The Flat Cap: The Costume of Spirituality in Modern Wellness In the north of England, the flat cap wasn’t originally fashion. It was practical. It kept rain off men working long days outdoors. Men grafting in factories, fields and shipyards. Men hunting because they needed food on the table, not because it was a leisurely…
There comes a point in many yoga journeys when we find the studio. The teacher whose classes just make sense. The room that feels like home. The familiar faces. The mat in the same corner. The Tuesday evening ritual that quietly becomes non-negotiable. It becomes the place to be. There’s nothing wrong with that. Community…
The Thing Isn’t The Thing Kurt Vonnegut, the novelist known for finding profound truths in ordinary moments, once told a story about going out to buy a single envelope. His wife suggested he buy a hundred and keep them in a cupboard. It would be more efficient. More sensible , yes, but efficiency wasn’t really…
Is being positive a coping mechanism or a defence mechanism We’ve all met people who seem endlessly positive. They always find the silver lining, remind us that “everything happens for a reason,” or encourage us to “look on the bright side.” Sometimes that’s exactly what we need. Other times it can feel dismissive, as though…
What if your discipline is just your anxiety in a nicer outfit? One of the stranger things I’ve noticed in yoga is how often tidiness becomes a moral virtue. Teachers jokingly shame students who don’t put props away. Mats must line up perfectly. Blocks must be stacked just so. Somewhere along the way someone quotes,…
January Tells Lies, Yoga Wears Truth Goggles In yoga philosophy, the “grooves” or recurring patterns of thought, behaviour and emotional imprints in the mind are called samskaras. These can be good, bad, old or new. Helpful or not, they undeniably make that part of the brain stronger and that’s visible on scans. Think of them…
Vairagya (pronounced vai-RAHG-yah) is often translated as non-attachment but that can sound a bit cold or distant. In yoga it’s actually much more tender than that. Vairagya is the practice of letting go without hardening, of releasing your grip while keeping your heart open. It’s not about pushing feelings away or pretending you don’t care,…
Uncertainty is the technology of possibility. What a great sentence. Could doubt really be a place of discovery? The idea that NOT knowing is a super power to harness, not to fear or avoid. Uncertainty can show up as finances, the future or even simple daily events such as what we should eat or what…
The Farmer & The Field A simple yoga teaching from The Bhagavad Gītā. In the Bhagavad Gītā, the body is described as a field. The Sanskrit word is kṣetra (k-sheh-truh) , ‘the field’. Then equally as important, there is the one who knows the field, kṣetrajña (k-sheh-truh-gyah) , ‘the knower of the field’. To make…
Chidakāśa: The Kind of Space We All Need Yoga philosophy is full of beautiful concepts that sometimes feel like they belong more in a candle lit cave rather than everyday life. Chidakāśa is one of them. It translates roughly to “the space of consciousness,” but before you switch off stay with me because this idea…