What soap is to the body, laughter is to the soul
~ Yiddish Proverb

Most of you will probably have noticed that I call myself the yogi who puts the “F” word into yoga. The F word I am referring to is fun. You see this fun business to me is completely serious. I’m loving teaching retreats and I love using humour to help my students relax, soften and undo. It is a pleasure and a privilege to watch people change. If you are enjoying yourself, you are open, awake and very present in the moment. You learn with more ease and can wholeheartedly launch yourself into new experiences. For many years I was in denial of my somewhat irreverent “yoga clown” side and really tried to iron it out. I believed that to be a respected yoga teacher I needed to play the standard yoga teacher role, the one who is softly spoken and gentle, who strictly follows rules and dogma. I now accept that this is just not me and that there is room for all of us on the yoga bus.

My personal spiritual goal is to live with ease and acceptance, truth and joy. If it fits that I can help you to live with more freedom and ease then that is a blessing for both of us…

At the height of laughter, the universe is flung into a kaleidoscope of new possibilities ~ Jean Houston

My rainforest story of things that go bump in the night…

Sanctuary Retreat at Mission Beach in Queensland is alive with wondrous rainforest creatures of all shapes, sizes and varieties. From the enormous, majestic, 40 year old cassowary, “H.R.H. Queen Barbara”, right down to the most miniscule ants I have ever seen!

Upon arrival at Sanctuary we were told very clearly NOT to keep fresh food in our rooms as all the cabins and huts are nestled right in the forest.

Night 1 – In the wee hours I woke to the sound of loud crunching and something rattling around… I lay in bed listening and realised that the sounds where inside my cabin, not outside, so I had better investigate. On went the trusty torch and there it was, a mousey looking marsupial looking right at me with big brown eyes. It had hold of my plastic bottle of vitamin pills and was attempting to chew through the lid! I knew this creature wasn't dangerous, just hunting for food, so no need to panic. I cautiously got up, put the pills somewhere safer, and went back to sleep.

Next morning I told the retreat people my story and it was decided that I probably had a melomy, (a small, nocturnal, rainforest marsupial), in my cabin. They would investigate and if necessary set a humane trap to catch and relocate it. So a bit later Stuart and I had a good look around; we opened the doors, moved everything, looked in the couch, under the bed... When we pulled out the fridge there was torn up plastic bag in and around the opening in the back of the fridge, how curious? That went in the rubbish bin and a trap was set with a delicious piece of banana to tempt the melomy.

Night 2 – Again I was woken to the sound of something moving around. This time it was not very loud, coming from the bathroom, and sounded like rustling of the shower curtain. It was a wet, wild, windy night outside with lots of nature noises. I lay in bed listening, didn’t want to get up, knew there was nothing lying around to eat, that the trap was set, so once again I went back to sleep…

When I woke up next morning the banana was gone but the trap was empty! Clever Melomy! I went into the bathroom for my morning pee and lo and behold, the bottom of the shower curtain was ripped and shredded with a big chunk of it missing! HMMMM, could this be nesting material? Where is this melomy? So at breakfast I told the retreat people that the banana had been enjoyed, thanks very much, plus she didn’t appreciate us disturbing her nesting material...

Once again later in the day, trusty Stuart came to investigate. By this stage we knew we probably had a pregnant or nesting melomys to find. This time when Stuart pulled out the fridge there she was. Mz Melomy and her 2 quite mature babies suckling; all very healthy, rather fat and very sweet! So he scooped them up and released them far away from my cabin…

Night 3 - I slept very soundly. I was very thankful that the little family were relocated and that we hadn’t caught Mum in the trap without her babies. I drifted off to sleep hoping that she had found a good spot to build another nest, that the little ones were OK and that there was plenty of food close by...