A friend and I have had a couple of beautiful conversations this week, and I feel closer to him then I ever have. I’ve wanted this sort of relationship, but didn’t know how to have it or when, if ever, it was going to happen.
The content of the talks was about my feelings. It’s so easy when I feel raw to try to foist my bad feelings on the other person. But I’ve learned from good role models that there is power in vulnerability. […]
We’ve had a lively conversation around the dinner table tonight that was prompted by our viewing of a movie called “Gasland”. It’s a documentary that was made by American Josh Fox about the mining for natural gas occurring right across the U.S in recent years. It’s a little budget movie that’s made a big impact on environmentally-aware people and also the people who ended up with drilling going on in their backyards.
Some of these people are very unhappy about the results of drilling and gas production on their land. […]
I remember being surprised hearing from a friend who ran a bush regeneration business that we shouldn’t have to do big scale native planting to help bushland recover. We just needed to get rid of the nasties – opportunistic plants, trees, weeds. We had to get horses, sheep and cattle off the land to let it recover. The seeds and sprouts of beautiful natives that are being crowded out and trammelled simply need the right conditions to flourish again.
There’s a connection with yoga in the above view. […]
Many lovely things have happened to me this week. Just at this very moment, I can think of two:
1) Being given “The Irresistibly Brilliant Blog Award” by fellow blogster (terrible word) from “Composting A Life”, a great site for writers, philosophers and other humans – http://compostingalife.wordpress.com/
2) Being given a copy of The Radiance Sutras, a book comprising 112 meditations “for opening to the divine in everyday life”. […]
It’s a very beautiful thing to be present in yoga practice – to do our postures connecting the mind to each part of the physical body. It’s the most subtle kind of touching, the intelligence awakening internal and external anatomy.
Since it’s impossible to simultaneously quicken all of one’s body, the best that we can do is rouse the parts sequentially, a miniscule hammer vibrating piano strings.
I like the image of indigenous songlines, unseen paths that cross land or sky, like invisible Chinese meridians or the Indian nadis of our bodies. […]
It was so beautiful coming home to Mitchells Island after 5 days away because of:
• The Yoga Shed – I did Richard Miller’s “Meditative Heart of Yoga” practice and fell back into myself (Essential Self).
• Strawberry cuttings that neighbour Mandy had so generously left for me to plant in our garden.
• Fresh cucumbers delivered from Jacqui’s garden to our dinner table.
• A heavenly lavender sunset framed by a balmy, breezy atmosphere.
• My four beautiful yoga students who came for their lesson this evening, and left with love shining on their faces.
This is perhaps […]
What makes some days feel like everything you do you are pushing a big rock up a very tall hill. […]
This quote came in my email this morning, from Angelika’s North Sydney Yoga Centre newsletter.
“For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin – real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. […]
It was just as well I didn’t encounter the gesture of “Namaste” until I’d been doing yoga for many years. […]
Some of my friends don’t read newspapers or watch the news because it’s all bad. I wouldn’t go as far as avoidance but I do filter what I read. Hey, I used to hang out with journalists, so I know what a beat-up is.
Gym memberships are likely to increase as a result of advice given in the Sydney Morning Herald Spectrum “Health and Well-Being” section. In a piece written on “sarcopenia” (muscle loss) resulting from ageing, we are told that a 60 year-old may have lost up to 40% of their muscle mass. […]
With even the best intentions, it’s hard to be a good person all the time – or even a lot of the time. Years ago when my husband Daniel and I were relatively new in our relationship, I resolved that I would clear up any bad feelings I had toward him as soon as possible and certainly not go to sleep on them. I’ve done well with that self-promise. Not necessarily because of being such a wise woman, but because it’s more painful to be out of love with him than in love. […]
About six years ago one of my beautiful yoga teacher trainees from Nature Care College designed these posters for me. Her name is Hui Yi and she’s from Malaysia. I thought her images were too great not to be shared with a wider audience. […]
This post is using a stolen title. Of course, it’s from Julia Cameron’s major work, The Artist’s Way.
If you have been wishing and pining and hoping to write, buy a copy of Julia’s book and dive in. You’ll take up daily writing called “morning pages” and probably some creative juices will start flowing, if that’s what you are looking for.
I did the book’s program for a year, followed by a writing course with Roland Fishman in the mid-nineties. […]
There’s Attitude and attitude. The monk I snapped in a Burmese market was obviously not shy about being photographed and demonstrated plenty of Attitude.
Yoga practice is a place where one’s attitude (in Sanskrit “bhava”) shows up. Putting yourself on the yoga mat, you can observe various attitudes and work with them. Here are a few ways things to consider about your attitude while practicing.
• Alignment. […]
My bridge teacher tells me that if I lead a certain card that that promises I have something to back it up. It’s like nonverbal code to let my partner expect a next play will turn out according to his expectations. Better not be misleading.
We went to a Sydney Festival performance last night which had garnered awards when shown in other cities. And the lead performer had had accolades heaped on him from past Festival events. […]
I sleep like a baby through the night.
It wasn’t always so. I used to teach early morning yoga classes several times a week. My alarm went at 5 am, but I’d try to be asleep the night before by 10 at the latest. […]
Writer’s Block
I’ve been thinking about what to write on ‘Yoga Suits Her’ this week and come up blank. In fact, in the last month I’ve skipped my weekly posting twice. Another of the weeks, my friend Angelika did a lovely guest post on The Beauty of Yoga Practice for me.
My Inner Critic has been wagging her finger at me.
A new post is like a blank Word document or a fresh sheet of paper – a tabla rasa. It’s a page that can be exciting for its clean spaciousness. […]
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. […]