Yoga in One Syllable

“Learn to go beyond your limits”. It’s a popular self-help mantra of many modern gurus. Our world seems full of people, books and billboards telling us we don’t need to live according to our limits. That instead we should push beyond them. I’m not going to deny that our mind can keep us trapped by [...]

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Almost four decades ago a book called “The Limits to Growth” was released. Funded by the Club of Rome it modeled the possible consequences of a rapidly growing population and the finite resources our environment can supply: it outlined limits. Yet the idea that growth may be limited is not generally popular policy: twenty years [...]

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Have you ever noticed that often when you arrive somewhere your mind is trailing 20 minutes behind? Either that, or it’s raced 20 minutes ahead. You may have got to work, sat down on your chair and turned your computer on, but you’re still thinking about the morning’s traffic jam. Or, as you eat your [...]

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Yoga places a heavy importance on abdominal strength and the suppleness of the spine. Maintaining strength and suppleness in these areas ensures a consistent supply of fresh oxygenated blood to the internal organs and so helps to keep them at their optimum performance. Part of this is achieved through the subtle consistent movements of the [...]

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In the last week I’ve really noticed how much longer the days are becoming. Where only a few weeks ago it felt like the nights were going on forever, now by a little after 5.30 in the morning the sky is filled with lovely golden light. Unless you fly from Europe in the depths of [...]

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As promised, details of the India 2011 Tour are now live and online. Plans have changed slightly, and our three-week tour now fits neatly into 16 days. Check out the unique South India travel package David and I have put together. And if you can, come along to Hazelbrook on September 4th for a chai!

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Regular readers of these articles know that I’m not in the habit of casting my weight around on affairs of state – some places, after all, should be havens from the mudslinging, fearmongering and spin that accompany political campaigns. In fact, I try to keep myself away from the news as much as possible when [...]

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Meditation occurs in many philosophical and spiritual traditions as a way to become aware of one’s true nature and thereby reach peace within one’s self, and it forms one of the fundamental pillars of Yoga. It’s a discipline that you can spend your entire life cultivating and refining, but as a starting point, we can [...]

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I hope you’ll forgive me a moment of nostalgia, but I’ve had a very old Bjork song floating around in my head for the last week, and it won’t rest until I give it due attention. The song in question, or the fragment of it that keeps coming to my lips, goes “there’s mo-o-ore to [...]

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Yoga encourages you to consciously observe your experiences. It also encourages you to learn from them, and to put what you learn into practice in all spheres of your life. My grandfather was a great one for saying “the day you stop learning is the day you die”. When I first heard this zany idea [...]

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