Life, yoga and other adventures

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Thursday 18 February 2016

The best laid plans of mice and men...

... are filed away somewhere.

Are you a planner or a spontaneous person? Do you like to know what's coming or enjoy the thrill of the unknown?

Anyone who is even a passing acquaintance will know that I'm a bit of a control freak: OK, I'm bossy. I can't help it - and if you think I'm bad now you should have seen me before yoga worked its magic. I do try to live in the moment, honestly I do, but sometimes I really need to have all the details to hand before I can decide what to do next.

When it comes to lesson planning, I'm still following the template that I developed when I did my training. I'm no longer writing a word-by-word script, but I always have not just the topic but also the basics of the sequence written down before my lessons. I'll admit that sometimes I run out of time and have to resort to something handwritten, but even then it's pretty solid. That's not to say I don't vary the session in response to the mood and requirements of my students, but I'm always in control of where we're going.

I have been following a Face Book conversation about the joys of teaching without the safety net of a lesson plan. There are apparently some people who turn up with a theme in mind and then wing it. Rather them than me!

Monday 1 February 2016

The authentic self

www.penguinclassics.com
This was the title of a workshop I went to on Saturday with the amazing Andrea Kwiatkowski, and it fitted well with the lessons I've been teaching (though I wouldn't claim to be anywhere near Andrea's level). We returned to the Bhagavad Gita, specifically Chapter 3, and more specifically still:

35: And do thy duty, even if it be humble, rather than another's, even if it be great. To die in one's duty is life: to live in another's is death.

Many's the time I turn in for bed with the thought that I've had a day of many hats: I've been yoga teacher, copy writer, music student, friend, wife, mother, head cook and bottle washer. This variety is what I love most about my life. I'm lucky enough to earn a living doing what I enjoy  and I have a lot of freedom about how I do it. Does that mean I'm leading an authentic life? I'm not sure: I still have moments when I catch myself thinking 'I don't want to be doing this'; but if we're going to be involved in society, surely sometimes we just have to grit our teeth and get on with stuff for the sake of the greater good.