Each year, I carefully craft my learning charter, then fling it to the wind and clutch at things that call to my spirit. I am coming off a mellow high from The Heroine’s Journey offered by The School of You, anchored by the wondrous duo of Aruna Gopakumar and Sam Arni. It acts as a… Continue reading The Old Songs are Waking
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Groovy in a Sixties Movie
I was in 11th standard when we got the first FM channel (Times FM, used to broadcast from Bombay, if memory serves). I would record the songs onto cassettes and make myself what in today’s language is a mixtape. One such tape had Mr. Big’s “Wild World”. To the tune of “Just remember there’s a… Continue reading Groovy in a Sixties Movie
Know the place for the first time
This last year, I’ve changed so much that I hardly recognise myself from twelve short months ago. Outwardly, perhaps not very much, but the operational system has had an overhaul. I am writing this hoping it helps me see the enormity of it all. I am filled with breath-clogging gratitude for the one thing I… Continue reading Know the place for the first time
The Trumpet of a Prophecy. O Wind!
That feeling when there’s a nip in the air, the year is headed for a close. Laden with gingerbread and plum cakes, one begins to count the ways in which they are grateful and send thanks into the world for all the “normal” Stop press. Hold the plum cake. Sitch incoming. I am primary caregiver… Continue reading The Trumpet of a Prophecy. O Wind!
Hazy cosmic jive
Seasons. The inescapability, the surprises, the soothing regularity. Seasons of my life have much the same features. Each year, I spend roughly the first half springing about, picking up new ideas & shoots and generating spaces of learning. In the second half, I find myself shedding the old, hunkering down and try out the new… Continue reading Hazy cosmic jive
Light and love and intelligence
“Ultimately, there is light and love and intelligence in this universe. And we are it, we carry that within us, its not just something out there, it is within us and this is what we are trying to re-connect with, our original light and love and intelligence.” - Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo A Winter Retreat in far… Continue reading Light and love and intelligence
Intervention, the mother of necessity
My first meditation retreat, winter of 2024. Day 2, and our teacher guides us through a powerful visualisation exercise featuring end of life joys and regrets. a ton of bricks fell, as they so often do, and opened another portal to the unconscious mind. In one fell swoop, I could see the maladaptive beliefs I… Continue reading Intervention, the mother of necessity
Just Breathe
Responding to a journalling prompt in what from my asana practice am I taking into my life, a memory of change made its presence felt. The answer stormed in, fully formed, filling up my being: Breathing. As in practice, so in life My breathing in asana practice helped me push towards better outcomes in Yoga… Continue reading Just Breathe
Where the light gets in
Leonard Cohen, that patron saint of all things bittersweet said it: “There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in. It was a journaling prompt1 that started it off, the exploration of the cracked spaces. “Identify different parts of you. Write with curiosity about one or more of these parts. Name them.… Continue reading Where the light gets in
Old Wounds and Life Trajectories
How a current #metoo conversation helped start the healing of a 25 year old wound hiding in plain sight.
Monica Pillai 