Learning to See

Before I started yoga, I studied fine arts for seven years.

As part of my studies, we spent countless hours drawing and painting the human figure. It was a big part of the curriculum: learning to measure the body, to understand its movement and proportions, and, perhaps most importantly, to really look.

​From the age of sixteen, I spent hours looking at nude bodies. Male and female, young and old.

​I loved discovering the many movements and directions of a single human body—and trying to capture something more mysterious too: the hard-to-define, unique quality of a particular person.

​Later, I stopped drawing and painting and started practising yoga. My focus turned inward.

​I've never really thought about this connection before, but I'm sure the discipline I developed through art has helped me stay on the mat, too.

To keep looking.

To notice what is there.

To recognise the patterns that keep repeating.

Because the inner world is just as fascinating as the outer one.

There are so many layers to notice, and so many discoveries to make.

Sometimes it feels a little like an archaeological dig. You need patience, sensitivity and the right tools to slowly uncover what is underneath—to learn to distinguish what is real from what is not, what is lasting from what is temporary.

In yoga, this capacity for seeing clearly is called viveka, or discernment.

What does it mean to see clearly? How can we learn to distinguish between what is useful and what isn't, what is real and what is simply a story we've become used to telling ourselves?

​Want to practise together?

Explore my Mysore classes online and in person.

Classes →