I know a lot of people strongly dislike Valentine's Day, whether that's because of the commercialism that goes along with it or the sight of smug couples or the idea that you should only tell your loved one how you really feel one day of the year. Whatever your reasons for perhaps not liking this day it's not going anywhere and so it's nice to try and make the most of it. I like to think of this day as a nice opportunity to practice loving kindness, not necessarily tuning in to just one person but trying to tune in to all living beings. I'd like to share with you a favourite meditation of mine from the book "beat stress with meditation" written by Naomi Ozaniec called The rose of the heart:
"Sit in meditation and become aware of your heart centre. In your minds eye place a rosebud at the heart centre. As you watch, see the rosebud gently unfurl it's petals. Let each petal represent a quality of loving. When the rose of the heart is founded and fully open allow yourself to generate feelings of universal love. Radiate this subtle quality like rose perfume. Let it be carried on the air. Let the rose bloom in the heart." If you tend towards feelings of loneliness on this particular day of the year this meditation will help you feel close to others. If you tend towards having unruly attachment towards your partner then this should help to balance that out. I hope you enjoy this beautiful practice. Namaste x
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In this busy modern world it's very difficult to identify quite how much we're holding in and holding on to, it's not until we stop, slow down and look within that we realise the amount of accumulated tension in the body and the mind. This is revealed when we finally have some time off, get a massage, sit down to meditate or roll out our mat for yoga practice. For me this is one of the main reasons why I keep returning to my mat and why I love teaching yoga so much, learning and teaching the art of letting go. So what are some of the ways in which we hold on and hold in and the ways yoga helps us move past them. Let's start with our breath. THE BREATH One thing you'll hear most yoga teachers explain is that in our practice our breath is the most important thing, without the breath there is no yoga. I was recently listening to a teaching about Pranayama and how they've discovered that the correct translation is not "to control the breath" but actually "to free the breath". This really makes sense to me as the biggest obstacle to our being able to breathe properly is that our breath is restricted. To free the breath we need to learn to let go of that gripping that takes place in the body. The way most people breathe these days is at odds with how we are designed to breathe, when we inhale we should allow our belly to swell and expand so that the breathing diaphragm can descend and the lungs can inflate to there full capacity, when we exhale we should allow the belly to hollow so the breathing diaphragm can move upwards and push the breath all the way out of the lungs. There should be this beautiful play between inhaling new prana in to the body and detoxing the body on the exhale. Now, you only have to look around at the beginning of class when you ask people to breathe in to their belly to see how unnatural this feels to people and how difficult they find it. Due to body image in this day and age we spend most of the day trying to hug our tummy in and maintain that svelte figure, (just look at all the shit lady Gaga got from having a tiny bit of tummy fat), we often wear clothes that are too tight for fear of what it means to have gone up a clothing size and for women we're normally incased in incredibly uncomfortable padded and wired bras because heaven forbid anyone should see our nipples! Add on top of that the effect that stress has on our gut and its ability to relax during tense moments it's no wonder we find it so hard to let go in this area. In our yoga practice we learn to breathe deeply in to this area, every inhale breathing in relaxation and every exhale breathing out tension, we learn to not care about sticking our tummies out and how this effects our silhouette and through this simple practice we learn to start accepting ourselves just as we are and marvelling at the wonder of how incredible our bodies are when we allow them to do their thing! GRIPPING IN THE OUTER BODY The human body is actually designed to support itself from the inside out, we have deep core muscles that sit nice and snug towards the spine and their job is to keep us upright without needing to call upon the outer body muscles such as the shoulders to hold us up. However, a product of these modern times is that we have little awareness of these core muscles and the important role they play. Due to poor posture, often sitting or standing in a slumped way for sometimes hours at a time these deeper spine supporting muscles have weakened meaning that the outer body has to take over. The outer body muscles are not designed to keep us upright in this way and so this means that more often than not these muscles are over stretched and held in contraction for far too long, the fascia begins to re mound itself in these new positions so we end up with things like tech neck, incredibly tight and sore shoulder muscles that hunch up towards the ears, tension headaches due to extreme tightness in the muscles of the neck and a build up of knots in the muscles that we then need to go and get massaged out. In yoga we learn to strengthen our inner body and dissolve away outer body tension. This is why you'll hear yoga teachers saying things like "drop the shoulders away from the ears", "relax the jaw", "relax the hips" "activate your core". Over time we learn to undo these habits so that we start to live our daily life with improved posture and less gripping through the outer body. Some of my students have told me that they can hear me saying "relax your shoulders" at times throughout the day and that they remember to relax and take some deep breaths before continuing with their tasks. Next