With this essay I hope to provide a summary of my study of Motivation which has been unfolding generally as part of my natural curiosity. It has solidified a lot for me as part of my yoga teacher training process and apprenticeship with Debbie Farrar (2012-Present). What began as a simple google search has now become a more living understanding.
Read MoreWhat is actually happening to our nervous system in yoga posture practice? How can we clarify and harmonise action with intention? An attempt to be objective about the most inherently subjective thing there is; the human nervous system. Prepare to embrace confusion and trust your monkey mind.
Read MoreIf we practice dissociative practices that masquerade as meditation; we may be able to immune ourself to these images and our nightmares. However we will be moving further away from reality and into the realm of fantasy. Whilst fantasy can be good, it can also be bad. It can fertilise our dreams and our nightmares.
Read MoreI do not teach yoga as stretching. To reduce yoga to stretching is to do it a disservice. If I could ban my teacher trainees from using one word; that word would be 'stretch'! Although that word 'stretch' is so ingrained into the vocabulary of most yoga teachers that it is a hard thing to let go of. I still hear it popping out of my mouth occasionally, and I do not teach yoga as stretching.
Read MoreAccreditation & certification can give teachers the impression that they know for sure what is right & wrong. They might think they know how every joint works in every body, or that they know how each person feels & relates to sensation & pain.
This certificated stamp of authoritative approval can actually lead to them being so sure of themselves that they convince students to do things that are not right for them.
Read MoreI was recently invited to talk at the public Independent Yoga Network meeting that was set up to discuss the implications of the British Wheel of Yoga's move to pay Skills Active £20,000 so they can set up a National Occupational Standard for yoga teaching in the UK. On the surface, it seems sensible enough. Standards are surely a good thing? Everyone wants to raise standards don't they? Yes, they honestly do.
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Do BWY and Skills Active want the same thing? Do they dream the same dream? Is standardisation the same as raising standards?
Read MoreBesides, I should be celebrating what I can do! Too much of my life had already been spent listening to people trying to put me down. I have an awesomely strong and capable body! It was shouting at me to treat it to some loving, nourishing rest.
Read MoreI do not feel as though I am missing out. I feel like I am engaging more fully and intimately with myself, my life and nature than ever before. The nature of my own presence is palpable.
Read MoreThis is not to say that they are a bad person for having a hidden agenda. We all have them. Mostly, these hidden agendas are the result of our own unmet needs, and so are hidden even from ourselves. It is hard to work out these things in our own psychology.
Read MorePutting a cushion under your ass is in no way meant to be a substitute for conventional treatments to hip bursitis. Please do not replace one external authority (doctors) with another (me). It's your own life, your own enquiry. Write your own script. Be your own authority.
Read MoreTurns out that lots of stuff that we used to think of as self wasn't really self after all.
Read MoreBeing normal's only what you
be when you cannot be you,
Instead of trying to be normal
why don't you just try being you?
Read MoreWe walked along a road that took us up a gradual hill for no other reason than the flow of people was taking us that way. The crowd was less dense at this point, so as we walked, the group began to discuss what we wanted to do.
“We should go see the Naga Babas!” Daisha exclaimed enthusiastically.
Read MoreWithin a week of arriving in India for the first time, I would be attending the Maha Kumbh Mela. I was travelling with Debbie Farrar, a yoga teacher who also leads tours and retreats in India, and Matthew Farrar, Debbie's brother and our trip photographer.
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