“You are old, Father William,” the young man said,
“And your hair has become very white;
And yet you incessantly stand on your head –
Do you think, at your age, it is right?”
– Lewis Carroll
1) Thank you so much for all your input on Friday’s post about simplicity. Some of your comments certainly made gave me something to ponder! I think I am lucky in that I am naturally a very tidy organised person (as is Himself) and our house is generally neat and tidy. We talked a lot about this at the weekend and everything in our house is how we want it (well as much as it can be considering it’s a rented house – if we had our way it would be far more sustainable and be powered by the wind and the sun, but you can’t have everything). As Inca Maia said:
there is a big difference between “I can do without” and “I don’t need”
Decades-old record collection and yoga mat aside I practice non-attachment! The yoga mat is an issue. It now has a hole. It is no longer grippy at all. But what do I do with the stupid non-biodegradable thing? I am considering going matless… watch this space….
2) Do you want to unleash your inner artist? Do you live in London/Surrey? Join a (matless?) me in October for a weekend of marvellous yoga and creativity…. more details here!
3) Readers, you remember a few months ago I was given three months’ free membership to the Gaiam Yoga Club? And you will have noticed how I let you down after two months and stopped reviewing on a weekly basis? Forgive me?
I think Gaiam is marvellous for people with some yoga experience. It’s down to earth and humorous teaching. Nobody takes themselves too seriously. There is much focus on anatomy and physiology, on relaxation and breathing. It’s not all asana which is marvellous. Give it a go!
Why did I give up? Well I got frustrated during the week on headstands. I don’t do headstands you see because, well, my neck looks like this…
Yeah. And then I went on my yoga conference and met Bob and my practice went up about seven hundred notches and now I’m back on my mat (or no mat) in my own way. That’s not to say Gaiam didn’t give me a kick start, it certainly did. And it certainly gave me some things to think about for my teaching.
I think that’s it for today readers
Love and oms x
the last of the English strawberries
Readers, unless you have been living under a rock for the last week (and in a way, if you have, I’m jealous), you will have noticed a little bit of a kerfuffle in the American media about yoga. Yes yoga! Who would have thought it! The New York Times published this controversial article about Anusura founder John Friend who in turn published this reply. If you read It’s All Yoga Baby or YogaDork you’ll already know all about this.
I had to smile. Only across the Atlantic eh? Yoga would just never make the major newspapers in the UK. Yoga here is still something that ladies in leotards do in drafty church halls on Wednesday mornings, something that gym goers do for a change, something that is long accepted as part of a lot of people’s lives, but really not taken that seriously by those who don’t do it. Occassionally you get the odd newspaper article about it. I remember one about Bikram a few years ago in the Observer (left of centre Sunday paper) the overall conclusion of which was “Really? People pay you that much money to be tortured in a really hot room? Okay then!”. I remember a huge emphasis being put on the fact that he was sitting on a leopard print throne throughout. And then you get the odd article about how Bruce Forsythe (extremely old ugly television presenter) has stayed limber in his 80s doing shoulderstands every day (for real, click here if you don’t believe me), but you know, it’s hardly cutting edge stuff.
Us Brits have a hard time taking anything seriously. It’s the British way. It’s how we lost an Empire. We don’t have “rock star yoga teachers” (we barely have actual rock stars), we have old hippies from South London (sorry Bob!), and I should think most British yoga teachers like myself are rolling on the floor laughing at the thought of making any money out of teaching, let alone enough to live in a “mock Tudor mansion”. Instead we do it (as I’m sure 99% of American teachers do) for love and committment. Believe me, with most of the yoga teacher training programmes taking at least two years to complete, you have to be committed.
Friend-Gate, as it shall henceforth be known, has done me a huge favour. It’s reminded me why I love my country. Yes, it rains a lot and we all have Vitamin D deficiency and bad teeth. Yes, we have a bizarre government that nobody voted in and only one Green MP. Yes, we have the worst plumbing in the western world and our kitchens are always too small. But we have strawberries and Wimbledon, free health care and social welfare, Shakespeare and the correct use of the letter “u” (sorry I couldn’t resist), and we are never far from the sea.
Without a doubt I’ll be furious with Britain all over again tomorrow but for today I raise a strawberry to you my country, long may we take everything with a huge pinch of salt!
(in pictures will return next week – it’s been rainy and I’ve had a headache)
