My Blog
Be happy & banish suffering: Yoga psychology from Dr Uma Krishnamurthi
Just before Christmas, I went to the Sivananda Chateau near Orleans to do a course in Yoga and Psychology with Dr Uma Krishnamurthi. Uma was brought up in a household steeped in Hindu philosophy and spent her free time travelling to listen to gurus such as Jiddhu...
Yoga in the Valleys: the Mandala Ashram, Wales
It's a challenge getting to the Mandala ashram – a converted farmhouse perched on a hill in the middle of Wales — for pretty much any visitor. Not a bad thing necessarily: I felt like I was going on a pilgrimage. It took me four hours by car from Dorset: blasting...
Sync your Mind for Success: How Dilts’ Neurological Levels can help you be a more effective yoga teacher
Different Mind Levels The mind relates to the world around it on different levels, according to NLP author and consultant Robert Dilts. If you want to operate effectively in a certain role, all the levels have to be in alignment. For example, you want to assume the...
Ashram chic: seven ayurvedic beauty products that remind me of India
Brahmi hair oil. This hair oil (ideally made with coconut oil) cools the head. This is said to make the brain better for meditation, prevent headaches, and even diminish grey hairs. In India I bought Ramtirth oil as well as Parachute advansed ayurvedic hair oil, which...
Dice Divination: Tibetan Mo
One of the most common ways of divination in Tibetan is with dice. If you have an important decision to make, you go and see a lama and he rolls a couple of dice and advises you. A friend of mine, an ex-Tibetan monk, has used Mo. When he crossed the boarder from Tibet...
Snakes & Arrows: what comes around goes around
I expect you were like me and played Snakes & Ladders as a child. It seems rather boring now, just watching each dice throw to see whether you would scale up canary-yellow ladders, or slide down evil-eyed snakes. But the game has a fascinating history,...