What Timothée Chalamet Accidentally Taught Me About Being a Yoga Teacher Over the past week there has been a small but interesting conversation happening in the arts world. Actor Timothée Chalamet recently faced criticism after remarks suggesting he wouldn’t want to work in ballet or opera because they are art forms that “no one cares…
From Podcast To Proof: Chatterjee And The Fascia Fiasco Dr. Chatterjee’s recent podcast on fascia training with the man who runs Human Garage, a company selling movement courses, has been widely shared and enthusiastically received – let’s look at why this is pretty bizarre. The episode explored the idea that we can train fascia in…
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…
When “Don’t Make a Cookie-Cutter Shape”… Turns Into Cookie-Cutter Careers In yoga we spend so much time telling our students that they don’t need to squeeze themselves into a set shape. There isn’t one right angle for a knee or one perfect version of a posture. There are options, variations, ways in and ways out.…
When Everything Feels Like a Conflict Lately it can feel as though even the simplest interactions are heavier than they used to be. A quick email, a text, a conversation about something small can suddenly feel like a misunderstanding waiting to happen. It’s not just you. When the world feels uncertain economically, socially, emotionally, that…
WHY PAIN REMAINS AND RETURNS AND WHAT THAT REALLY MEANS When pain lingers or keeps coming back, it’s easy to think something must be wrong with the body, with your approach, or even with you. If you’re a movement professional, you might start to wonder if you’ve missed something, if you have failed or not…
We get into shaky territory in yoga and especially yin yoga when we start suggesting it can fix pain. Pain is personal, complex and multifactorial. It doesn’t neatly dissolve after a class or a stretch and even speaking anecdotally about an individuals persons experience of their pain improving through yoga can be irresponsibly misleading. It…