Good Morning Vlog from Gemma

Was so inspired by my morning yoga practice and my developing meditation practice I wanted I share it with you xx

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Yoga with Lucy and Meditation with Deepak

The start to my weekend went like this; bright and early wake up on Saturday morning, before the sun was up in these English winter months.  I needed to get my body going after a slightly heavy meal on Friday evening so I chose a vigorous Sun Salutation practice with Lucy.  It is fast and fun, she includes lots of standing poses, just what I needed to get my circulation going as well as flush out any toxins and heaviness.  The video is filmed on the rocks by the sea in Cornwall, with the bright sun shining and waves crashing, what stunning imagery to start the imagination juices flowing.

Once I had completed my asana practice I moved onto a meditation with Deepak Chopra.  The Chopra Centre is currently running a 21 day meditation challenge for creating abundance, they post a new audio meditation each day for you to practice.  The centring thought for this day was ‘Everything I desire is within me’ and the Sanskrit mantra was ‘Ram…ram…ram…’  We are now on day 7 of the challenge, which I have taken on, and I am finding the short but very potent meditations are a fantastic way to start the day.  I have a mediation practice, however sometimes I wonder if I am doing it right or getting anywhere, so it is very refreshing to be guided by the awesome Deepak Chopra and having a clear focus for the practice.

I am practicing the lesson of putting that which nourishes me at the top of my priority list, which is I’m sure partly why we so often do our practice first thing in the morning, it is the most important thing we do in the day and it is from there that the rest of the day unfolds.

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Life is right here, right now

This is something I most certainly need to contemplate at the moment!  Having been swept along by the vata season and doing a million and one things, with just as many possible outcomes and options, I am very much being drawn into the future and trying to work out what will happen.  In order to stay in action I have been doing exactly that – maybe being too much in action – busy, busy, busy!  If I am completely occupied (usually with work tasks) I can’t think about the future and what may happen and try to work it all out.  This is OK for a short time but, like any avoidance strategy, it can start to take over and create imbalance.

Moving through the hatha flow with Kirsty kept reminding me to be present, feel the body, stay with the sensations and at the same time not aim to be picture perfect, but accept what I bring to the mat today.  In this way each pose felt like a special gift to myself, I wanted to linger in the sensation and drink it in fully, rather than race through till it’s complete and already moving on to the next.

It is when life gets busy, stressful and you feel you may not have time for your practice, or your exercise, or your self care routine, then it is even more important to sanctify those parts of your day.  To keep filling yourself up, making yourself feel like you are worth it, to give you the best possible foundation for the day ahead at work, or give you the presence of mind you need to look after the kids on your own again.  I am still in the process of learning this too 🙂

Much love Gemma xxx

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Ujjayi breath and mental health

Good Morning!  Some of you may have noticed I haven’t posted for a few days; I didn’t do my daily practice on Friday which I put down to having an incredibly long day, although afterwards I can see that is an excuse which I could use most days!  However yesterday I was inspired to practice with Chris in his mini Ujjayi breath intro and workshop.  The inspiration was sparked by a Yoga, the Brain and Mental Health conference I went to on Friday night.

Throughout both the lecture by the lovely Dr David Beales and Heather Mason the breath featured heavily, much more than the physical postures (asanas).  I was very interested to hear how clearly Chris explained the importance of the breath, even saying that Ashtanga Vinyasa is meditative breathing practice for restless people, which is an image I love!

Dr Beales recounted a quote from a book by Ronald Ley, “Breathing is exquisitively sensitive to stress” and reminded us that mindfulness is the conscious of your breath to maintain present moment awareness.  Heather talked us through a plethora of scientific research which time and time again found Ujjayi breathing affects the physiology is such a way to decrease activation of structures in the body which have a potential to increase the likelihood stress and poor mental health.  For example the slow consistent pressure on the lung wall through Ujjayi breathing activates slow adapting stretch fibers that indirectly activate parasympathetic response, which is the ‘rest and digest’ action of the nervous system, promoting calm and relaxation.

Therefore Chris’s video was a reminder to myself of the importance of and a useful brushing up tool on my Ujjayi breathing and my ability to teach it to my students.  Thanks Chris xx

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Don’t f**k about yoga!

This morning I decided to challenge myself with Jock’s 35 minute practice which is for intermediate and advanced students.  I know Jock is incredibly strong with a very advanced practice so I was ready for it!  The sequence started with extended side angle pose (utthita parsvakonasana) which is one of my challenge poses, so I tried not to grit my teeth as I moved into my uncomfortable version of the pose.  From here we swiftly moved onto pigeon pose (eka pada rajkapotasana) which can bring many yogis up against all kinds of resistance, me included.  As the practice continued I started to feel that maybe I was not quite as advanced as I thought 🙂  And my especially vata body at the moment, feeling dry with aches in the joints from the autumn season and from lack of adequate rest, was resisting in all kinds of ways!

