Tara

Tara, "mother of liberation" in Tibetan Buddhism. This is a pic of a beautiful Tara statue I picked up in a shop called Jewels of the White Tara in Makawao town, Maui, Hawaii in 2011. She's a real find, made exceptionally rare due to the hand-written prayer papers stored in the base. They're locked in there, sealed shut, but if you shake the statue you can hear them bounce around. Usually these types of statues never make it past the borders from east to west due to suspicions around what is stored inside them! Luckily this one slipped through the net intact. It even made a safe trip half way back across the world again from the middle of the pacific to the UK. A unique item and incredibly well crafted.

Newsletter May 2012

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Brussels Yoga - Thankyou!

Fantastic yoga, fantastic people, fantastic belgian waffles! Thanks so much to Francesca Di Rosso (left on the picture below) for hosting a wonderful weekend workshop in Brussels. Keep a lookout for news of Francesca's forthcoming visit to Newcastle Upon Tyne and the House of Ashtanga...

House of Ashtanga Newsletter Spring 2012

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Shala

Some pictures from the Anjuna shala.



Finishing postures.


Waiting outside in the queue..




Artjuna cafe. Yoga, arts and great coffee all in one. Yoga hang out place.

Last day chez Rolf and Marci

The last day of yoga in Anjuna. During the last four weeks I’ve got very used to doing my practice in a big (!) group with generous adjustments daily. Now it’s time to resume reality in Newcastle and readjust to self-practice.

Every practice still takes a lot out of me; I have moments of total despair and discourage, but also moments of deep insight. Just like at home, some days the practice is very strong, other days very weak and shaky. I can’t say that the practice has transformed - four weeks is not long enough for that. But I have enjoyed being able to take the time to forget about the trivialities of real life and to thoroughly focus on my practice as it is in this moment in time. The support from the teachers and the group is invaluable; we’re all on the same path and can share beautiful times and experiences from along the journey (often relaxing on a sun bed by the sea or over a wonderful meal or a steaming cup of masala chai). In the mornings, I exchange smiles with many of them, even when we don’t know each others names or speak the same language, and I hope I will see them again somewhere in the world.

I try to take in everything that occurs on the mat so I can keep working on it at home, in the absence of anyone telling me off for keeping my hands too close when I jump back (or for anything else I’m not doing right). Having been to Goa has made the feeling that this practice is so right and amazing even stronger. And maybe that is the most valuable thing I’ve got here - not being able to do karandavasana correctly or floating through vinyasa (I still can’t do that by the way).

Colourful Goa

India is a multi-sensory experience. It fills up your senses with a variety of sounds, smells, tastes and images. Goa smells of spices, incense, dust and the sea. The air is filled with the sound of scooters and cars passing by, the drivers eagerly using the horn. The cows mooing during the day, dogs howling and barking during the night. The sound of waves washing into the shore.

No matter how much I scrub my feet, I seem not to be able to get rid of the dust and dirt I can feel sticking to the soles of my feet. When the temperature peaks, no number of showers can entirely wash away the dust sticking into the sweaty skin. After a day on the beach, I can feel the salt, sand and sun on my skin.

Goa has magnificent, radiating colours. They’re on people’s clothing, the scarves and sheets that they sell, the vehicles, houses, temples and churches. Goa is colourful, its religions, people and food are colourful. It all glows brightly in the sun but I feel that even the darkness has a tone. It brings a welcome change to the matted grey of Newcastle.

I try to preserve it in the pictures but they can never illustrate the richness of the Goan experience.