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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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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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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Fascinating intro to Ashtanga Vinyasa with Chris

This was completely perfect for me today – I have had such a long day setting up for the Yoga Show (woohoo!) and got home wanting to check in with my practice but physically and mentally completely drained.  Which is where Chris comes in…

An interesting and detailed intro to Ashtanga Vinyasa, as yoga teacher myself I learnt a lot!  It is so lovely to come back to the history and the oral teachings of yoga to remember how much more there is in addition to the asana practice.

Thank you Chris x

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Flow with Alexia on the beach

So refreshing to practice and flow with Alexia on a very similar looking slightly grey day, of which are so fond here in the UK 🙂 A much needed wake and up and get moving encouragement from the ever energetic and motivating lady that she is.

I am just about to make my way to London to prepare for the Yoga Show this weekend and I will be continuing my 30 day challenge – probably mostly on my iPad which is so super handy.  I stay at my sisters so will try to time my practice so her housemates don’t have to clamber over the yogi on the floor on the way to get coffee in the morning!

Have a great day! xx

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Relaxation with …. myself!

There was going to come a time when I practiced with one of my own videos, as in a video that I am featuring in and teaching.  It has intrigued me as a couple of my teachers have recommended following your own practice as a very good way to learn and grow as a teacher.

I started small with a 15 minute relaxation, called Savasana with Gemma.  It was interesting and a couple times my mind did wander to judgement of myself, but to be honest I was so wrapped up in the relaxation that 90% of the time I completely forgot it was me!  The practice originated with the Sivananda tradition and is very effective at encouraging deep relaxation in a short period time.  In a Sivananda class savasana is at least 15 minutes long to give the body and the mind time to rest and restore, which is easily overlooked in many asana classes.

My experience of the practice today was so effective that I fell deeply asleep for a whole hour, luckily waking up with some time to spare before I need to head to my next class.  It was the kind of sleep my whole being so desperately needed, when I awoke I was a good colour, all my muscles felt like they had been reset and my skin feels smooth and soft.  I didn’t realise how exhausted I was until I tool the time to properly and deeply relax – I must I recommend it!

Love xxxx

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Flowing in the morning with Alexia

A balanced and energetic way to start the day with Alexia.  I have not practiced very much with Alexia in the flesh as she is based and teaches in London, however I found the start of her morning practice is very similar to mine – which is lovely!

It was a challenge to get up at 6am to practice before my morning class at 8am, but oh it was so worth it!  I love how vinyasa can start slowly getting you in the flow and then before you know it you are moving and breathing and opening up.  It also takes acceptance to really listen to your body in the morning with all it’s stiff areas and maybe even a few creaks!

I love Alexia’s light and bright voice which makes you feel like you can do anything and no amount of warriors is too many 🙂 Her very clear and concise alignment cues are so helpful to feel more space and grounding in the poses.  Having set my intention, as she suggests, not to take life so seriously, I am ready for my day and my week.

xx

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Sunday evening free flow

This has been a stunning Sunday here in Cornwall; the sun shining, the sea pumping (surfers loving it!) and warmth in the air.  I have been doing chores and cleaning my house, which is very much in line with the autumnal spring clean and the clearing of the inner and the outer of the Navaratri festival.

This evening after a long and physical day I chose to be inspired by Nat’s wind down sequence.  And I found, as I’m sure we all do sometimes, that my body wanted to move in ways different from Nat’s sequence, in some cases different even from classical yoga poses.  So I allowed my body move in what ever way felt and releasing and relaxing.  It was so sweet to have Nat’s gentle and encouraging voice in the background.  It made me feel like I wasn’t practicing alone, even though I was not following her instructions the whole time, it was still like were hanging out.  A very supportive experience and I love that we don’t always have to do everything the teacher says, the teacher is there to open you up and inspire you get on your mat – job done!

Hope you all had a lovely weekend and are ready and looking forward to the week ahead.

Love xxxx

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