time you're sitting or standing try and tune in to this habit of gripping, see if you can notice where in your outer body you're holding on, it might be the shoulders and the neck, it might be clawing through the toes or gripping through the hips. See if you can start to stand a little taller and begin to draw the belly back towards the spine and see how this allows the outer body to let go as you support yourself from within. THE MIND People are starting to realise that yoga isn't just about exercise or becoming incredibly bendy but that it offers us the ability to leave our problems and worries at the door and connect with our inner spiritual selves. Many students describe the feeling of calm and relaxation that yoga gives to them as being the main reason why they keep going back for more. There is just as much gripping that takes place in the mind as there is in the body, maybe even more. The mind is either holding on to past events, unable to forgive, understand, accept and move on or its tensing up about the unknown future. Rarely is the mind ever in the present moment. The problem with this is the present moment is where inner peace lives and it's also where our life takes place, too long dwelling on the past and daydreaming about the future and life too quickly passes us by and it dawns on us too late that we didn't show up to our own life!! I'm reminded of a quote from Harry Potter "it's ok to dream Harry but don't forget to live". Yoga encourages us to let go of these habits and to train the mind to dwell in the present moment. We use mindfulness to pay attention to our breath throughout our practice so that eventually our yoga practice becomes like a moving meditation and therefore a holiday for the mind. Undistracted by past and future events, worries and concerns we get to know the vast spaciousness of our mind and the immense peace that this brings. Hopefully you you can see for yourself some of the incredible benefits that yoga has to offer and if you haven't tried it yet I hope you feel inspired to find a local class. I'll leave you with one of my favourite quotes "yoga is not about touching your toes but what you learn in the way down". Namaste x Last night I had the privilege of helping out at Kula Yoga Nights, a huge yoga charity event run by Sasha of @thatyogamum at The Wightman theatre in Shrewsbury. There were 200 yogis decorated in glitter all breathing and moving together to raise money for charity. It was truly an awe inspiring sight to see so many people come together for such a special cause. Looking forward to more events like this in the future.
For those of you who haven't been following along on Facebook, I'm delighted to share with you that there is a new yoga studio opening in the town centre in Shrewsbury. The Yogalicious Studio is opening this weekend with two days of free classes and I had the privilege of teaching the first class there this morning at 9am. This studio is run by the lovely Eileen Wallace who prior to this had been running drop-in pay what you wish yoga classes in Shrewsbury. For anyone who's met Eileen I think you'll agree that her passion for yoga shines through and so does her kind and generous heart, she's very much of the thinking that yoga is for everyone and she always seems to be thinking of new ideas and ways to connect more people to this incredible practice. The studio itself is situated just off Butcher's Row in the heart of Shrewsbury town centre and as you can see from the picture has been transformed in to a sacred space for yoga, meditation, pilates, massage therapy and Nutrition. Eileen is currently running a 30 days for £30 pass for the yoga studio and there's pretty much classes on everyday of the week. I'll be teaching a Yoga basics class on Friday lunch times 12:30-1:15pm and Core Strength Vinyasa on Saturday mornings, 9:00am-10:00am. For more information please visit the website www.yogaliciousonline.co.uk In our busy modern world, it's not always easy to make it to yoga class each week which is why it's so important to have a home yoga practice. We want to be experiencing the benefits of yoga and meditation more than once a week or every few weeks but sometimes practising at home on our own can feel quite daunting. If you're still quite new to yoga you'll probably find that it's hard to remember the routines that you do at classes or how to safely get yourself in and out of poses and this can feel frustrating and not bring about the sense of calm that we were after. Many of my students over the summer holiday were asking about websites or youtube channels that offer yoga classes that they can practice whilst on holiday or during the weeks when they couldn't make it to class so I thought it might be helpful if I included them in my blog. My favourite yoga website at the moment is DOYOUYOGA.COM a fantastic resource of online classes and interesting articles. You can sign up to this website for free and take advantage of their free classes, if you're a beginner then Kristen McGee's 28 day yoga for beginners course is fantastic. You can also sign up to be a premium member which gives you access to all the classes, I think it costs $9.99 a month. If you're looking to include meditation in your daily life than I thoroughly recommend Faith Hunter's 30 day meditation challenge, every day for 30 days you get a different meditation video emailed to you, each meditation is about 10 minutes long and all are suitable for beginners. If you're wanting to slow things down and practice restorative yoga then you'll love Lacey Haynes home yoga retreat where she guides you through Yin Yoga practices and meditations. I really love this website as there is something for everyone and classes can be as short as 10 minutes or as long as 50. YOUTUBE Youtube is pretty much everyone's go to for tutorials on just about anything but you may have found the amount of yoga classes on youtube overwhelming. Here are some of my favourite teachers on youtube: YOGA GIRL - Rachel Brathen www.youtube.com/user/RachelBrathenYoga TARA STILES www.youtube.com/user/TaraStilesYoga SHIVA REA SACRED SPACE Something that's really nice to do for yourself is to set up an area in your home where you can practice yoga and meditation. It might not be possible to have a separate room for this due to lack of space or sharing with others but even something simple like having peaceful and inspiring images near by can help to soothe the mind and get you in the zone. Burning essential oils, incense or candles can also be a nice way to create a relaxing space to practice. I hope you've found this post useful and feel inspired to set up a home yoga practice :) Namaste XO I remember how nerve racking it was going to my first yoga class and all the fears and insecurities that run through your mind before you've even stepped your bare foot through the door! I thought it might be helpful if I described what one of my classes is like to take away some of the fear of the unknown :)
