landscape and practice

the bliss of summer



I was recently on holiday in Greece, on an island called Hydra which I recommend for June - it was hot, edging towards thirty degrees but no hotter. There are no beaches (which means no sand and not so many families) but there are rocks to dive off and also flat rocks where you can practice. And in the daytime people might sunbathe and swim off these rocks but by about 7pm (the sun set at 8.30pm) everyone had left to get ready for dinner so the flat rocks, landscape, sea and setting sun become a discrete practice place.

It is obviously beautiful to start your practice just as the heat of the day fades. The air is still warm and a cool breeze comes off the water. The view is magical from such a place, there no buildings or signs, just the sea and rocks, clouds and space - in fact there is no 'just' here because if I wanted to collect all the details from this apparently 'empty' landscape, they would probably be numerous. But its a landscape we take for 'empty', a landscape that gives peace or that soothes.

To find this particular place you turn left at the end of the harbour and walk for about fifteen minutes then take the steps down the sea.

The experience was about 'allowing'. I allowed the landscape call the practice or sequence into being. It seemed right, for example, to start with tree pose for twenty even thirty breaths - and time without counted breath - a response to the stillness of the distant rocks and mountains on the far edge of the sea.

The lanscape, the space, the air and the time ask for a long, still, deep practice. I just reached out (or perhaps reached in) to see what the next pose would be. It was interesting. My body, my knowledge of asana, the landscape, time and the changing light called a sequence into being. It was a very beautiful and very interesting experience. I suppose I should write this sequence down...I think I can just remember it...I dont know. Maybe my body will remember it. Maybe I'll forget it until I return to that place.


Travel notes: Hydra is a small, attractive Greek island. There are no cars on the island and no package holiday tourists. Leonard Cohen either has or used to have a house here. It is about 90 minutes from Athens on the hydrofoil. Food isn't as cheap as other Greek islands. In June certainly, it is very quiet. It is a good place for rest, yoga, swimming and long walks. Even if you stay in the very centre of the town (which is tiny) you can quickly walk to somewhere remote and beautiful. Average double room price are 60 Euros a night for something basic but comfortable with its own bathroom.


and back in town still have time for YOGAsimple they are a really great agency supplying world class teachers for private classes in london.