December 2022: On Delight ☺️

I vividly remember my first pranayama class with Kia in April 2015: she said that every single breath should feel completely delightful. I got it. That feeling stayed with me ever since. It does not mean I have experienced it every time I breathe but delight is a good guide to my practice.

What is delight? It is something that satisfies, gratifies and gives pleasure. There is much I like in the word. It has ‘light’ within it, gratification relates to gratitude, and it makes you feel good. I don’t associate delight with pleasure – because there is the idea of wanting more – as much as I do with wholeness. It is not too much of something or too little of it, but, like Goldilocks, it is just right. When I have it, I don’t need anything else. It is softer than joy or awe, easier to manage. It is a more precise feeling than happiness and it is less tangible than contentment. It is less cerebral than insight or discernment, and is felt in the body.

And yet, I cannot make it fit the bed Goldilocks seeks. When I search for it, I end up stretching too much, or sawing feet off (like in the Greek myth of Procrustes’ bed). All I can do is make myself available to it, with curiosity, trust and listening. I think trust is essential to delight.

It is a feeling of bliss and relaxation, of presence and feeling fully alive and together with what is making it arise. I get delight from foods, from songs, from sunsets.

I get it from reading a magnificent arrangement of words that feels like they belong together. Sometimes I get it from writing too, from getting in the flow of releasing words from my brain, through my palate and onto the tips of my fingers to the keyboard.

I get it from dancing, from releasing my body into a pulsing rhythm that seems to go in tandem with my heartbeat, the world fully alive in me, totally attuned to the melodies around.

I get it from spending time with dear friends, over coffees and dinners where time is so elastic it does not matter anymore. Words said at the same time, thoughts holding hands showing how amazing it is when two people catch them at the same time. I get it from hearing the voice of my loved ones when I am thinking of them and they suddenly turn up, phone or write.

I get it from yoga, not all the time, but often enough to return to practice regularly. From the hands of my teachers, supporting me. From moments of mind, body and breath working together, from understanding the true meaning of gravity, from finding that edge in postures (especially sitting) between easeful and amazement that the body can do that. I get it from stillness. In fact, I get it most from stillness when meditating, as if stopping, observing and letting go is what I am meant to do in life.

And I get it the most from the sacred breath, which has been with me all my life, guiding, allowing, making possible. The greatest teacher of delight is the breath.

As 2022 just left us, can you reflect on what has given you delight? What will you cultivate in 2023? Below, I share the resource I use to orient myself in the new year. I look at what is coming up in this brand new year, which already looks so full of beauty. Hope you enter into it with delight.

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Looking to 2023

As James Boag often says, yoga happens at the crossroads, in the moments of change. These are abundant in daily life: from day to night, seasons, moons, moods … and of course the change in the calendar year, which we just entered.

Sometimes these changes are really disorientating. My rhythms go out of sync when the clocks go back or forward for example and it takes me a while to adapt. A couple of years ago, my friend Saffy recommended Year Compass to me and the idea of a tool to orientate in the new landscape resonated with me. In the first weeks of 2023, I hope to complete my version of the 2022«|»2023 booklet.

If you are in need of bearings, I could not recommend it enough.

Coming up: a lot of delight!

Kia ♥️

I am so looking forward to 2023 … in the first part of the year, I will be seeing Kia a lot. And you can too!

First, in Purple Valley, Tenerife, from 25 February to 04 March, right when I will be so tired of winter … I am afraid this one is fully booked but if you want to work with this fabulous teacher, you are in luck, because she is coming to Glasgow 14 to 16 April for an immersive workshop called The Boundless Wisdom of Heart. It is up for booking and when Kia comes to see us she always brings the sun.

But if you want to work with her in a longer span of time, you can come to her retreat in Spain. I will be there in session 2, from 31 July to 12 August. And I heard Yotam and Sandra might make it too! Yotam and Kia made a wonderful sound journey of our last time there: listen to The Retreat and hear us breathe, laugh, sing, learn … but mainly laugh! Details for booking are here. Don’t wait too long, it has sold out for the past 10 years.

 

It is all happening in Glasgow

Yes, Glasgow is the place to be in 2023 … You don’t believe me? Check this out:

I am going to be doing an event with my favourite artist Sharon Kivland on Friday 10 March and she will be reading from her novel ABÉCÉDAIRE.

James Boag is returning to see us for a Sanskrit recitation series and an immersive weekend. This treat, happening 15 to 19 March (right on the cusp of Spring), is open for booking.

Buzzcut is back! I have so missed this amazingly intense and provocative performance festival. It is happening between 30 March and 2 April and some really, really big names will be showing work. I cannot say much more until February but I can convey my excitement!

And apart from Kia, my pranayama teacher Sudhir Tiwari will also be coming in April and will be hosted by Siobhan Fitzgerald. Details will be announced soon!

 

What I will be up to

The book I have been writing with artist Eleanor Bowen is getting published by Routledge, hopefully in March 2023. I will be doing all sorts of events and readings, so watch out for announcements.

And in April 2023, I will be taking part on a very exciting art project with Take Me Somewhere. The subject and form are very dear to me and we will make a public announcement in January.

My Yoga Classes

My Yoga Moves Glasgow classes run at the Arlington Baths from Tuesday 10 January until 23 March:

Yoga (Mysore) | LIVE |
Tuesdays, 07.15 – 09.00
Thursdays, 07.15 – 09.00

NEW! One week a month, I open the zoom window and host pranayama and led primary LIVE and ONLINE.

Pranayama | LIVE AND ONLINE |
Tuesday 24 January, 07.15 – 08.30, optional Q&A until 09.00
Tuesday 21 February, 07.15 – 08.30, optional Q&A until 09.00
Tuesday 21 March, 07.15 – 08.30, optional Q&A until 09.00

Led Primary | LIVE AND ONLINE |
Thursday 26 January, 07.15 – 09.00
Thursday 23 February, 07.15 – 09.00
Thursday 23 March, 07.15 – 09.00

All classes are open for booking here.

PRANAYAMA in Blantyre with Yoga Rose: I will be teaching pranayama LIVE in Rose Ann’s lovely studio on a weekend day. This is perfect for those who don’t like getting up so early for my regular class or can’t come due to work. Dates will be announced soon.

Rose Ann is doing a retreat in Salento, Italy, 15-22 April 2022. What an opportunity to practice intensely with a unique, knowledgeable, kind and delightful teacher.

Royal Conservatoire of Scotland classes for students are LIVE on Fridays 1-2pm. Get in touch with Meg Baker at RCS Sports for details of when they will start back in January.

Classes for RCS staff will start soon and I am hoping they will be live. Contact HR for details.