Unlikely Positions in Unlikely Places: a yoga journey around Britain
Elizabeth Gowing
- Region:
- Anywhere
- Notice Period:
- Emergency (maybe less than one week's notice)
- Type:
- Professional
- Fee:
- Paid
- Category:
- Sports
- Updated:
- 29th December 2018
- Tagged:
- Meditation | Travel
tells the stories from my explorations of yoga. I am not a likely yogini; I am too fond of chocolate and To-do lists, and sometimes fall over on my mat. So this is not a 'how to' talk - it's given by an explorer rather than an expert. Sometimes funny, sometimes touching, it evokes the characters and communities met along a fascinating journey, from doga (yes, yoga with your dog) to my dripping day of 'hot yoga', hanging upside down in aerial yoga, to yoga in prisons and with asylum-seekers, children and Stand-Up Paddleboards. It will be of interest to those who love Britain – its quirkiness and its multiply layered communities, from inner city community centres to exclusive spas. It will also be loved by the ‘armchair yogini’ and the armchair traveller. It’s a light introduction to some mind-bending ways that ancient positions can find new homes, and ordinary and extraordinary people in crisis can find peace and a sense of belonging.
Views: 1235 | Enquiries: 2About Elizabeth Gowing
After working in primary education in inner London, Elizabeth Gowing moved to Kosovo in 2006. There she milked her first cow, smoked her first cigar and drank her first cup of proper coffee.
She is the co-founder of The Ideas Partnership charity working with the power of volunteers to tackle challenges in education, cultural heritage and the environment, and with a particular focus on the excluded Roma and Ashkali communities. She is the author of Travels in Blood and Honey; becoming a beekeeper in Kosovo (Signal Books, 2011), Edith and I; on the trail of an Edwardian traveller in Kosovo (Elbow Publishing, 2013), The Rubbish-Picker's Wife; an unlikely friendship in Kosovo (Elbow Publishing, 2015), The Silver Thread; a journey through Balkan craftsmanship (Elbow Publishing, 2017), Unlikely Positions in Unlikely Places: a yoga journey around Britain (Bradt Publishing, 2019) and *No Man's Lands: 8 extraordinary women in Balkan history" (Elbow Publishing, 2022 - with Robert Wilton)
She speaks fluent Albanian and is the translator of the biography of Yugoslavia's longest-held political prisoner, Adem Demaci, and of Hasan Prishtina's memoirs of the 1912 uprising. She is also a regular contributor to Radio 4's 'From Our Own Correspondent' programme.
In 2016 the President of Kosovo awarded her the Mother Teresa Medal for Humanitarian Work and in 2017 Prime Minister Theresa May gave her the 'Point of Light' award for volunteers around the world.
Other Talks on SpeakerNet by Elizabeth Gowing
- Travels in Blood and Honey; becoming a beekeeper in Kosovo
- Extraordinary Balkan explorer and anthropologist, Edith Durham
- The Rubbish-Picker's Wife; an unlikely friendship in Kosovo
- The silver thread - a journey through Balkan craftsmanship
- A courageous and skilled shot; Montenegro’s photographer Princess Ksenia (1881 – 1960)
- A sabbatical in a day
- Morocco Blues - how and why Morocco got painted blue
- Getting a Gratitude Attitude
- Mulberry trees, macchiato, mosques and Mother Teresa: an online tour of Kosovo's capital, Prishtina
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