Some lovely pranayama for our final day with Abhi. She took the approach that she often has during my stays in Pune, of keeping the preparatory asanas dynamic and demanding so that we stay sharp and present, not drifting off into a dreamy state where we're no longer attentive, as can often be the case in a pranayama class. This approach suits me, as I have poor energy flow in my body and especially my spine / back body (perhaps due to health conditions, or indeeed perhaps, wh

I'm still managing my wild swimming - just about. Last year I swam until mid November, but this year I am only just able to bear it now. I arrived at the lake, grass laden with dew, but air temperature not too bad. Beautiful autumn colours reflecting in the lake. I deliberately build up the body heat when I am walking so that I am ready to cool off when I arrive and then just a quick dip to get the marvellous effect of the cold water - as Craig Foster says in the Netflix docu

This blog finds me at a transitional moment in my life. The last 6 months or so have been a time of tremendous change. I'm really sad to report that we have had to leave behind our much-loved studio, after the rent was doubled during the Covid period, leaving us little choice but to quit. As you'll imagine after pouring my heart and soul into the studio for 3 years, with the expectation that this was to be a lifelong investment, this was a terribly bitter pill to swallow and

I'm discovering how different it is to attend an intensive (and blog about it) whilst being in the thick of 'normal' life - quite a different propostion to being in Pune where all of life's responsibilities are lifted off of my shoulders. Today we had a fantastic standing poses class and we learnt how to do some of the most strenuous poses with an even mind, so that the energy was not depleted. In Virabhadrasana 1 the whole body went back to the spine, so that even while we

The focus of today's workshop was moving from tamas guna to raja guna after our extended period of lockdown. We worked on a dynamic sequence of poses, designed to lift us out of of our langour and into a state of mobility and clarity. She endeavoured to keep 'lectures' to a minimum so that our minds were engaged with the body throughout - it was a tough propostion and at one point she laughingly observed: “You were all eagerly waiting for for the class to begin and after the

I woke up with yesterday's supported back bending class, radiating around my body - the combination of long stays with a relaxed diaphragm is a powerful one and although I love backbends and feel very comfortable in them, I can't remember the last time I consciously chose to stay and soften my diaphragm - it's a been a bit more haphazard than that, where if this action has happened spontaneously, then I might find myself staying. Nor do I think I've been to a class where I ha

Penultimate day of Abhi's teaching and today we focussed on supported backbends. She reminded us not to go all out in terms of strong muscular action at this time, we should not be doing unsupported urdhva dhanurasana, dwi pada viparita dandasana. Now is the time to use props to become comfortable and find an ease in the breath so that we can stay longer and receive the benefits of the poses more passively. Guruji used to stay in DPVD unsupported for 10 minutes, because he co

It was chilly and very breezy when I set out for my walk this morning, so I left my swimming gear at home and set off in boots and coat. I should have known better, as inevitably once I've walked up the very steep hill which is known locally as Blackwards Hill and then descended back down the Cotswold Way into the shelter of the valley, I always yearn to swim. I had to settle instead, for sitting with my feet in the stream, watching the play of light on the water and the lamb

I started the day with an early pranayama class taught by Rajiv Chanchani, followed by my own practice, followed by Abhi's class - a lot of yoga! so only a little time to get down to the allotment in the chill of a grey windy day before a virtual Sunday dinner with my children, sisters and parents, all in our various homes eating and chatting together. It is gratifying to see how my parents, who are in their eighties, have got to grips with the technology so that we're now ab

Another beautiful Spring day today and different location for a swim. Apologies for camera angle, this is what happens if you give camera to a teenager! Much cooler weather tomorrow, so felt we should make the most of the sunshine today and lovely to be out in nature after Abhi's beautiful pranayama where she reminded us that our inner nature and the outer nature are all manifestations of the same Universal Energy. For those who are reading this that are unable to attend the