Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself – Charlie Chaplin Today is April Fools day. I wonder what pranks are being played around the world? The Archetype of The Fool has been coming up a lot lately, but when it came up as a central protagonist in a reading with Davina MacKail, I realised it was time to see what it was trying to tell me. It’s a card I rather love; I don’t see it as an idiot/fool but more as a happy-go-lucky see-what-the-world-will-offer me kind of card especially the younger Fool of the Rider-Waite deck. It feels like the side of me that wants to pack her backpack and head off leaving behind all the form and process. It’s no surprise that The Fool is a new beginning card. Last month I entered my 20th year as a financial journalist and in July I will have been in this actual job 11 years. Turning 45 in September is more than just entering Year 7 it is actually the start of my 6th nine-year cycle, what am I waiting for? None of this would be nagging inside me if [...]

Today I enter my personal Year 6: a year that represents the start of a change. Without even knowing this as a fact, I feel it intuitively. Last weekend I started a year-long Yoga teacher training course. With all the yoga, the Meditation and philosophy I will be learning over the 200 plus hours, a mind, body, spirit transformation is inevitable. If the last 18 months of ISHTA yoga practise are anything to go by, the next year is not going to be just any ordinary journey. ISHTA is both an acronym for Integrated Science of Hatha, Tantra and Ayurveda, but also the Sanskrit for individualised or personalised. In the last few months, I have felt that I am finally entering my own mind and body, the latter of which ironically is thinking quite seriously about a change of its own, but that is another story. As I spent the summer watching the Olympics and painting my flat, I reflected on this very strange sensation; that of contentment. It has been 11 years since I moved into my flat; 11 years of stories: drama, death, heatbreak, love, lots and lots of lovely godchildren, a niece, the longest [...]

Mum turned 80 today and my niece, who turned eight a few months ago, gleefully announced that they were now both the same age. “What are you on about darling?” I asked, knowing she would have an amusing answer. “Zeros don’t count aunty,” she said with certainty. “Eighty is eight plus zero, which is eight, so the zero does not count.” Who can argue with the logic of an eight year old? Numerologically, she sort of has a point. When calculating Life Path, Expression and Personality numbers, according to Sonia Ducie, author of Do It Yourself Numerology,  zeros don’t count when doing the basic mathematics. But just because they do not have a value, does not mean zero has no meaning.  In An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Traditional Symbols by J.C. Cooper, zero is described as non-existence; nothingness; the un-manifest; the unlimited and the eternal.  The meaning of zero changes depending on the philosophy: in Taoism zero symbolises the void; while in Buddhism it is the void and no-thingness; and in Qabalism it is the boundless. For Pythagoras, zero was the perfect form and in Islam zero is the divine essence, according to J.C’s encyclopaedia.   A [...]

The other day as I headed off to what I thought was a business drink, I found myself at a local gathering of South Indian Brahmins. From just my surname they embraced me as if I were their own and proceeded to ask me questions about my father and his family that I absolutely no clue about. The funny thing was that the more names I threw out at them about family I had vaguely heard of, the more they knew who I was and where my father came from than I did. Today is dad’s birthday and he would have been would have been 76. As I sit here reflecting on this local TamBrahm community, I realise how little I know of dad’s life, his world and how and where he grew up. While I realise no good can come of regretting The Father of All Assumptions I know it has shaped my life for the last 10 years and its time for this cycle to end. This closely knit group with Tamil Nadu origins filled my head with stories of the types of people my family would have been and the fact that they would have been [...]

Today we celebrated my friend’s 40th at what we dubbed The Temple of Veuve high above the Austrian town of Lech. Her Dream was to be up in the mountains skiing for this big celebration, and after a few false starts, her dream came true. None of us, however, could have foreseen the discovery of The Temple of Veuve, an ice bar serving Veuve Clicquot at the top of the snow capped mountain. It was certainly more glamorous and apt than the cake and hot chocolate originally on the cards.  As I bathed in the alpine rays I found my self lost in thought about the history of Veuve Clicquot. Veuve, which means widow in French, happens to be one of the only champagne houses whose success today is down to a woman: François Clicquot’s wife Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin who took over the house after his death in 1805. Sat on eye catching orange bean bags sipping pink champagne under a bright orange sun having finished Der Weiße Ring—and in my case my first red run of the trip—can only be described as a little slice of heaven. To my friend, it was the perfect way to celebrate [...]

Forgiveness is the act of letting go of anger, resentment or need for revenge that is the result of an offence or mistake. Forgiveness can lead to empathy and compassion for the person that did the hurting. One can forgive the person without excusing the act.

Mudrās are a symbolic spiritual ritual often used in Hinduism and Buddhism, typically, but not solely, involving the hands and fingers. In Sanskrit the word mudrās means mark or gesture.

Pitta, which is the Sanskrit word for fire, is one of the three ayurvedic doshas, or vital energies.

Vata, which is the Sanskrit word for air, is one of the three ayurvedic doshas, or vital energies.

Advaita literally means non duality and is based on the belief that enlightenment, God-consciousness, nirvana, self-realisation and kundalini awakening are essentially the same thing, namely energy.