It was just as well I didn’t encounter the gesture of “Namaste” until I’d been doing yoga for many years. […]
Yoga practices
Puppy Training
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. […]
You're Hot, You're Sweaty & You Need to Relax!
We all need to relax. Cyclones and flooding in Queensland, bush fires in Victoria, mega-snowstorms in the U.S., and insurrection in Egypt.
Even over here in peaceful Mitchells Island, this evening the neighbour’s dog monstered the gelding who got loose and ran all around our property. Daniel calmed the horse but the dog bailed me up till help arrived.
Pshew!
So, here’s an Eve Relaxation for you. Of course, it works best if you can put it down as an audio recording.
Lie down with your head and neck supported, arms and legs a comfortable distance apart. […]
The Audacity of Becoming a Yoga Teacher
Most yogis who get interested in teaching do so because their teacher is going away on hols and asks them to cover for her classes. Thrown into the deep end, dog paddling to stay afloat, I remember watching the attendances of classes I was filling in for go from 20 to 2 in no time. Certainly I was audacious to have said yes in the first place. […]
The Gift That Keeps Giving
Imagine if Beethoven had had his hearing restored and he actually heard his magnificent Ninth Symphony as he conducted it at his Austrian premier. Because of hearing nothing, he wept.
Or imagine if the incredibly prolific Pierre-Auguste Renoir had not been severely crippled by arthritis and wheel chair-bound what his contribution to painting and sculpture might have been.
On February 1st, 2010, my orthopedic surgeon replaced my osteoarthritic hips with 2 shiny ceramic & titanium ones. It’s taken time and dedication to yoga and other exercise, but I’ve restored much of my former mobility. […]
The Artist's Way
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. […]
Happy Hips
Very few people seem completely content with the way their hips work, a sad thing to say about such a pivotal part of one’s anatomy. For some of us, our hips are too tight and for others too flexible.
Here’s a sequence that will give your legs, groins and hips a good workout. For you supple yogis out there, focus on keeping firm to centre, holding the muscles around upper thighs and hips close to the bones. […]
Australia Day '11
Australia has a hard, even at times cruel, climate, one that keeps complacency at bay. It seems one of the most extraordinary things to me that our farmers keep going back to husband the land after fires, floods and plagues. Tragic stories of lost properties and livestock abound accompanied by stories of communities pulling together for mutual support, as in the recent Queensland flooding.
We’ve been very blessed this season on Mitchells Island – spared, as we’ve been from the 40 degree temperatures of the Drought Years and saved from the northern floods of this year. […]
Armpits
For reasons that are sometimes all too obvious, armpits are an often maligned part of the anatomy. Perhaps if we referred to armpits by their anatomical name, axillae, we would be more cheerfully disposed toward them. I find I feel more friendly about my axillae since I discovered the word is diminuative of “ala”, wing.
Axillae are absolutely crucial to many yoga poses. Take adho mukha svanasana, as an example.
This photo of me was taken in my pre-armpit-activating period. […]
Attitude
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. […]
Good For What Ails ‘Ya
I first came across this pose (above) at the Iyengar Institute in Pune, where it was used extensively for students in the “medical classes” (read therapy).
So, it seemed like a good one to pull out of the rabbit hat in the weeks after my hips were operated on nearly a year ago. I was reminded of it yesterday, visiting with Maarit who is a couple of months post-hip surgery.
The Institute’s medical classes are like a multi-ring circus. […]
Afternoon Yoga @ Church Point
Viparita Karani went down very well after bushwalking at West Head and aboriginal rock art hunting in other nearby areas.
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Expectations
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. […]
Pain in the Neck
I don’t know how it is for you, but I have a love/hate relationship with my computer. My reliance on, fascination with, and attachment to my Mac has led to many lost hours. Most times, I am productive, but other times, I admit to disappearing into scrabble playing or reading email humour.
My body suffers. No matter how ergonomically smart I am, computer time is just going to end up being one of those out-of-body experiences, like gardening or housecleaning. […]
Ultimate Relaxation
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. […]
Retreat and Go Forward
January is the month of Good Intentions – the time to do a yoga intensive to hopefully kick off a year of disciplined practice or a time to go away to a writer’s retreat to finally become a writer.
Then, you come home, unpack, do your laundry, fill the empty fridge and think what’s next. Or maybe you don’t have time to think because you have to go straight back to work.
I used to lead country yoga retreats for many years. The participants enjoyed the structure of the weekends. […]
Custodians
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. […]
What Do Writing and Yoga Have in Common?
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. […]
Desert Island Poses
At present, I’m exactly 180 degrees direction from the happy sunshine of a desert island. I’m in Bellingen where the creeks and rivers are threatening to overrun, the rain is coming down horizontally at times, and the pastured cows are up to their thighs in grass.
Why would anyone go to the sodden eastern seaboard for a week smack in the midst of the worst flooding in years? To do a Writing Course, so I can be a better writer. […]
Paschimottanasana
Sometimes yoga poses need to be flirted with for quite some time before coming anywhere near forming a relationship with them. Not that you are being frivolous but you just don’t want to get in too deeply at first; an oblique approach works well, rather than a full frontal attack.
This is a particularly useful philosophy for paschimottanasana, the double-legged forward stretch, especially when you are in the getting-to-know-you phase. And, this beginner-ish period could go on for some months or years depending on your anatomy or various tightnesses. […]