Jane Alexander's Blog, page 14

The woods are talking...

The wind is wild today.  It slams cold into my face up at the hill fort and harries the trees, making the beech, with all their fresh, young, and oh so green leaves, tremble.  The oaks are slower, calmer, not so hasty. Their leaves are only just uncurling, amber drops unfurling, cautious. 
And I stand with my back to my tree and I think how young and fragile-strong it feels. How all alone. It? Not him? And I wonder. Is this just another projection?  Have I got it wrong again? ...

Long, slow and deep...

Mostly we did Dynamic Yoga at Kaliyoga.  Years ago, I interviewed Godfrey Devereux, who popularized this flowing form of yoga and joined one of his classes. He tried to warn me, poor chap:  he advised that I start off with a beginner’s class but I ignored his gentle suggestion.  I was pretty fit, I said, and had done a lot of yoga on and off. Foolish idiot! (me, not Godfrey) Within minutes I was gasping for air, sweat pouring down my body.  I backed out the class after abo...

The white horses of Andalucia

It wasn’t all yoga at my Kaliyoga retreat in Spain.  We walked, beautiful trails down into hidden valleys, the only sound the breeze in the trees and the occasional flute of birdsong.  And one day, three of us went riding out into the mountains. 
I love horses.  I was the archetypal pony-mad child, with a stable of about twenty assorted equines – from Brandy and Whiskey (the stolid Exmoor ponies) to Atlendor and Fenodyree (one pure bred Arab, one Arab cross).  So what...

My stereotypical Swiss room-mate

So, I was all excited about going to Kaliyoga in Spain when I suddenly had a bad thought.  A big bad thought. You know how I am about sharing rooms with people on detox?  Well, to be honest, it goes beyond a dislike into downright phobia.  And it’s not just while detoxing; it’s sharing in general.  It’s not that I’m anti-social per se; it's just that I really really like my own space. Okay, so I’m kinda weird about my aura. 
So I checked and…aaaghhh. ...

The dunnock has two penises - I mean, a lovely walk along the Dorset coastal path.

I don’t usually tag along to Adrian’s beery events.  But I make a large exception for Badger Ales.  Firstly because, as you know, I have this sort of badger ‘thing’ going on.  Secondly because they are just so damn nice and such good fun (the Badger people I mean, not the badger badgers which are, in fact, beasts of a frankly surly disposition). Thirdly because they had invited Pete Brown (beery author with a wicked sense of humour) and Liz Vater (organizer of the Stoke Newingt...

Primroses

Anyhow.  Today Dan (short for Dante, aka the SP – I figure now he’s 21 I no longer need to protect his RL identity) and I went up to the hill fort.  And the banks of the Cauldron (aka the Chimney – no, I don’t protect the RL identity of a steep path – it’s just the name James gave to the hollow way) were studded with primroses.  Flashes of spring.  At last. 
Proper wild primroses, shy soft yellow - not brash fake egg yolk like the ones you get from garden centres. ...

Margaret Thatcher. IMO

So. I came back from Austria (very nice indeed, thank you for asking) and stayed in London a bit with my mucker Jane. And it does make me laugh that, while I could get on-line easily in the back of beyond, up a mountain in Austria (when I was in a fit state to use it, of course), Jane doesn’t have any wifi so I was pretty much gagged.
But, before I was logged off I went on Twitter (as you do) and checked on a few people I like to RT from time to time and…what? And old friend I was appare...

Smoke on the water

Smoke on the water?  Well...nearly.  Sort of.  Oh, okay, let's call it steam.  :-)

There are two pools at Schloss Pichlarn.  One is indoors and a very fine pool it is.  But then, if you walk down a few watery steps, you come to a barrier.  A pair of glass gates.  And you wait until they recognise your presence and then they open.

A cold gust of breeze slices your shoulders and so you sink down under the water surface and swim through and out, into a world...

Do you strain?

'Do you strain?' asked Dr Schaffler as I sat in his consulting room at Schloss Pichlarn in Austria.

I frowned a little.  We had already debated my bowels and their various movements in huge detail and at great length and had established everything was fine and dandy.  But hey, this was a German doctor practising Ayurveda (the ancient Indian school of medicine) in Austria - and so I just figured I was getting a triple dose of stool searching.
'No, I'm very rarely constipated,' I said....

Dream healing - a Greek pilgrimage

I'm off again on my travels in a few days.  To Austria this time - a  big hotel that majors in golf and ayurveda, which I have to say I find a puzzling combination.  But still...four handed massage?  Bring it on! And I've been chatting to a  fellow journalist about spas/retreats we have loved and it dawned on me that, for the most part, it's not the actual spa bit that is the most important - it's the retreat bit.  If you read this blog regularly, you'll kno...