As I continued with the practice, modifying the poses which I have not yet progressed to which is very good for reminding the ego of it’s place, I started to smile at the dive straight in, no chit chat and ‘don’t f**k about’ vibe to the practice – I love it!  Sometimes yoga in the west can get a little too sugary, lovey dovey and smoochie smoochie.  As much as I LOVE the nurturing aspects of yoga, it was certainly a fun change of pace to jump into this hardcore, super awesome practice with Jock.  Enjoy!

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Bed time yoga with Rhoda – just what the doctor ordered

Rhoda’s voice is so sweet and light, it is the perfect encouragement to rinse out and wind down before bed.  The standing poses get all the nervous energy and toxins flushed out ready to fully absorb the relaxing benefits of the restorative forward bends.

She says at the start to take some breaths for yourself, remember to offer this time and energy and practice as a gift to yourself.  This was timely advice as I find when I get busy and a little overwhelmed with what is going on the first thing to slide is my time to take care of myself.  This just tells myself that I am not as important as this task or that project, which doesn’t reinforce that I am worthy and special.  I have learned the lesson time and time again that it is in trying times in which my practices and self care are the most imperative.  So this is me getting back on track with my self care and self love practices and feelings; also today I made myself the most spectacular smoked salmon, asparagus and goats cheese salad, booked a hair appointment for tomorrow and booked time with myself to do a mini spa and nails this week, all to reconnect with myself.  Just little things feel so good, and rather than expecting others to ‘make me feel good’ I can take responsibility for how I feel leaving me more space to love others rather than blame them.

A good day! xxx

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Intro to Meditation

Reminded that meditation is natural and we all do it, even without realising, which for me makes it feel much less out there and New Agey.  As someone who is learning to bring meditation into my daily practice being reminded of the history, science and methodology is very grounding.

Clare gives us three core aspects of guidance to meditation; presence, breath and the witness effect.  Time to practice 🙂

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Yoga nidra for vata in the morning

I am certainly feeling the effects of the vata season.  Vata is one of the Ayurvedic doshas (combination of elements) and governs movement in the body.  Movement, change and activity are aspects of vata.  Autumn is the vata season with changing temperature, increased wind and a dryness in the air.  The season being of vata qualities makes it much more likely that the vata in each of us will shift into excess.  This likelihood of excess is increased even more if you are busy, over active and have some stress during the autumn.  Which can manifest itself as anxiety, insomnia, digestive challenges and weakness, among others.

I have been sleeping less than usual and which leaves me feeling more prone anxiety, worry and feeling weak.  So this morning after the clocks changing and waking up at ridiculous o’clock I decided to deeply rest my body and mind with a yoga nidra practice.  It was soothing, calming and restorative for my body, afterwards I feel my energy is smoothed and softened rather than jagged and angular.  This helps me to be more soft and open as I go about my day, rather than spiky and haphazard.  It was the perfect practice to prepare me for my busy ahead.

xxx

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Hard-core hour with Georgie!

Wow our Georgie is one strong lady!  This is a fabulous hour long core focused class which is certainly challenging, although she always offers modifications and emphasises listening to your body and not doing too much.  Obviously as a ‘yoga teacher’ I SHOULD do all the hardest variations and ALL of them!  This was my first thought realisation, so I worked to remove the dreaded SHOULD from my thought vocab and be mindful of Georgie’e encouragement not to do too much too soon.  Which was not difficult as I find Georgie has the lovely teacher quality about her that makes you want to please her and do everything she says just as perfectly as you can 🙂

The instructions are incredibly clear and it was refreshing, if not challenging, to bring the focus to such small, and at times tricky to connect to, areas such as the pelvic floor.  If ever a question popped into my head like; where exactly is the pelvic floor again?  Georgie was quick to answer it in full with examples.  Another realisation I made about my own practice is I use plank pose as a transition in the flow, rather than giving it space to be it’s own pose.  I struggled with holding plank and as soon as I was in it my mind said ‘What’s next?’.  I think this is reflected generally in my practice, and in my life.  I am a future thinker, always having ideas and planning for what is coming next, so to learn to hold a strong pose in stillness was an excellent practice for me.

I learned so much, lots of which I hope to incorporate into my practice and inspire my teaching, about how to effectively bring the core strengthening into the class and maintain centre and focus.  Thank you Georgie – much love xxx

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Early morning vinyasa with Alexia

A perfect way to prepare for a busy day ahead by moving in every direction and flowing through a range of standing, seated and supine poses.  A very rounded 25 minute practice left me feeling balanced and energised – the cobwebs from my night’s sleep swept away.

Today is the first day at the Yoga Show and I am teaching a beginner flow class – which is quite scary as it will be my first class I have taught in London and at quite a big yoga event! I am also so excited to meet new yogis and learn about all the fun and fabulous projects which are going on in the yoga world.  I am prepared to be inspired and inspiring!

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