the image of yoga

One of the very few downsides of living in Cambridge is there is a severe lack of independent cafes that do a good Sunday Brunch, so this weekend we had to make do with Giraffe.

One of the many upsides is the beautifully laid back yoga atsmosphere.

Back in London, there was a tendency in some of the studios, to judge. To judge on the "perfection" of your asana, the austerity of your life, even the price of your yoga bag, the more expensive the better. It's enough to eat into anyone's self esteem and is one of the reasons why it took me so long to get around to training to teach yoga - I just didn't think I was "good enough".

Of course now, as I said in an email conversation with EcoYogini yesterday, it breaks my heart that beautiful, talented and amazing women are thinking twice about training to teach because they are not "good enough".

The yoga media don't help much either as Brenda P pointed out in this post. Much as I love Yoga Journal and it's UK equivalent Yoga & Health (hell I've even written for the latter one), I don't think I've ever seen a cover shot that isn't of very slim, Caucasian women bending their "perfect" bodies into gymnastic postures. Sometimes it's enough to make anyone give up. What about the tattoed, crooked backed women who will never get their head on their foot in Pigeon Pose (and yes YJ I'm willing to pose for a cover shot if you're reading)? What about all the beautifully curvacious yoginis out there? What about the graceful older yogini? What about the non-Caucasian? What, even, about the men?

We need images that inspire us to keep practicing despite, or even because of, our individual limitations - which, incidentally, we do all have. Images that remind us that this practice that we have right now is yoga, that we are not waiting to practice yoga until we can attain a posture akin to a Yoga Journal cover shot. As The Everything Yoga Blog wrote in this post, asana is only one of the eight limbs of yoga - a precursor if you will to the practices of pranayama and meditation.

With this in mind then, we can begin to realise that we do not have to be a certain build, or be of a certain flexibility to become teachers. It doesn't matter if we can't perform every asana "perfectly". As teachers we are enablers, helping our students work to their own abilities, helping them along their journeys, whatever their journeys may be. From personal experience I have found that my students secretly like my crooked back and dodgy hip, it gives them a sense of perspective!

Desikachar says that yoga is "to attain what was previously unattainable". That "unattainable" is different for everybody, and it's time that difference was represented more in the yoga world.

In Cambridge you can turn up to a yoga class in your pajamas (I have a friend who regularly does) and nobody bats an eyelid. Let Cambridge lead the way - I'm a lucky girl to live here. :)

The Misguided Bus: An Odyssey

If you read the comments to yesterday’s post you may have seen mention of the Guided Bus. This innovative method of public transport has become quite infamous in Cambridgeshire, mostly because of the fact that after years of planning it is still not up and running.

This Wiki article says that plans for this have been going on since 2001 but I first remember talk of the Guided Bus (or the Misguided Bus as the local press have “hilariously” nicknamed it) back in the days when the Brontosaurus roamed the earth, Kurt Cobain was still alive and I was doing my A Levels. I have people working for me who weren’t born then. Eighteen years later and it is still not built.

But what on earth is it? When I first heard of it I had visions of a bus travelling slowly down the middle of the road, guided by a man waving a flag like in the days of the early car. The Guided Bus however is basically a cross between a tram and a bus. It runs on special concrete tracks, allegedly zipping through the traffic most of the time. Then, when it needs to, it can also run on the road. It has two special sets of wheels for this purpose, which is a bit Inspector Gadget. The main point of all this is to connect areas of Cambridgeshire that have had no public transport for many years since our local railways were closed down. Currently many of the buses are just travelling around on the normal bus routes displaying signs that say "I'll be on the Busway soon, will you?". Surely, at this rate their "road wheels" will be worn away before they get on the busway.

The best thing about the Guided Bus is that cycle paths have been built along the sides of the tracks, which means that I can get to work without having to go on the road at all. However, I still don’t have a plan B for getting to work on rainy days, so for my part I hope it’s not much longer before the Guided Bus starts running.

The delays have been so great, and so many deadlines have come and gone that the Council is no longer even bothering to tell us a proposed opening date. Until then I guess I’ll just have to wear my sexy red waterproofs when it rains (which I’ve just noticed it is currently doing!).

I got a job!

Yes that's right. Tuesday was a very good day because I got offered the job I was interviewed for on Monday! And miracle of miracles, it was, out of all the gazillion jobs I applied for, the one I wanted the most. Which goes to show if make enough affirmations, something will happen :)

It is working as office manager for a charity called Inspire who basically promote art and music and performance as holistic healing for people with chronic illness and disability. Yesterday they had a ton of kids with Downs Syndrome in making rock music. :) They also work with people with Alzheimers, Parkinsons, Chronic Fatigue, depression and even Fibro - so you see it's right up my street. Maybe I can get them all doing yoga too! The hours are pretty flexible (so hopefully I can fit yoga teaching in around it pretty well, when I start up again) and best of all it is just an eight minute drive away!

I haz teh happy :)

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I am going to spend some time flitting around various yoga classes in Cambridge, working out what I like, what I don't, leaving my resume wherever it may need to be left and seeing what come of it all. I have a couple of masterclasses coming up with my teacher in the next few months also.

I went to a good class on Monday night - the first flow class I've been to in a while. Although someone came in ten minutes late and then left before savasana. Seriously?? I wouldn't never allow that! Maybe I am too strict? :/

Also I have been working on Eka Pada Rajakopotasana. It's something I have been practicing against the wall for some time. Well earlier this week I managed it without a wall!!! Only for a few breaths and my head is a looooooong way away from the sole of my foot but yay for balance!!!

