Manju Jois in London

I feel really lucky to have practised yoga with the two people I would call the most influential teachers in my yoga practice, Nancy Gilgoff and Sharath Jois, here in London this summer (see previous blog items).

Nancy has of course known the Jois family for many, many years and recommended practising ashtanga yoga with Manju, if I got the opportunity.

StillPoint yoga London hosted him here in London and I managed to get along to one led ashtanga yoga class. It was a wonderful experience and I can only describe it as a "soft and joyful" practice.

It is always interesting to see how the same yoga asanas (more or less), are taught differently by different teachers. Manju counted us into the pose but not once we were in it. I glanced at him in in what seemed to be a very long Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana and saw that he was counting to himself throughout. This really made me smile. The long pranayama and chanting were the best and was indeed the pranayama practice Nancy had taught me this summer. If you get a chance to spend a bit of time with Manju on his travels then take it. He will be in Maui with Nancy in November at her shala The house of yoga and Zen.

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Neti pot

When I was training to be a yoga teacher, one of the 6 purification techniques taught to us was Jala Neti ( also called Neti or Jaaneti). Purification techniques are sometimes performed as a way of preparing the body for a yoga practice. Whenever the neti pots came out, I disappeared, always needing to be somewhere else at that moment in time… I had many techniques to avoid it: the bathroom, the water fountain, the shop, anything but the Net. Pouring a saline solution up my hooter was really not for me and I have avoided it right up to today. I have got a steaming cold and, as a result, I now have sinus pain, so I have decided to give it another go. Talk about waiting until your back is against the wall! I rushed to the Sivanada yoga studio nearby and bought myself a ceramic neti pot and salt. I had to follow the one photographic image as the instructions were in German!!! Although I did not find it as unpleasant as some people describe, it was not as bad as I remembered. So I will us...

Sharath Jois in London 2013

Sharath Jois will be in London teaching a week of primary and intermediate ashtanga yoga From 25th-30th of August- in a central London location. Booking for this will open mid May. Through http://www.astangayogalondon.com/index2.cfm A rare and wonderful treat to have Sharath in my home town-A big thank you to Hamish Hendry and ashtanga yoga London for organising this. Going to have to set an alarm on my phone- as there will be a lot of takers for this....

All about the balance

A snap from inside my fridge this week. The mix of wine, beer and Vita Coca sort of sums up my family really. The ones that drink wine and beer don't go in for the coco water, and the coco water drinker doesn't go in for wine or beer. In summary, none of us need worry about the other nicking all the drinks. :-)

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