The first thing that is quite helpful to know is that my classes are of mixed abilities, some of my students are recovering from injuries, health issues or have been away from yoga for a while and are wanting to get back in to it, some are complete beginners and some of my students have been practising yoga for years and are very familiar with the sequences and poses. Because Hatha yoga is a gentle, slow paced style of yoga it means that everyone can practice at a level that suits their body without rushing in to the next pose or feeling left behind. So, if you're a beginner you don't need to worry that you're going to be at the back of the class struggling to keep up with everyone. I always offer lots of variations of each different pose so that people can find the version of the pose that works for their body and this can change from week to week. For example, I might have one student on one side of the room in the most advanced version of the pose and another student using either a chair or the wall to assist them to get in to a more safer, simplified version of the pose, both students are doing yoga and both students are being challenged. I will never push anyone to go further, if anything I'll usually encourage people to back off in a pose so as to be safe and avoid injury. The focus of my classes is correct alignment, correct breathing and using yoga to bring about peace of mind. I'm not that focused on getting people to bend in to pretzels or stand on their heads, sure we might work towards more advanced poses from time to time and poses such as head stand bring about such a feeling of strength and confidence but this isn't the main aim of the classes. My wish is that people leave classes feeling stretched, strengthened, relaxed and rejuvenated. So what about the format of the class? I always start the class with a basic breathing practice, this usually takes place with students lying on their backs on their mats and starting to practice their yogic breathing. This is a nice way to being class as it gives students the chance to start to dis connect from their day and from their worries. We'll then do a few simple seated warm up stretches followed by some seated meditation and time to set a positive intention for the class. At this point I'll introduce the theme or focus of the class and then we'll move in to the main warm up. As a general rule I like to warm up using the Sun Salutations as these are fantastic for bringing heat to the body and starting to wake up the body. If you're not sure what I mean by sun salutations, have a look at this helpful vidoe: http://www.yogajournal.com/video/video/salute-the-sun/ After the sun salutes we'll then practice a series of asanas (poses) that relate to theme of the class, this might be shoulder openers, hip openers, poses for core strength or restorative poses etc. Then we start to warm down, often coming down to the mat and doing poses like forward folds and spinal twists, as the class starts drawing to a close we hold these closing sequence poses for longer, really focusing on the breath and slowing everything down. We'll then take final relaxation where we spend about 5-10 minutes lying down allowing the goodness of our practice to sink in, meditation or visualised relaxation is often included here. I then like to finish my class with another seated meditation and a dedication. I really hope this helps paint a picture of one of my classes and if you've been on the fence about trying yoga encourages you to come along! For a full list of my weekly classes please go the classes tab. Namaste X At this week's classes we've been exploring the theme of water. I really wanted to incorporate a vinyasa flowing element to classes this week to create this sense of fluidity. As we flow through the poses with ease and grace, each pose synchronised with the breath, our practice starts to become like a moving meditation. What this means for the mind is that we get to experience a mental break, a break from our worries and stress and a chance to abide purely in the present moment. In meditation at the end we then tried to take this idea of flowing freely and apply it to our daily life. When things don't go according to plan we tend to become very rigid and stubborn, resisting whatever the new situation is and becoming angry and frustrated. How about if we could adapt to change like a flowing river, if we could navigate unwanted situations with grace and acceptance and really and truly go with the flow. One of my favourite Buddhist teachings is about patient acceptance, Buddha encourages us to be like the willow tree that bends in the wind rather than the oak tree who's branches snap off. At one point in class this week we stood in tree pose and practiced moving our arms like we were being blown in the wind, such a challenge to keep the mind and gaze still whilst moving the upper body and of course not falling over. It was lovely to see how relaxed and soothed people felt at the end of class and how many of them were keen to take the experience and teachings with them in to their daily life. Thanks to those of you who joined me on the mat and thanks to those of you who have joined me on here.
