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.

A Deafening Silence

Apologies if anyone has been tuning in hoping for some updates, but I'm experiencing serious technical difficulties at this end.

Just before I left for India my brand new Medion PC crashed and it's been with them for repair ever since - a bit annoying that they haven't managed to fix it within 4 weeks as promised, but I'll give them a chance and leave that rant for another day. As fate would have it the day I returned I plugged in my dad's laptop to connect up to the net and it conked out after 2 seconds - looks like the power cable is knackered!

So I'm temporarily without Net access, except at work which is not a conducive climate for blogging. Bear with me and all will be revealed...

Camera Citi Revisited

Well it was inevitable - our friends want copies of all our photo's, so Colin and I returned today to have CD's burned from our flash cards. Can I say that our expectations were low, and as we passed from number one salesman to number two it all seemed to be going the same way.

The CD's were burned, and then on to number 3, and it appeared we were going to escape lightly. Then in an amazing fit of hyper-bureaucracy we had to pay "an advance" of Rs 200. Which was amazing, as 30 seconds later we had to pay (to the same man) the balance of Rs 131. We simply smiled.

So, here we are, waiting for the flight home. I've posted a total of 9 kgs of books home - at about Rs 250 a book they are excellent value. And the book post, even though it takes 3 months, is also a steal at Rs 300 for the lot.

I am hoping that both me and my luggage arrive home before the books, but that is in the hands of British Airways and the Gods!