as weekend yoga goes, i have to say this weekend gone has been my favourite by far, not so much hip work, both days were mostly inversions & backward bends, its not often i sweat that much & felt so good.. i still do... at the saturday workshop we met another person coming on to teacher training in January, she's from the Jasmine side but comes from Matlock

Saturday we booked in for 6 hour workshop, i didn't get so much out of this one, Bridgets teaching was rushed & she didn't explain herself properly, we are once again heavily leaning towards the BW Foundation Degree, so much so i filled in the Introductory Day forms last night

I found our 2nd teacher for next year & she has a 3 week summer school running, i constantly search for retreats/workshops & although the retreats here & abroad look so nice they only have 2/3 hours of yoga a day, so it kind of defeats the object, this one has 5 1/2 hours a day for 5 days monday to friday with lunch included for £145 each/ or £260 residential... i do think its a good idea to work with her before we decide to do the next 2 years, there is no going back once we decide, i'm still 75% yes 25%, just from a finacial position, 4k each is a lot for 2 years or we could do the Yoga Alliance for a year like Bec did & only pay £1500 each, she is our longest standing teacher & if i'm honest, my favourite... i have a few months to decide yet so i'm not rushing any decision

i'm pleased i mastered crow/crane a while back... & it took a while due to my shoulder injury..  

... this is what Arthur & Dudley think of Donna Fahri ^^

i am questioning my ability of being a yoga teacher, i haven't come along some self discovery travelling in Tibet or found myself in India studying in one of the top yoga centres, my yoga comes from anatomy & that need to know just what is wrong with my physiology & how i can heal or at least maintain some level of balance, my mind or body is hardly ever quiet, my concentration is poor, my mind wanders, i have difficulty processing information so quickly, my left & right don't come naturally, i have to think about things, i look around at my peers, yes i have ego & i can't accept that we aren't supposed to, i wonder if i feel so inadequate why they don't, how my lack of knowledge & my desire to understand everything is my main frustration, i look at some great teachers & i could never reach that level & isn't that where we are supposed to aim

"no matter how different we appear on the surface, we all share the same life, no matter how convinced we are of our own ideas, there is always another to consider" - Donna Farhi 

this statement is so true, i have always understood there is no black & white, its all just grey.... my faith in humanity screams at me even when people are so self involved they can't see past their own ideas & i have learned to walk away, i became cynical & tired, especially with the ones i love/d the most, i now understand what people say always isn't what they mean, however trivial ....apparantly you tell people what they want to hear rather than being honest or saying nothing seems to be the obvious answer, this makes for very pointless friendships that over time suffers or comes to a natural end, so i ask.. what is the point, why do we waste precious time on people... i have just started reading Donna Farhi's books, its the first author i understand, she makes me think, this is probably where i question the promise of sincere, skillful & constant practice of yoga will give me peace, happiness & freedom & i will break through my self limiting & self immobilizing thoughts & behaviour... i already accept who i am & why i behave the way i do, life experiences make & shape us... & with every person who disappoints me, another makes me smile, even in the smallest of gestures & the balance is always restored 

...... this aside.. i do find i am very content in life at this point, maybe it is the magic of Yoga & i just can't see it yet or that all this practice makes me too tired to care about such triviality

after a break from yoga for 10 days, we are back at it till August now, Yogi's seem to have August off, not quite sure why this is, i'd have thought at the warmest time of the year there is nothing better... a fair few workshops booked along with regular classes & foundation

we went to try another new teacher/class on Thursday, although she wasn't what i'd call a 'proper' teacher she was ok, she taught with her back to the class, very odd

we spent today in a workshop with Sharon in Beeley, looking at alignment, she's a fantastic teacher i just wish she was close enough to have regular classes with

we are still very much in the yoga zone, workshops, classes, foundation training, we are noticing just how much better we have become just since the new year, the house is slowly being taken over by all things yoga/teacher training.. we have a new Monday class as Lisa has become manager of the fitness classes in a closer gym & teaches her Fitness Yoga, though i have to say she should really make them all take their socks off! The Ros Bell Iyengar workshop was excellent, its quite amazing the little things each teacher can show you, she was amazing, i couldnt even begin to guess how old she is but she's taught for 34 years & she looks so good on it, there aren't many Iyengar teachers at her standard, though i don't agree with some of the teaching aspects of Iyengar, its just dangerous.... I really like Sue who owns Peak, i'm really looking forward to her coming to do a British Wheel Day next month, i just want the rest of class to come too but they don't show much interest in workshops outside what we do already, maybe money is an issue for folk, its not cheap really when you add it all together.. & yes i will give in and get some tight yoga pants or maybe shorts  just for Sue as i wont be stripping to my pants again like i did for Ros so she could look at what on earth is going on with my thighs vs calves, i hyperextend my knees & stand in tadasana knock knee'd, at Becs class last week for the first time i actually stood on one leg holding my big toe with the other leg out stretched 

my life at the moment is simply Yoga & hounds.... i love how its changed my perspective on an awful lot in my life or maybe thats just age, i've found a couple of different workshops for us to attend over the next few months, i'm really keen to learn the differences between different styles, so we have booked on an Iyengar weekend & hope to start Ashtanga in a regular class, its so limited here, its all just Hatha teachers =/ & i also found a thursday night Tai Chi class i'd like us to start, i'm back on the vitamins/minerals, fish oil, collagen & gluco/chron i do wonder if its placebo or they do have some benefits as i do generally feel better on them than off, i don't think the deep hidden vegan within me will ever appear... though never say never....  i turn my nose up at some of the cleansing practises now but in time maybe i could bring myself to consider Kunjal (stomach wash) or Dhauti (Food Pipe Cleansing)  after all the Neti does work wonders..  

i have noticed Senior Yoga teachers have the strangest feet.. we had a teacher called Richard Agar Ward at a 3 hour workshop on saturday, our first insight to the pure Iyengar style, i love new teachers, i really believe each one offers something regardless of style but the Seniors really are something to look up & inspire to... after so much Trikonasana on saturday & feet breaking.... which as soon as my extra blocks arrive i will be doing on a daily basis, toe stretchers clearly don't work, its always usefull to let a teacher know your injured, in many places for me, i learnt some really usefull techniques if they work who knows, i understand the headstand more too now...  i'm glad sunday was a day on back bending.. but i'm really looking forward to the Ros Bell workshop & yet another Iyengar full day in May..