yoga, writing, cooking, and whatever else catches my fancy
Autumn always makes me want to get snuggly. The colder months are perfect for cosying up and taking it easy—and the slow, meditative approach of yin yoga is a perfect match.
To make it easier to get some hygge this autumn, I’m brining back monthly Friday evening yin yoga sessions. Three relaxing 75-minute online classes (with video replay), from my home to yours.
Continue reading “The return of virtual yin”
My mum’s granola has always been a serious crowd-pleaser. Crunchy, nutty, different from batch to batch—and regularly requested in care packages. But when I was eating vegan a decade ago, its butter content made it unsuitable.
I couldn’t very well live without homemade granola, so tried a few vegan recipes. Most simply subbed in oil for butter, leaving the final product bereft of buttery richness and slightly greasy. Then, I stumbled on a delicious alternative…
Continue reading “Delcious-ness in a jar”
I wish I could say that I’ve perfected the art of teaching over the last decade, but I’m still learning. And I question a lot of what I thought knew over the years.
As I’ve become more settled in who I am as a teacher, I’ve veered away from the one-size-fits all approach of most (if not all) Hatha yoga teacher trainings. I infrequently use the Sanskrit names for postures or talk about chakras. I’m less rigid about sequencing and frequently switch up the flow I’d planned based on student needs in the moment. I’m more comfortable teaching on the fly, but also more dedicated to prepping classes.
Continue reading “What I’ve learnt in ten years of teaching yoga”With the short fiction term of my Creative Writing course wrapped up and the poetry chunk starting in September, I have time to fine-tune a few pieces I’m planning to submit for writing competitions and/or publication. Most of the publishers require previously unpublished work, so I won’t be popping them up here—at least not yet.
In the meantime, though, here are three more stories from other writers I think are worth a read.
Continue reading “Selected short-story reading (vol. 2)”
I sometimes reference the princess and the pea when I get into the final relaxation posture of a yoga class — and it’s no joke! Getting this posture perfect helps me soak up all its benefits. When my body is supported and at ease, blissful relaxation follows.
Who couldn’t use a little more bliss?!?
Continue reading “Perfecting relaxation pose”
Canada has been on my mind a lot recently. Partially because of international media coverage after the discovery of the remains of 215 children on the site of a former residential school in Kamloops, BC. Partially because Prime Minister Trudeau got weird amounts of attention for his poufy hair and fancy socks at the G7 in Cornwall. But mostly because I haven’t been on Canadian soil for a year and a half.
That’s a long absence for me.
As more people are fully vaccinated (in Switzerland and Canada) and COVID-19 infection rates are going down in both countries, travel is starting to re-open. But plotting a trip ‘home’ has been complicated by quarantine requirements, lack of flights, previous commitments, and, above all, so much uncertainty.
Continue reading “Absence and return”
Since I wrote about boycotting written works by straight white men (or avoiding them as much as possible) I’ve made very deliberate choices about what to read for my Post-Graduate creative writing course. This term is all about short fiction and contains some unavoidable SWM-authored works (notably Raymond Carver thus far), but we’ve also had a lot of latitude in picking what we want to read, present, and pick apart.
Instead of keeping the women-authored pieces I’ve found within the bounds of the course, I’m sharing some of my favourite discoveries. These are quick to read, readily available, and a no-commitment-necessary kinda way of broadening reading horizons. Lots of people don’t love reading short stories… maybe these picks will help change that!
Continue reading “Selected short-story reading (vol. 1)”