Bringing the niyamas to life – Ishvara Pranidhana

As a quick reminder, the niyamas are five personal qualities mentioned in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras that we’re encouraged to cultivate within ourselves, to help us on our yoga path. In this article we’re looking at the fifth and final niyama: ‘Ishvara Pranidhana’, which means ‘devotion to God/ the divine/ the cosmos/ the universe/ the bigger

The Recent History of the Living Yoga Tradition

Whilst in India, I was struck with how the cultural heritage and history of yoga and the lineage of yoga teaching is placed in high esteem amongst those teaching and practising yoga there.  This inspired me to write the following article, which aims to explain where the yoga we practice in the west largely comes

Surrender

Well, it has definitely happened. India has well and truly got under my skin, despite myself… Since Chris left I’ve felt pretty introspective, as though I’m trying to process all the things that have happened to me over the last crazy five months. Something has definitely shifted. I’ve been fighting surrender for so long, clinging

Monkey business

Today has been a day of farewells. Firstly, farewell to ankle-catching. There’s this thing in ashtanga yoga, where you’re able to do a new posture for the first time, and fireworks go off, you see rainbows and generally all is good with the world – then the next day you head to your mat full of excited anticipation

Devotional tree-hugging

Despite it being the Ugadi festival on Saturday, Sharath still went ahead with the Saturday conference this week. I made sure I was sat close enough to hear clearly, and was poised with my pen, ready to scribble down as much of it as possible again, in order to write up my notes later for those who weren’t

A spring in my step

Yesterday was Ugadi festival in India, which heralds in the Indian new year. The Hindu calendar is related to the sun and moon cycles, and to me it makes sense that new year starts at what is determined to be the beginning of spring, coinciding with a fresh lunar cycle. Spring is all about new beginnings,

The power of observation

So, yesterday I did pasasana for the first time in the big shala. Has the world changed since that moment? Have I become a better person because of it? Of course not! But it felt good to be moving forward nevertheless… 🙂 As usual, my heels didn’t touch the floor and I placed my towel

Ankle-catching

Despite another bad night’s sleep (our apartment is becoming so much like an oven that we’ve been driven to sleep outside on the rooftop!), this morning’s practice felt fantastic. Firstly, I managed to bind both feet and hands on my own in my primary series nemesis pose, supta kurmasana, and exit with the full vinyasa – a

Hot fuzz

Last night I slept really badly due to a combination of the sauna-like heat of our rooftop apartment as the temperature creeps upwards every day, a pack of howling, fighting dogs outside and at least one hungry mossie. After hours of tossing and turning, I stumbled to class bleary-eyed, bracing myself for an unpleasant Mysore practice. However, strangely,

Experiential Anatomy with Ken the Rolfer – helping the inner journey

This weekend I attended the follow-up to Ken the Rolfer’s initial Experiential Anatomy course and it was just as inspiring and illuminating as the first one. I could listen to Ken talk for hours. His slow, relaxed drawl belies a fiercely sharp mind and fathomless depths of knowledge and experience. When his steady gaze meets mine as