I often think about adjustments these days. I miss some of them and I wonder if the fashion for assisting yoga students is passed. Then I think of some of the memorable ways teachers have adjusted me: David Swenson and Stewart Gilchrist have drawn screams and giggles from me! I think of Nancy Gilgoff who wasn’t happy with my restrictions in a seated forward fold and asked if I have trauma in my lower back – a childhood accident, perhaps. Yogis believe that the body is made up of physical imprints of experiences and traumas whether we remember/recognise them or not.

Dear Yogis.

I got an email this week that pleased my heart. The yogi said: ‘Maybe a class focusing on core strength and the good old six-pack might be popular... with all the lock down working from home – static sitting at my desk – strengthening the stomach muscles feels like a good move’. I couldn’t agree more. Let’s do it! I have exactly the thing for you.

Isn’t it funny that yoga teachers (like me) repeat ad nauseam that yoga is about meditation... yet classes are all about the postures! We site the Bhagavad Gita as the foundation stone of practice which describes yoga’s goal as to connect with the supreme. Even Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, also a bible for yogis, has no idea how hard Rotated Side Angle Posture is or what to do with an Uddiyana Bandha! So how did yoga move from wanting us to merge our conscious with the divine to our present-day pretzel practice?

I have to say, I absolutely love teaching online. There’s some really great yoga practice happening in the Zoom boxes on my conferencing screen! Is it my imagination or is your yoga improving in the more relaxed, home environment?