“There’s no need to practice warrior one as if you’re on a tight rope…” Unless of course you are on a tight rope. Here are two stories about the yoga posture Virabhadrasana I (Warrior One). The first is an encounter I had with a steel rope bridge in the Highlands of Scotland. The second is… Continue reading Precarious Warrior Pose
I never really went back to ‘normal yoga’ (whatever that means) because in a blinding flash of the obvious I discovered something exciting about my body in the process of having a baby – it’s FEMALE!
The word 'solstice' combines the Latin words sol for 'Sun' and sistere for 'to stand still'. Today, yoga is widely known as a movement discipline, but these simple experiences of stillness have always been the goal. Without stillness there is no samādhi.
I'm learning through my practice of 'being in the cycles' that many of our outer seasonal customs mirror beautifully our inner experiences should we care to pay attention to them. So, as we prepare to light bonfires and send fireworks into the sky I figure it makes perfect sense that once in a while I might have an inner bonfire, or festival of sparks, that forms a perfectly normal and natural part of my own inner seasons and cycles.
At equinox there is a balance in the hours of daylight and darkness. In āsana practice (postures) we seek balance between the left and right side of the body. In meditation we seek balance between the left and right hemispheres of the brain.
Today is the first day of August and it is on or around this day that the festival of Lammas is celebrated. We are now half way between the Summer Solstice and the Autumn Equinox. The days have been shortening since the end of June and an 'exhalation' into the darker half the year is… Continue reading Lammas / Pratyahara
