It is said that when Mahatma Gandhi was asked what he thought of western civilisation, his response was that he thought it might be a good idea. This is more likely a story than an actual event – however, an important point is being made.

It has to be emphasised that what follows are theories. Thanks to discussions and debates, theories change! So what I write here may be useful in five years…or maybe not. Understanding our nervous systems is useful for us as practitioners and teachers because this can guide us toward calmer and healthier well-being. These insights help us to understand how our bodies work and so make our practising more beneficial

Something happened today that I never thought would happen to me; I got blocked from posting on Instagram and Threads. Why did I never think this would happen? Firstly, because I am deeply suspicious of social media in all its forms and, secondly, because I am not a troll. I checked my account and, apparently, all is functioning normally. I haven’t breached any community standards, I haven’t harassed anyone and I haven’t posted anything offensive (I hope). It seems I’ve just been far too engaged with both platforms recently and my activity has been detected by the algorithms that control these platforms as being bot-like. I have been Insta-banned. I am appalled. Not at Instagram and Threads for putting a hold on my activity, but on myself for having gone so far down the rabbit-hole!

Marek Edelman was born in Poland in 1922 and died in 2009. In 2001 he said: “Warsaw is my city. It is here that I learned Polish, Yiddish and German. It is here that at school, I learned one must always take care of others. It is also here that I was slapped in the face just because I was a Jew.” He was undoubtedly a hero; he was active in Jewish socialist groups and was one of the leaders of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in 1943.

Take a moment. Be aware of your feet. Maybe this insight might resonate: our feet are truly fabulous. Whatever their size, whatever their condition: our feet are truly fabulous. Really quite small in comparison to our body, yet our feet literally walk us through life (if we are fortunate enough to walk). The feet are our body’s platform.

One of my treats (we all need treats) is a subscription to the New Yorker magazine. Its contents are variable, though frequently the cartoons are very funny. It did support the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 and at best, its perspective could be described as mildly liberal. However, some articles are very good – and in 3 July 2023 issue there was a brilliant juxtaposing of two articles: the environmentalist writer Elizabeth Kolbert writing about plastics followed by a lengthy piece by Ava Kofman on penis extension surgery.

In about 1999, I remember a yoga teacher (who now runs a successful yoga teaching business) saying to a friend who had asked this person to cover their class: “I wouldn’t get out of bed for £30 per hour”. I started teaching yoga two years later (autumn 2001) and I did get out of bed for £30 per hour – that was a standard rate of pay for yoga teachers in most gyms/studios.

The first email was sent in 1971. The first item purchased on Amazon was in 1995. The first search on Google was in 1996. Facebook went live in 2004. The first video on YouTube was posted in 2005. Twitter began tweeting in 2006. In 2007, Apple’s I-Phone became available (often this is seen as the start of smart phones). Instagram was launched in 2010.

Over time, I have slowly picked up various things to do for health and self-care. Gradually, these have become embedded in my life. Some of the things that I used to do, I no longer do. There certainly are yoga poses that I have retired from; as one example, I will never again stand on my head for 15 minutes.

Yes: pay increases can happen. A studio in Scotland recently increased yoga teachers’ pay from £25/hour to £30/hour. A yoga chain in London that currently pays its teachers two rates – £53/hour for experienced and £46/hour for less experienced – is considering a pay increase. A teacher who works at a central London studio asked for a pay rise last month (they were being paid £35/hour) – the studio offered them an increase to £40/hour. We have to ask…

Those lines from Mary Oliver are a good summary of the Yin yoga practice. Many other such summaries are available, such as these words from Sarah Powers: “unhurried postures unstained by striving”. In the last 20 years, the Yin yoga practice has become increasingly popular, going from the margins to the mainstream. To borrow words from Bernie Clark: “Yin is in”.

A lot of yoga teachers are struggling. Last month, I wrote an article about pay and working conditions of yoga teachers. Responses to it included: “what you write about working as a yoga teacher, pay etc is really important”; “thank you for putting into words what many of us feel”; and “really honest and lots of very good proposals”.

The Greek goddess Athena had many roles. One was offering support and guidance — a mentor. Mentoring can help people to achieve their potential; to “risk being disturbed and changed”. According to David Clutterbuck, a well-known mentor and coach, “effective mentors…recognise the greatest value to the mentee is to develop his or her wisdom”.

Sometimes I feel like banging my head against a brick wall. Sometimes it feels like I am in the flow. Sometimes I experience a lot of anxieties. Sometimes I believe that positive shifts are happening. After all the events of recent years — from Brexit to the Ukraine, from Trump to the pandemic — feelings of weariness, exhaustion and despair are common. Feelings of being stuck, the tunnel walls closing in, the burdens becoming too much.

Deep Deception is a heart-breaking and deeply disturbing book that has just been published (Spring 2022). It is a book that all of us interested in positive social change need to read. Deep Deception reads like a thriller but its contents are at times traumatic. It is the story of five women whose lives were devastated by having intimate long-term relationships with undercover police officers. These relationships were built on lies, deception and highly abusive emotional manipulation. These relationships were definitely not rogue police officers going off-piste; they were sanctioned at the highest levels of the state, supported by the officers’ back-up teams – and encouraged by their superiors as a way of getting literally embedded in the women’s lives.