Ways of seeing

You know the chattering mind that gets the run of the place in self-practice, when nobody's counting you through. Somewhere in the standing sequence you're replaying a conversation from Tuesday, and by navasana you're deciding what's for dinner. Or you reach for your...

I met a friend for Sunday brunch recently, and the moment the coming week came up, I watched him close up right in front of me. Nothing had happened yet. We were just talking, and still a kind of layer came down over him, the whole person tightening around a week that...

After one of my classes a while ago, a student came up to me, properly frustrated. "I want longer hamstrings. I want my hips to open. I want stronger arms. And in your class I push myself, and I get somewhere. Then I read that in yoga I'm not supposed to strive. So...

I remember my Mysore students telling me they would come back to the daily practice when their life had calmed down, when they were in the right space again. It's funny, because the practice is the one thing that could give us stability in turbulent times, and for...

This piece comes from Episode 03 of ‘the Inner Practice’ podcast. When the thoughts are in overdrive and the emotions are flooding the body, the first step is calming the nervous system down. There's no chance of clarity about anything while we're all in our head,...

Do you remember why you first stepped onto a yoga mat? Was it for the physical practice, or were you after something underneath it? When someone says yoga nowadays, we assume asanas straight away. But as you know, being a yogi goes beyond the mat. Getting there is...

This piece comes from Episode 02 of 'the Inner Practice' podcast. Small annoyances can rile us up, and it's often easier to just let them pass. But that's exactly why they're worth paying attention to. The small stuff never asks much of us, which makes it the safest...

This piece comes from Episode 01 of 'the Inner Practice' podcast. I have a little trick for when you feel stuck in your life. Take every 'should', every 'if-only', every bit of pressure you're putting on yourself, and put it in a box. Put the lid on, push it to the...

You can't stop the thoughts, but you can stop believing them. The moment you plan to do something outside your comfort zone, an inner voice shows up to talk you out of it. You know the one: "Not today, you're too tired. You tried this before and nothing came of it....

A reflection on the time I couldn’t use my own tools, and what I found I could do instead when stillness was too far away.