So yeah, all good stuff!

First post from Cambridge!

It's been a crazy few days but I can say in good faith that we are moved in! Himself and I are like machines when it comes to moving house, neither of us can stand living out of boxes so we just unpack and unpack and unpack. Plus of course Himself has to work tomorrow so his office has to be set up. I have still to unpack books and sort out my yoga space but other than that I think we're done. Himself has even hung pictures on the walls and everything! We're both feeling very at home, both in the house and in Cambridge itself which has got to be a good thing.

In the front door and up the stairs

Our bedroom

Spare bedroom (not quite ready for guests yet though!)

Third bedroom which will be my yoga space when I've finished it! I have practiced in here a couple of times and it felt goooood!

Me doing laundry, living area to the left, Himself's office space behind me.

Through into the kitchen (me contemplating cooking!)

Through into the conservatory (various bikes!)

And saving the best til last, check out the view from the back of the house!!!

Yup, nothing but fields, we are as much on the edge of Cambridge as we can be, practically the middle of nowhere. Silence, beautiful sunsets and no people! Awesome :)

Tomorrow I have another job interview (still haven't heard anything about the last one but then I haven't heard I don't have the job so who knows?!) and am going to my first Cambridge yoga class. I have a ton of yoga contacts here in Cambridge who I'm going to hook up with over the next few weeks and get my yoga resume out to various teachers and studios and see what happens. Then on Tuesday I have another interview.

So fingers crossed for everything please :)

To be beside the seaside!

On Sunday we decided to get away from all things house moving and work related and we headed off to the south coast for the day. We ended up in Hastings (which is famous for a Battle that took place nearby in 1066) and had a lovely day just enjoying the sea air and each other's company away from the horrors of real life. I think we needed it more than we realised, we came home with a sense of reconnection to ourselves, to nature and to each other which was rather nice.

So we're now well into our penultimate week in this house. I'm madly applying for jobs in Cambridge and we're just generally plodding along to a point where we're ready to start packing. It's all very close now and neither of use can wait!

I'm not teaching tonight - instead the teacher who is taking over from me is teaching and I'm going to be practicing with the class, which will be weird but fun. Then next week is my last week of classes. Four more to go in fact! Eeek!

On moving to Cambridge...

Well last week we went up to Cambridge for a few days to look at some houses and for me to sign up with some employment agencies (Himself is in the fortunate position of being able to take his current job with him).

Some very positive feedback at the employment agencies, but still waiting for any actual job interviews to raise their heads of course!

But in very good news we did find a house!! It was a bit touch and go for a while because we had to wait for the Landlord to tell us whether or not we could take the kitties but we finally got our answer yesterday and we move on 1st September. Very exciting but also tremendously stressful.

It's a lovely little house in a really quiet cul-de-sac with three bedrooms a huge open plan living room/diner (part of which will have to be Himself's home office), kitchen and conservatory (where the cats can take their toilet!!). It's a bit shabby and the kitchen is a bit small but the pros definitely outweight the cons and once all our stuff is in there it won't look so shabby I'm sure.

So now I have lists and lists of "to dos" - sorting out packing, getting all the bills and stuff changed, mail redirection, cat pheromone spray for their long car journey!

Today I have booked the removal company and also a room at the Holiday Inn for myself for the two days when I will be here with the cats and the furniture will be in Cambridge.

Exciting times!!

Going there to come back....

So, now that all my yoga clients know about this, I can finally post about it in my public blog!

Himself and I are upping tools and moving to Cambridge in September. We both tire of London Life, and crave a quieter, more restful pace. Plus Cambridge is where I grew up and it will be fantastic to be near my family again - I'm a real homebody, who has been away from home for too long.

Himself has a job that is totally transportable so we will be lucky enough to have a very good salary coming in from the off. Now all we have to do is find a house that will accept two very troublesome kitty cats!

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I am, therefore, beginning to think about the fact that in less than two months I won't be living in this house, I will have sold my yoga business (I am so blessed to have found two lovely ladies to take over from me) and I will not be teaching yoga. Instead I will (hopefully) have a job back working as a PA (currently registering with agencies and applying for jobs etc), the career I left 18 month ago to teach yoga.

And you know what? All of that sits perfectly with me. I had to do it. I had to leave work and teach yoga full time so that I don't get to 50 and turn around and say "damn I wish I'd done that". I had to go there to come back.

I know teaching yoga will always be in my life. Come the new year I'll set up some pregnancy courses again on Saturday mornings. I'll do my Pilates training and my pregnancy Pilates trianing. Pilates and an anatomical viewpoint seem to be far more where my practice and my teaching are heading.

Everything will come to the place it is meant to be and I'm so excited :)

Day 13 - Coming Home

We came back home to Surrey today after a lovely Easter weekend at my parents' in Cambridge.

No matter how wonderful a break or holiday is, there is something very joyful about coming back to your own home, your own space (even if the cats have made a major mess whilst you've been gone!).

Coming home always reminds me of getting on my mat. It doesn't matter where my mat is but that rectangle of pink (yes my mat's pink), is my home and my space and when I lie down on it, as I do at the beginning of every practice, I always have a feeling of everything coming together; physically, mentally, emotionally.

By beginning each day with this feeling of coming home, I am always in a place to set forth on whatever adventure the day might hold!