Life, yoga and other adventures

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Tuesday 28 November 2017

It's getting hot in here

The weather forecasters might be saying the temperatures are dropping, but with my students this week things are definitely hotting up as we focus on agni, our inner fire that governs not only how we digest our food, but also how we process our life experience. Crudely put, it stops up getting constipated, literally and figuratively.

When it's cold outside and you've had a hard day at work, it's tempting to put on your elasticated trousers, turn up the central heating and reach for the hot chocolate, with extra marshmallows. This is a perfectly understandable response and I'm not backwards in coming forwards when there's comforting carbs on offer.

But we're yogis; we know there's a better way. Tune into bastrika breathing, hold those planks, power up your salutations and get your motor running.






 

Tuesday 21 November 2017

Making connections

Happiness is in the connections we make with ourselves and with each other.

This is a quote from Be Happy by Robert Holden and was one of this week's prompts at the Weaving Words writing group I attend.

In yoga recently I've been working with the philosophical point of vairagyam or non-attachment. On the face of it, this is the opposite of connection. However, often what stops me connecting with new people is a reluctance to let go, to allow myself to release my attachment to habits and forge new connections. Phrases like 'the wrong sort of people' or 'not like us' - which may well be rooted in my upbringing - can prevent me from crossing the floor to say hello to a stranger or to sign up to a course beyond my realm of experience. Yet when I do step forwards into a new circle, it often transpires that I already have a connection there through mutual friends or shared experiences.

Letting go can actually mean taking hold.

Tuesday 14 November 2017

Mrs Angry

This morning, I was moved to complain in Morrisons about the rudeness of a member of staff. It was the person collecting trolleys from various bays around the car park and returning them to the trolley stable by the entrance to the store. It doesn't matter what he said; let's just say his attitude was appalling. I wasn't the only one put out.

Something had to be said because he needed to be told that his behaviour was unacceptable. Actually, I told him that myself, but he wasn't interested in my opinion.

Perhaps I was a little hasty. Maybe his feet were hurting or his dog had just died. No matter; you don't take your troubles to work, especially when you're dealing with the public. Anyway, lovely Lisa at the Customer Service desk took my concerns seriously and offered me coffee and cake in compensation. I was entirely satisfied by the way the matter was handled.

Then I came home to  write a yoga lesson plan and my book of Buddhist reflections that I sometimes turn to for inspiration fell open on this:

Never speak harsh words, for once spoken they may return to you.
Angry words are painful and there may be blows for blows.

Oops.

Tuesday 7 November 2017

Sweet dreams

The trouble with being asleep is that you don't know what your body is going to do while you're not paying attention. It could emit all manner of noises.

I like my students to relax at the end of a class, but I always warn them that while it's OK to nod off I will wake them up if they start to snore. Despite what you might be thinking, it's actually quite rare for someone to go off so soundly that they don't wake themselves up with a surprise snuffle. Occasionally, though, there is a persistent rumble and it's not always easy to decide where it's coming from. I can tiptoe around the room getting as close as I dare to my yoga corpses, but just when I think I've located the culprit a snort will erupt behind me. Most disconcerting.

Usually a discreet stroke of the foot with my pen is enough to disturb the guilty party. Occasionally, though, I have to resort to a gentle shake of the shoulder. Best response to date came from a chap who was totally out of it, and as I roused him he brushed my hand away and said: 'All right, I'm coming, darling.'

And relax.