One of my main aikido instructors, Sensei William Smith OBE, used to say, "There's no real pleasure without commitment". As a young and somewhat wild young man that made little sense to me, but these days it does on several levels: from my primary romantic relationship, to my embodied practices, to my work which flows from them. It is also important to recognise when the heart turns away. Having been deeply committed to corporate embodied work for eight years I now find myself learning away from this side of things, and while I won't give it up when the conditions are right and compromises minimal, I have become tired of serving greed, enabling humans to be pushed in inhuman ways, and my work being mostly available to those on the dominant side of the inequality divide. Where power does not tolerate truth being spoken I have no place. I have also recently returned from the wonderful Budhafield festival where consumerism shows another shape - that of the modern-day spiritual supermarket. Buddhafield is merely a more condensed version of the modern circus/marketplace for personal growth of which I am a part. On the one hand it is truly amazing to for the first time in human history to have access to so much cross-cultural wealth of practices, and on the other it can lead to lack of commitment and a shallow customer attitude. I see this play out in myself and workshop participants, and the ego, conditioned by a world gone mad for power and gold, hijacks real practice for its own ends. As Embodied Yoga Principles starts to make its debut (I have now done public workshops in a few places) I wonder if I am adding to the mess or providing something of real value? The ethics of integrity and creativity, of serving people vs supporting harmful organisations, and of practices as "gateway drugs" vs corruption, remain complex. What is an anchor for me is that I remain committed to getting embodied work into the world in accessible formats, for my own learning, enjoyment and livelihood, and dare I say it in a cynical world, for the good of all. 
 

All the best from (can't think of something clever starting with B) Brighton,

Mark