Thursday, January 29, 2009

Fare thee well!


Kausthub Waves
Originally uploaded by Altered-Perspectives.

I have decided to stop posting to this blog - well, I just kinda stopped posting and I think it's now time to accept I won't be keeping this going.

However I have started to regularly post to my other blog again, Scott's Thotts. And now that Flickr have enabled merging of blogs I took all the posts from this one and added them in to Scott's Thotts.

So come over and join me there, post some comments even if it's just to say hi. The Search for Darshan continues the same, only the form transforms...

So it's goodbye from me, and since I have no pics of me waving my teacher Kausthub will do the honours ;-)

Tuesday, June 03, 2008

Back Again!

Off to India again on the 20th June, but just like last year I really doubt I'll have time to keep up the Blog :-(

Sunday, June 24, 2007

A Message from India


New KYM
Originally uploaded by ArjunaWeeping.
I'm afraid I am guilty of blog neglect already, albeit with good cause. The course we are doing is so intense that I simply haven't had much time for anything else, and what little internet time I've had has beenspent dealing with communications with friends and family. Now the weekend is almost over and I feel I haven't had much rest as we were invited to a wedding last night (which was great).

I think it is probably a bad idea to try to keep this blog going, I simply don't seem to have the time. However I am trying to keep up with uploading photo's to my Flickr site to keep everyone informed as to what I am up to, so if you want to know what's going on please just go there...

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

A Return to Darshan


Passports and Visa's
Originally uploaded by ArjunaWeeping.
So, I'm off again! Setting off for India on 8th June, a few days in London to finish my Birthlight training before I go to Chennai on 12th June for 4 weeks Yoga Therapy training.

I am planning to use this blog again to track my journey, but pretty sure I won't have as much time online this trip so please don't expect miracles.

You might also want a look at my Flickr account to see whatever photo's I manage to upload.

See you in India!!!

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Darshan Found

So, it's over a year since I posted on this blog. I had considered resurrecting it, but I really only wrote it to keep record of my trip to India, and help communicate with friends and family while I was away. It certainly served that purpose, I'd thoroughly recommend it as a good way to stay in touch (though sometimes taking up a little too much time and effort).

It looks like I've lost some of the photo links due to changes with Buzzboard, and also I never quite got around to filling in the blanks like I thought I would. However times have changed (very much for me), so you'll all forgive me for being "too busy". A wee while ago, a direct result of my experiences in India, I found the courage to stand on my own two feet and live life the way I want, not the way I've been "used to". So I handed in my notice, left my job of 12 years as a police officer, and set off on my own as a full-time Yoga teacher.

A big step when you consider how little money and job security I now have, but I have this strong feeling, faith you might call it, that things are going to work out exactly as they're supposed to. As if that wasn't enough at the end of May I also got married to the beautiful Maureen, and off we went on honeymoon to the Maldives (ah, life is hard!!!).

You can keep in touch with my ongoing exploits through my website at and also at my new blog at http://scottsthotts.blogspot.com

I think I found a little Darshan on my journey. I'm looking forward to all the rest I might find along the way...

Sunday, April 03, 2005

Linda's Yoga Journey



While I thrash about here trying to find a spare minute to update my blog, you should have a look at Linda's Yoga Journey. Linda is going on the KYM course starting in September and we've been chatting by email. She liked this blog so much she went out and bought the company - well, no actually, she only started her own blog along similar lines but I just thought I'd let you all know since it's looking good already.

Sunday, March 13, 2005

Trial by Peer



So that you don't think it's all doom and gloom at Darshan Heights, I thought I'd tell you what a great weekend I've been having (despite the previous posts).

In August last year I started a yoga teacher training course with CYS Scotland in Glasgow. It's based around the Ashtanga Vinyasa Primary Series, which kind of put me off at first - I practiced Ashtanga Vinyasa for about 18 months before realising how 'wrong' it was for me (on many levels). But after discussing the course with the course director, June Mitchell, I was more than happy to join in. Although using the Primary Series as a framework for teaching, this course is centred around general Hatha Yoga techniques, so teaches much more than the narrow focus of that sequence.

More than that, June (and her Co-Principal, Julie Hanson)have a really great and open attitude to yoga. This course is far more than a simple 'learn to teach asana' type course that is so popular these days. June takes it upon herself to really develop and nurture the teacher within all of her students - not focusing merely on the fine details of each techniquee, but on empowering the individual to become a teacher in their own right.

This Friday night everyone started taking turns to teach the class, doing a 10 minute stint each this time. Having been in India, of curse, I didn't know of this homework assignment when I turned up. June kindly offered to let me think it through overnight and do my piece on Saturday morning, but I felt prepared enough from my India trip to give it a go that night. I was last up, so was given the opportunity to present a sequence I really enjoy that would also start winding down the pace of the class - a prostration sequence I had some really great expereinces with, from the 'Viniyoga' approach.

It seemed to go well, not perfection but I learned many good lessons from the experience so I think it achieved its aim. Most surprising was how quickly the ten minutes passed, I had planned a whole lot more practice for everyone, but found myself having to cut it short as 8 minutes had slipped past by the time we had finished the first round of the sequence.

So. my first group teaching experience has slipped by without incident. It was made so easy by June and the other students in the class, and I now feel that future teaching experiences will only get easier/better. I am enjoying the trip so much, and find that the more time I spend learning from June, the more impressed I am at her approach.

From bad to worse...



Someone up there is sending me a big message to stay away from the Internet! Got my pc back from the wonderful Medion (more than a hint of sarcasm their BTW) to find that for some strange reason whilst replacing the motherboard they found it necessary to reinstall Windows, thereby overwriting all the files on my hard drive!

Yes, I should have taken backups, but the Medion system DID have a backup system - unfortunately that system was on the same drive as the one with the operating system, so when they reinstalled that, guess what also got overwritten!!! They could easily have secured those files for me, or offered me the chance to do so. So I'm piecing my computer back together again from whatever bits and pieces I happen to have lying about. Needless to say I've lost quite a few files (from the past couple of months).

My Outlook address book is probably lost, so if I stop emailing any of you please do drop me an email to let me recapture your email addy. And bear with me, after I sort out this mess (I feel a complaint letter coming on) I'll sort out this blog for sure.