Dear all,
I’m delighted to say I’ve returned to the U.K. All my classes are back on – the first is tonight: Thursday Foundational Yoga at Peterculter Heritage Hall, 6pm.
Our break in Bali was even more enjoyable than I expected. Fiery yoga practices with Deepika Mehta and Mark Robberds every morning, afternoon workshops, moped rides around the town (I’d never driven one before), incredible cafés, massages, dogs, lizards, gamelans, monkeys, fire dances, holy snakes, surfing, you get the idea… It was three weeks of highlights and I was genuinely sad to leave, yet excited to return to Scotland with renewed vigour as a teacher and practitioner.
Beyond the holiday indulgences, this trip meant a lot to me as I got to meet Mark for the first time, having admired his teaching from afar for years. You never know how that’s going to go, meeting a famous teacher, but I can safely say Mark and Deepika were wonderful – warm, inclusive, inspiring and down to earth.
One of my personal highlights of the whole trip (and indeed one of the reasons I was keen to go to Bali in the first place) was the 1:1 lessons I got from Mark on One Armed Handstand. This is a pose I’ve been captivated by for years, ever since I first wondered if it was possible whilst training in India in 2017. To learn about it directly from a world-class master was utterly terrifying if I am honest! As soon as Mark and I got stuck into the session however, the jitters vanished as they were swiftly replaced with a heady mix of awe and fatigue! The ‘warm up’ was holding a regular two arm handstand for one minute without assistance, which was made even harder by mosquitos, 30 degrees heat, 98% humidity and knowing I was being watched! This baptism of fire left me beaming however, as by the end of the first lesson, Mark had lasered in on three habits that needed improving, which I had no awareness of prior. In one hour he illuminated areas that I had been blind to for years.
This is the power of working with a teacher. Having another set of eyes on your asana practice can be priceless when you are looking to find a new physical edge, understand a movement that isn’t flowing, or need feedback on how to find more freedom in your pose. Yoga shouldn’t be performative, but there are occassions I believe where having someone watch and guide you is invaluable.
Across the weeks, we spoke to Mark and Deepika about a lot more than poses, and those conversations became some of my favourite memories of our time away. Yogic practices can include working with postures, but really, yoga encompasses so much more than that. The sanskrit word “Sangha” means community, and I can say with great happiness that at the end of our holidayy, we had managed to further stretch our fabric of community across the globe, from Scotland to Indonesia.
I can’t wait to work with Mark and Deepika again, and I can’t wait to see you all at classes soon,
Oli