Love is one of the basic human needs.. But is there only ONE way to fulfil that need?…

I’ve never been naive enough (in my adult life) to believe that nature, my greatest love, is all sweetness and light.

But there’s a difference between knowing the truth of something, and very viscerally witnessing it in front of your eyes…

I ended up having one of those conversations the other day, the one I’ve had many times (or at least, several times in reality, many in my head - hence the blog perhaps!). The crux being ‘London’s so unfriendly / nobody ever smiles in London’…

I’ve been dog-sitting this week, for two very adorable but insane schnoodles..

And after the first couple of days of them driving me nuts when we went out, and noticing my own irritated reaction, today as we were walking, I suddenly had a realisation that made me laugh..

In our Wednesday ‘stillness’ group last week, I was rambling about swans. I think because I’d been inspired by my local pair on a walk to just ‘be’ and not overthink things (which I’d been doing). As they saw me approach they did their sideways turn of the head to get a better look and started swimming closer towards me in case I had food. And when they realised I didn’t,…

Well. I went to a concert on Saturday. And knowing the artist and style of his music, I knew it would be moving and emotional. But, from about 3 bars in, I cried like I haven’t cried in a long while..

I was doing a photo shoot recently (some of you will already know I’m a portrait photographer alongside my yoga) and couldn’t help but be reminded that the physical aspects of a yoga practice are useful all the time, not only on the mat!

Because everything else in our modern world seems to demand such instant attention and gratification, we’re confused and annoyed when things take time.

I’ve been thinking a fair bit recently about one of those really commonly used yoga phrases - ‘Listen to your body’.

It’s usually said as though to imply, ‘ah yes, just simply do that and everything will click into place’. And it’s become another of those beliefs/sayings connected with the yoga world that you’re assumed to understand, to just ‘get’, or hey what’s wrong with you?..

We can only live with our own present. Comparing, comparing, comparing, it seems we as humans are hardwired to sabotage ourselves by doing this, all. the. time!…

I’ve been pondering the idea of imbalance and feeling unsettled.

Is there anything we can do to calm ourselves and cope with the overwhelm, uncertainty and helplessness when everything seems unbalanced and/or out of our control?

I posted this photo a while ago on social media, as a reminder for anyone having a crappy day to just stop, place the palms on the chest and belly, and breathe..

But what I’m interested in is, can a yoga practice help us from having this obsession with anti-ageing in the first place? Why should we be anti it? In many cultures the fact of growing older is not seen as the terrifying, frankly shameful thing our media has us believe…