Barefoot ramblings of a geek dad

I am an Oxford educated mathematician. I set myself the challenge of calculating precisely how much we need in life. How much we need to be safe? To have our needs covered? To live a life free or worry? It should be a simple enough calculation...... And the answer is:

My body was born by the Irish Sea.  A Celtic sea. Beautiful and kind in the love of the sun. Unforgiving with white-tipped intensity when threatened. A sea that is always moving. Flowing. Looking for the next adventure. Caressing a calm port. Laughing at the wind. Driven as the rain. Never settled. Never controlled. Looking longingly at the stable mountains. Knowing it will forever crave the peace of their untamed permanence. Knowing that stillness will never be part of its nature. Satisfying itself with stolen moments on the sand. Stolen moments of connection. Stolen momentary stillness between washing in and then washing out. Its whispered loving heartbeat. Laughing children playing in its shallows. Whooping sailors surfing off its crests. Longing for a life with them. Knowing their friendship will be a fleeting shared moment on its unending journey. Learning to celebrate what has been, not mourn what was lost. Meditating on the serenity it has ...

It is a funny thing. 6 months ago I'd have said I was experienced at yoga. After all I've been practicing for years.  Never a week has gone by without my trying to bend my aching limbs back into life. To 'recover' from my running by inflicting a different type of demand on aging ligaments and knot ridden muscles. This year I committed to daily practice. Little did I know the impact this would have on my life. The team at YoyoSno ( www.yoyosno.com ) kicked things off in style. So much so I'm already booked in to kick off next year the same way. My yoga took a dramatic change in direction on my return from the retreat. After years of focusing on the Ashtanga and Viniyasa forms of yoga I have now moved to Viniyoga (originally developed by Tirumalai Krishnamacharya and brought to us via his son T. K. V. Desikachar). Under the instruction of Zoe at  www.yogaleicester.co.uk I have had to learn to discard much of what I thought I knew.  Slowing...