August saw Hannah and I catching a train up to Edinburgh for a mid week city break with my Mum, sister and nephew. On my last trip I’d found Bristo Yoga School located in the centre of Edinburgh to practice at during my stay. Karen who runs the school was rather sensibly away in a balmy warmer Mysore, practicing with Sharath at the KPJAYI. Each morning I trudged through the magical snow-covered streets to the studio where I met and practiced with Tim, a decent Aussie bloke, and another guy with a ponytail – sorry dude, but I can’t for the life of me remember your name! You can read more about my last trip and practicing in Edinburgh here.

Fast forward 8 months and this time it’s Hannah and I walking in the early morning light to practice. There have been lots of changes at Bristo Yoga School since my last visit. It’s had a refurb and there’s even a new floor which Tim says was laid about a week ago! Hurrah! No more bandha-busting spongy mats on the floor. We also got to meet the lovely Karen from Florida who is the main teacher of the morning Mysore classes. The other big difference is – lots of students! I didn’t count but there were between 15 to 20+ practitioners each morning who are clearly committed to the path of yoga.

The energy in the room was great – soothing, energising and nicely warm. In fact Hannah remarked after our second morning that she felt really at home in the subterranean vault, like we’d been practicing there much longer. I felt it too – it’s the energy of Ashtangis coming together to practice as the sun rises, with devotion, dedication and commitment. There’s nothing else quite like it.

A big thank you to the Bristo Shala for their hospitality. Anyone looking to practice morning Mysore style Ashtanga yoga in Edinburgh should definitely visit Bristo Yoga School.

I can’t believe it’s already been two weeks since we returned from Santosa yoga camp. It’s a small 10-day yoga camp just outside Shepton Mallet near Glastonbury. We went for the last weekend which turned out to be a stroke of luck weather wise.

Hannah, her friend Tammy, and I hired a camper van from a friend which was a first for me and an absolute luxury. I never want to sleep in a tent again! It was heaven having a proper bed and living room with running water and a gas hob. Joey Miles described it as the A-Team van as it’s a Toyota Hi-Ace 4×4 and looks a lot more flash than your average VW Combi! Traffic both ways was a breeze and despite the occasional navigator error (that’ll be myself and Tammy) we made good time getting there and back.

Santosa is a really low key yoga camp of around 250 people. There were two catering options. Angelic Feast and The Outer Regions Cafe who are regulars at the Buddhafield festival amongst others. There were also hottubs and a sauna which I didn’t check out this year. Each day was packed with yoga classes and workshops in a range of styles by different teachers.

Looking at the programme there was a lot of good stuff we missed because we only stayed for the last 3 days of the camp. Of interest to me was a backbending workshop, a history of yoga workshop (3000 years in 30 minutes) and Shadow Yoga with Sasha. We did catch some Integral Yoga with Manjula, Qi Gong with Jacob, Yoga Nidra with Ram Das and a workshop on the classic Hatha Yoga Pradapika with Uma.

Every evening there was devotional singing in the Bhakti space which was really lovely. On Saturday night we were treated to a Kirtan concert led by Brighton based Narayani. I’ve never come across her before so I was extra pleased to hear she was based in Brighton. She’s doing a voice circle at the BNHC in October which we’ll be going to. Come check it out!

The Ashtangis were well represented at Santosa. Joey and Donna had been teaching earlier in the week and were chilling on the last weekend so I got to practice next to Joey as he cruised through a lovely 3rd series on the Sunday morning. We also met Richard and Nicola from Sheffield, who were teaching the led Ashtanga morning class, and Justine who’s based in Hassocks.

It’s a great family friendly camp with loads of yoga and workshops. It is a camp though, rather than a festival, and you will need to self-cater most of the time. I’m not a hardcore camper myself so a week in the rain would not be my idea of fun, but having a camper van made all the difference. Check out the Gallery to see pictures of the camp.

day potluck! Sorry I couldn’t resist the title!

A big thank you to Shari and Elaine for hosting the latest moon day potluck. It was well attended. I counted 14 in total. Jane gets a prize for her chocolate brownies… ooooh! Paul also gets a prize for most “avant garde” dish – cashew dates, dipped in cashew butter and then dipped in cacao powder! Seriously yummy – just don’t inhale as you put it in your mouth as the cacao powder gets caught at the back of your throat, as Shari and I both discovered!

The highlight for me was when Shari and Doug played guitar and sang… I’ve just started learning myself so it was nice that people felt comfortable enough to pick up the guitar and sing too! I must say that I’ve missed our potlucks, hanging out with the gang. It would be really nice to get them going a bit more regularly again!

So do we have any volunteers for the next one? Just let Sarah and Shari know and they’ll surely announce it at class!

There was also talk of getting a group together to go to five rhythms during the week. I’m seriously up for going to that too! Just as long as I can be tucked up in bed early enough for practice the next day!

Hope you’re all enjoying the sunshine!

G

I’ve just bought my ticket to Buddhafield Festival which is happening near Glastonbury 15th – 19th July.

I had a great time last year and blogged about my experiences. You can book tickets and find out more about the festival on the Buddhafield website.

There are daily Ashtanga yoga classes and other styles of yoga too if you’re feeling like mixing it up a bit. This is an awesome festival with a no drink or drugs policy, child friendly and definitely worth checking out!

G

Hi everyone

Thought you might be interested in an upcoming yoga holiday! It’s in beautiful unspoilt Western Crete from 24 June to 1 July. You stay in a small hotel with its own pool, 100 metres from the beach. Yoga twice a day – a mixture of Ashtanga and Hatha with meditation, pranayama too. Teachers are our very own Brighton-based Janaki and er…me (Davy Jones). The holiday costs £410 excluding flights. More details on the Free Spirit website or visit our website or email: janakiyoga @aol.com