Namaste X If you're familiar with yoga then you'll be familiar with sun salutations (Sūrya Namaskāra), a highly energizing sequence that brings heat to the body and is usually the opening practice to most yoga classes. Sūrya Namaskāra means "to bow to the sun" but did you know that there are also moon salutations? This was a recent discovery for me and such a happy one as I've been looking for a sequence I can do in the evenings to wind down (sun salutations are a bit too energizing to be doing late at night) and I've also been looking for a sequence to do on those days when I'm feeling energetically depleted and need a gentler practice. Chandra Namaskāra, the moon salutations, are a gentle sequence where we cultivate the moon's energy. The movements are graceful, peaceful and soothing and actually look like you're dancing in the moon light. My favourite sequence is by the gorgeous and inspirational Shiva Rea, it's only 6 minutes long and is accompanied by relaxing music. There isn't any guidance so I would recommend watching it a few times to familiarize yourself with the sequence, plus watching Shiva do her thing is just such a delight. I hope you enjoy this sequence as much as I did last night. Namaste x
My first experience of Yoga was at age 18 and it came in the form of an MTV yoga video (that's right video!) I used to practice this video over and over again in the evenings after college until the video practically wore out (do you remember that you could wear out videos!). I had done figure skating and ballroom dancing from a young age and was looking for something to help me with my fitness and flexibility but what I hadn't expected was how much I would enjoy the spiritual and meditative aspect of this type of "exercise". I loved the feeling in Savasana where you would feel like the floor was coming up to support your heavy body and where you could just leave all your troubles behind (and there are a lot of troubles at age 18) and how relaxed and refreshed I would feel afterwards. There followed a pause for a couple of years whilst I went backpacking and partied hard and then I rediscovered my practice when I moved to Bondi Beach in Sydney.
The great thing about living in Bondi is that it sort of forces you to be healthy, active and in good shape, mainly because everyone is walking around naked most of the time, even in winter -they're just naked but with Ugg boots on! Every cafe is serving amazing organic food and it's the only place I've ever felt truly comfortable ordering a Soy Dandelion Latte... with honey of course! And so it was in Bondi that I found my first Yoga school and there I stayed for 5 years. The school is called Dharmashala and it's nestled on top of the hill in North Bondi, I never attended a bad class there, every teacher was inspiring, compassionate and authentic. I remember how happy I felt one Tuesday evening class when I finally managed to get in to headstand and how grateful I was for the kind, supportive and non judgmental guidance of my Tuesday night teacher. I knew in my heart that one day I would love to train as a yoga teacher and to hopefully guide people through the same inspiring classes that I had attended at Dharmashala. Attending these yoga classes at the Shala had started to peak my interest in finding a spirituality or a faith and I started to attend regular classes on Buddhism and Meditation in Sydney. I fell in love with the teachings and integrating them in to my daily life and I found them to be perfectly compatible with what I was learning at the Shala. I joined a teacher training program at my local Buddhist centre and started teaching weekly meditation classes. A couple of years ago I moved to Melbourne to help set up a new Meditation Centre in the heart of the City - an incredibly exciting and rewarding project to be involved with. I got to learn from my teacher and dear friend, Gen Kelsang Dornying, and I had the opportunity to teach meditation and Buddhism classes to groups of over 200 people. I grew so much and learnt so much about myself in these 2 years, I will be forever grateful for this incredible opportunity. The decision to move back to the UK came when my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer, suddenly being on the other side of the world was just unbearable. I left Melbourne and my amazing Buddhist community and moved back to Shropshire to be with my family. I'm happy to say that my mom is now fully recovered! Having a bit of time and space to process everything made me realise that I wanted to get back to my yoga practice, I had immersed myself in Buddhism and meditation teaching and practice for years but there was still this deep wish to train as a yoga teacher - and Yoga was where my spiritual journey began, it feels like my home. It suddenly felt very important to bring all of these parts of myself together. So, there you have it, I completed my Hatha Yoga Teacher training a month ago and am now about to embark on the new adventure of teaching Yoga. A huge thank you to all my teachers and my friends and family for all of your support xxx |
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