Tonight:
4°c
I have developed a yoga crush. For us sufferers of deskworkers' back and general despair at the state of our bodies by the end of the week, it's addictive.
Yoga occupies odd social space - people who do it have an instant bond about the right thickness of mat and the easiest way into a headstand. Those who don't always greet the revelation of yogic activity with a kind of pity as in: "Can't you manage anything a bit more sporty?" Well, more fool them. I talked to a well-known comedy writer recently who has everything you might think you would want. But her priority and what made her feel happiest, she said, was thrice weekly yoga. She never skips or moves her session, no matter how important the alternative seems. A year ago, this would have struck me as odd. Now I'm just envious.
Great excitement this week then, as James deMaria hits town from Ibiza, the European yogic capital. He's extraordinarily balletic (a trained dancer), shaven-headed and with the kind of sinewy legs that the women in the class agree are wholly wasted on a mere male. Hot ticket for the Om classes.
It's one of those mysteries why some yoga teachers can instantly produce so much better results than others. We hold our postures like better imitations of cranes, fish and the rest, twist our torsos improbably and still feel no strain. On one testing move, he ventures: "The problem with this is that the internal organs get in the way." Who needs them, eh?
Apparently, you can "rearrange them" a bit if you get your breathing and posture right. Let me get back to you on that one.
Meanwhile you might nab a lesson this week if you're suffering recession- stress. Or he's back in a month: www.demariayogadance.com for details.
* How long's the recession? Ooh I dunno. Ed Balls thinks its impact will last “100 years” — until No 10 reminded him that this did not sound like the encouragement voters require right now.
Something about politicians and centennial predictions always spells trouble. When I lived in East Germany, Erich Honecker predicted that the Berlin Wall would stand “for 100 years” — shortly before it fell. Message to clever Mr Balls, the Chancellor's Treasury-honed best friend: beware Mystic Megery.
* Didn't mean to watch the Baftas all through but monitoring the looks Premier League actresses cast at other award-winners proved irresistible. Meryl Streep bore an expression of slightly pained tolerance. Angelina Jolie looks like an aloof goddess and only livened up when her husband was mentioned. If they're like this for the Baftas, it must be full-on daggers at the Oscars. Award for best speech by a mile went to Sir Mick Jagger, right, whose pronunciation gets posher by the year — but who had his
fun teasing the assembled “sirs” of Planet Film. Still nicely naughty is old Mick.
Anne McElvoy presents Radio 3's Nightwaves at 9.15pm tomorrow.
Reader views (1)
Just when you thought you had nailed yoga.James DeMaria is a truely awesome yoga teacher.He has an ability to explain poses in the simplest way and you feel so much lighter after one of his classes. Everyone should take a class with him.
- Jacky Yap, Hong Kong,Spain,USA, 10/02/2009 21:43
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