The intellect, rational mind or faculty for thinking has many benefits and it is certainly something which is hugely promoted in our society: from success at school to debates in the news and media; even man-made money and economic theory is based on a vision of the human individual as free, selfish, and rationally minded. When so much value is placed upon this ACTIVE faculty of reason or intellect, it is no surprise that we have a lot of unhappiness in the world. This is because the intellect alone leads to despair. When so much value is placed upon this ACTIVE faculty of reason or intellect ..read more

Meditation and yoga have become hugely popularised as ‘secularised’ techniques which claim to significantly improve mental and physical wellbeing. But more recently, some researchers are suggesting that these techniques are not neutral or value-free; that they can even be dangerous when offered as a ‘one-size-fits-all’ panacea approach for all your mental health needs. I resonate with this view. I have had my fair share of meditation and yoga experience, most of it positive, but I have also had some negative experiences too. And while I am cautious to label meditation experiences as ‘positive ..read more

I have been feeling a shift the last couple of days which culminated in a thought I had this evening in yoga class... When we are young, we wait to “find ourselves.” That is a part of growing up, going on a gap year: to find our “true” identity. But for me this always has implied personality. And then I realised that finding oneself is really about finding ourselves in others. Finding the unity in all and becoming less personally attached to an idea of ourself, aka our ego. Because when we are too focused on the “I” or “me,” well that’s when we take everything personally and get upset or offen ..read more

The Prints of Rajasthan It was in Rajasthan that I became totally encapsulated by the dazzling, colourful, life-embracing fabrics I saw all around me. Whether it was the silk saris worn by Indian women, or the perfectly bound turbans adorned by gypsy men playing music and singing traditional songs on the street, there was something very special about the clothes, fabrics and textiles of the “colourful” Indian state of Rajasthan. In particular, there was one textile pattern I saw again and again which caught my eye, and my heart. I called it the “dot, dot, dot” print and, although I was aware o ..read more

I haven’t been blogging lately or posting much on my social media. As a white woman who has grown up with more privilege than others, I question what I could or should say; perhaps I just shouldn’t say anything? But I have also become aware that silence is deadly. Especially when concerned with circles of yoga, spirituality and philosophy, it is easy to “bypass” judgment and opt for a neutral stance void of politic. After all, these systems of knowledge are built on the ideal that this knowledge transcends human differences of race, class and gender: Yoga, spirituality and philosophy are thems ..read more

This article below is taken from my published piece from CAREFULL MAGAZINE, an amazing non-for-profit online magazine aiming to help those struggling with mental health this lockdown- all the while raising money for Mind charity. Please check it out here and donate if you can! There is a load of great content and there will be more releases in the future! Covid-19 is shining the light on another, pre-existing pandemic: that of our mental health. We have been given a mandatory break from our modern, stressful lives, and most of the social remedies we use to manage them. Such space is initially ..read more

In my previous post, I referred to yoga in the broadest sense because I am not just talking about Yoga Asana, the physical postures, but Yoga as a philosophy and way of life. A brief history of Yoga Coming from South Asia and India thousands of years ago, one might envision Yoga having an original or authentic form. Traditionally, the ancient philosophy of Yoga has been studied through a canon of texts including the Bhagavad Gita, Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, the Hathapradikipa and the Yoga Upanishads. More recently, however, a wider range of ancient Yogic texts have been translated for the first ..read more

When I first started practicing yoga regularly, I was about twenty. I had a gym membership at the time which included lots of free fitness classes, but before I knew it I was hooked on yoga. I had always loved exercise, but with Yoga it was different: I got a unique feeling which kept me coming back for more. My final year of University when I became truly yoga-inspired. I was practicing Kundalini Yoga and Mantra chanting at the time which is pretty powerful stuff! (above). Five years prior to this, when I was about 15, I had been to one yoga class with my mum. I remember thinking it just was ..read more

The first season of Netflix’s hot new dating show: Too Hot to Handle, has just launched and it is seriously binge-worthy. But this is a dating show with a twist… The tragic death earlier this year of former Love Island host, Caroline Flack, is the third suicide to be connected to the hit reality show Love Island. And while demand for Instagram-influencer reality TV does not seem to be slowing down, it has become clear that something just isn't quite right. Netflix has identified this and taken action, releasing two new dating shows with unique approaches to finding love: Love is Blind and mo ..read more

Pantajali’s Eightfold Path of Yoga is one of the key ancient Indian yogic texts that we study today, contained within 196 Sutras (or ‘threads’) which was written over 2500 years ago. This path, described as Ashtanga (‘ash’ meaning eight and ‘anga’ meaning limb) outlines the eight-fold path to the ultimate goal of yoga: union or Samadhi. The diagram below outlines the eight limbs. Beginning with the Yamas, the limbs go from the outer and most material, to the subtlest and most internal level. Believe it or not, only one of the limbs refers to the postures we mostly practice as “yoga” in the We ..read more