the various wines and the locales in which they were produced. […]
It’s sunrise in this flat, white-dusted desert, and the car we’re getting a lift with from Burning Man to Reno is stuck in a queue. We’ve been advised it’ll take 30 min. to get out, much better than the 3 hours it took to get through the entry point a week ago.
I love the desert. […]
Last night was the ritual of burning The Man.
We arrived at The Man site and took up seats on our blanket right in the front row, waiting for the fire show to start.
First there were marching bands. Have you ever seen a fiery tuba or flaming kettle drums? Setting a wild rhythm, the flame-throwers, eaters, twirlers, dancers appeared next, certainly the biggest pyro show I’ve ever seen. […]