Bellur was fantastic of course. We stayed in a run down but wonderful hotel – wonderful because it had monkeys, a waterslide and pool, table tennis and badminton. We met some lovely Americans, Russians, Latvians, Aussies, and Indians. Luke played water polo with some young Indian men and posed for lots of photographs. Bellur is a small village […]

“You people,” (it’s a pejorative), “a grave mistake that you people make is to make the body narrow,” booms Geeta from the stage. And she is so right, as she is about everything at this Convention. Someone told me that she’s been practising all year to prepare for Yoganusasanum, and her teaching certainly has that […]

Now that I’ve been sick I feel like my fear has gone and  I’ve surrendered to India. I can stop fighting it and just go with the flow (so to speak!).  After two days in bed I finally lifted the phone and whispered “doctor” to the guys at reception. The lovely doctor said “classic food poisoning” and gave […]

This is the life. I can understand why Leonard Cohen spent so much time in the Chelsea Hotel! We’re living the yogi, family version though of course here at The Hotel Ketan! No domestics to do, just yoga, reading, writing and facebooking! India is amazing – truly beautiful and yet it’s concerning what’s happening to […]

This morning was my first class back at the Iyengar Institute (RIMYI) after 14 years. Even though I was here in Pune, India last year for the Geeta Convention, I didn’t attend classes at RIMYI. Some things have changed – no more squat toilets – but mostly it feels the same, my feet opening on the marble floors just as they did all those years ago. Prashant looks older of course, more like his father. Let me predicate this blog with a disclaimer – this is my interpretation of what Prashant said – and as he said, we are all making our own recordings of what’s going on according to the quality of our equipment!

This year saw a return trip to Australia, after ten years living and working in the UK. Part of my trip that I have been very much looking forward to was a stay at the beautiful Emu Park yoga retreat in Queensland with Linda. I had previously studied with Linda back in 2005 at the […]

Have you noticed that after yoga you come out of class more centered and calm? Your mind at peace, resting a moment from the incessant activity that often occupies it. Patanjali wrote about this phenomenon thousands of year ago in the yoga sutras, short aphorisms describing the yogic path. Sutra 1.2 yogah cittavritti nirodhah is […]