Elizabeth Gowing is not a likely yogini. She is too fond of chocolate and To-do lists, and sometimes falls over on her mat.
But yoga has taken her on journeys both inside and out and now she follows yoga around Britain - from the village hall where a quivering triangle pose was interrupted by the council recycling collection to a sound gong bath in the country's noisiest city, from Cornwall to Scotland. She discovers prisoners finding solace in child's pose; children finding expression in dancer pose, and dancers sitting bendily in cobbler's pose. Her feet start to hurt and she realizes that yoga is a current of shared experience that runs quietly through British society, through Middle England to the nation's extremes. In schools and hospitals, from Newcastle to Nottingham, Wales to West Kilbride, she untangles the Ashtanga from the Kundalini, the Sanskrit from the whimsical new-age, and finds the ways that yoga is rebuilding communities and lives - and her own wobbling body.
Sometimes funny, sometimes touching, Gowing evokes the characters and communities she meets along a fascinating journey in a celebration of ancient wisdom solving modern-day problems and the exultation of finally mastering the Crow.

Elizabeth Gowing is not a likely yogini. She is too fond of cake and To-do lists, and sometimes falls over on her mat. But yoga has taken her on journeys both inside and out and now she follows yoga around Britain from the village hall where a quivering triangle pose was interrupted by the council recycling collection to a sound gong bath in the country's noisiest city, from Cornwall to Scotland. She discovers prisoners finding solace in child's pose; children finding expression in dancer pose, and dancers sitting bendily in cobbler's pose. Her feet start to hurt and she realizes that yoga is a current of shared experience that runs quietly through British society, through Middle England to the nation's extremes from Newcastle to Nottingham, East Anglia to West Kilbride, she untangles the Ashtanga from the Kundalini, the Sanskrit from the whimsical new-age, and finds the ways that yoga is rebuilding communities and lives and her own wobbling body. Sometimes funny, sometimes touching, Gowing evokes the characters and communities she meets along a fascinating journey in a celebration of ancient wisdom solving modern-day problems and the exultation of finally mastering the Crow.

"Beautifully written. great observations" - Jo Good (Radio London)

'This funny and touching read describes how Elizabeth struggles to master new positions and philosophies, while discovering how yoga has the power to help solve modern-day problems.'

Spirit & Destiny

Vorwort
. Established author with strong track record: this is her fifth travel book . Author appears regularly on Radio 4's From Our Own Correspondent . National and local reviews and publicity expected; author talks scheduled around the country . Praise for Elizabeth Gowing's previous books: o 'The most delicious, delightful read of the summer' - The Times (on Edith and I) o 'Interesting and inspiring. lively and conversational' - Church Times (on The Rubbish-Picker's Wife) o 'With spirit and humour. this is unusual travel literature' - The Lady (on Edith and I) o 'A wonderful writer' - Matthew Parris

Autorentext

By Elizabeth Gowing

Zusammenfassung
Unlikely Positions (in Unlikely Places) - Holiday reads and travel literature following unlikely yogini Elizabeth Gowing on her yoga journey around Britain, from stand-up paddleboard yoga and Kundalini to Iyengar, doga and Brahma Kumaris, Cornwall and London to Yorkshire and Scotland: a humorous, compassionate narrative ultimately about community.

Inhalt

Chapter 1: Where YouTube can’t take you

Chapter 2: The village hall, Port Isaac

Chapter 3: Spirit level – Stand-up Paddleboard yoga in Nottingham

Chapter 4: Balance on Brimham Rocks, North Yorkshire

Chapter 5: Lululemon, Edinburgh

Chapter 6: Wiped – hot yoga and belonging in Brighton

Chapter 7: Doing time – yoga in prison, Surrey

Chapter 8: Smart cafés with mismatched chairs – yoga with asylum seekers in London

Chapter 9: Yoga for people living with Parkinson’s, West Kilbride

Chapter 10: Upwardly mobile – aerial yoga in Godalming

Chapter 11: Downward-facing Doga – yoga with your dog in Shoreditch

Chapter 12: PraiseMoves, a ‘Christian alternative to yoga’ in Peterborough 

Chapter 13: Kundalini – awakening the coiled serpent of the Cotswolds

Chapter 14: Britain’s noisiest city – a sound bath in Newcastle 

Chapter 15: Iyengar yoga, Maida Vale, London

Chapter 16: Yoga nidra, Stroud

Chapter 17: Children’s yoga,Slough

Chapter 18: Brahma Kumaris on the Isle of Man

Chapter 19: Pranayama, Liverpool

Chapter 20: Laughter yoga, Blackpool 

Chapter 21: The Mandala Yoga Ashram, Carmarthenshire

Chapter 22: In my end is my beginning – Yin yoga in Newquay

Glossary

Directory