A new acquaintance I was chatting with here in Bali recently threw a philosophical question my way. “What is your relationship to spirituality?” she asked me, out of the blue. “Well, I live in Ubud,” I joked, “need I say more?”[1] The theme was apparently in the air however – a day earlier, a therapist […]
Category: Yoga, Philosophy, Well-being.
Pain in Ashtanga yoga, and being friends with the body.
A I’m writing this in the context of my present Ashtanga vinyasa yoga practice, but after more than twenty years of sustaining various traumas to the musculoskeletal system stemming from a number of activities, I’d like to look at how we relate to pain and minor injury, and at the belief systems we have around […]
Looking backwards through the lens of discrimination
Far-right anti-migrant protests in Germany lead to violence. In Italy and Austria, the political counterparts of these protestors are on the rise. Meanwhile, Steve Bannon has merrily embarked upon a European tour. This is the tone of the news I return to, after almost two years away from the European union. On television, I see […]
Rootlessness
By the time I was seven years old, I had lived in seven different houses, and my family’s itinerary spanned three countries and two continents. There followed a seven year reprieve, of relative stability in rural Suffolk, where I gradually found my marks, and some roots, climbing (and falling out of) trees, catching tadpoles and […]
Facing Injury without Fear
For most of us, at some time or another one or more body parts will begin to cause concern. Fortunately this is often temporary, and the body’s extraordinary resilience and natural intelligence deal with the issue, provided we cooperate and, where necessary, take appropriate action. Having an injury or weakened area is particularly frustrating when […]
How Words Count, and Why Some Labels Are Just Not Healing
Over the past eighteen months, my circumstances have changed in unexpected and unforeseen ways. I don’t usually write about topics such as this one, but in view of the people I have met, the things it has been given to me to observe, learn, study or witness, and simply the continued journey of life, I […]
A Talk with Rachel Grey
Jim: Ashtanga yoga derives to a great extent, I believe, from an older, broader tradition of practicing yoga postures, hatha yoga. If I’m not mistaken the word hatha means effort, force, or exertion, so is it just a general term for the practice of physical postures? Rachel: So from my understanding hatha yoga is the […]
What is yoga?
If we look first at the meaning of the word, then yoga is the union of the individual consciousness, or soul, with the universal consciousness – or to put it simply, the union of the invidual with the Divine. The word also refers to a Hindu spiritual and ascetic discipline, incorporating physical and mental practices, […]
If not now, then when?
“If not now, then when?” asks Tracy Chapman in her beautiful song, “If not now”. It is a question Zen monks have pondered for centuries before her, not as one requiring an answer, but as a koan, a seemingly nonsensical query pointing to a deeper truth that must be grasped beyond intellectual concepts. I was […]
Not cutting the ties that bind
I sat in the barber’s chair, and stared at my reflection in the mirror. Untied, the long locks I’d had for fifteen years fell loosely around my shoulders. I took a deep breath. “Cut it,” I told the barber.” Cut it short.” The barber nodded, and with plastic comb in hand, approached my thick head […]