Gena Kenny Yoga

18/01/2026

Don't Hesitate

If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy,
don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty
of lives and whole towns destroyed or about
to be. We are not wise, and not very often
kind. And much can never be redeemed.
Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this
is its way of fighting back, that sometimes
something happens better than all the riches
or power in the world. It could be anything,
but very likely you notice it in the instant
when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the
case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid
of its plenty. Joy is not made to be a crumb.

Mary Oliver

13/01/2026

What does the term somatic mean?

For me, it is a remembering. Long before it had a name, the body already knew how to communicate—through sensation, rhythm, and response. Somatic work brings us back to that original language, inviting us to listen beneath the noise and honor the intelligence that has always lived within the body itself.

Somatic work is an invitation for the body to speak in its own way, beneath words and stories. Rather than asking the body to perform or correct itself, this work creates space where sensation becomes the guide and awareness becomes the medicine. We slow down enough to feel the subtle tides beneath the skin—the places where the body learned to brace, adapt, or go quiet in order to survive.

Nothing is forced. The nervous system is met with patience, curiosity, and respect. As safety is gently reintroduced, tissues soften, breath deepens, and the body begins to remember its own natural rhythm. Movement returns not because it is demanded, but because it is invited.

Somatic work honors the body as an intelligent, living landscape. Every sensation carries information. Every pause has meaning. Healing unfolds not by fixing what is broken, but by restoring relationship—helping the body feel seen, heard, and safe enough to release what it has been holding.

✨ Join me for restorative and somatic movement sessions
• Live classes in Sunshine Beach
• Zoom classes available
• Or follow my YouTube channel: Gena Kenny Yoga

04/12/2025

We’ve had another fantastic response to the upcoming Donna Farhi Yoga Intensive, taking place next March in Noosa. There are currently just six spots remaining, and the early-bird offer ends on December 10. If you’re interested in attending, you can secure your place with a deposit. We hope to see you in Noosa!

This intensive is open to yoga teachers, students and those who are interesting in developing skills to ease tension and back pain.

Almost everyone at some point in their lives will suffer from back pain which the World Health Organisation calls the “leading cause of disability worldwide .

02/12/2025

Your body is worthy of reverence.....

In this moment of gratitude, I want to turn your attention to the quiet miracle that carries us through the world. The human body is not simply anatomy. It is memory, electricity, intuition, and resilience woven into form. It is the most extraordinary companion we will ever have, and so much of its brilliance happens beneath the threshold of our awareness.

This body regenerates itself without being asked. Bones reshape, skin renews, organs repair, and fascia remodels in response to how we breathe, move, and feel. Even in moments of profound fatigue, the body continues its quiet work of rebuilding us from within.

So today, may we bow to this incredible vessel that has carried us through every hardship and every joy. May we thank the fascia that holds us together, the breath that steadies us, the heart that keeps choosing to beat, and the nervous system that organizes the whole symphony.

Your body is extraordinary.
Your body is resilient.
Your body is worthy of reverence.

And today, on this day of gratitude, may you feel just how miraculous it truly is.

Body artisans..katie bell

17/11/2025

Watering the stones

Every summer I gather a few stones from
the beach and keep them in a glass bowl.
Now and again I cover them with water,
and they drink. There’s no question about
this; I put tinfoil over the bowl, tightly,
yet the water disappears. This doesn’t
mean we ever have a conversation, or that
they have the kind of feelings we do, yet
it might mean something. Whatever the
stones are, they don’t lie in the water
and do nothing.
​
Some of my friends refuse to believe it
happens, even though they’ve seen it. But
a few others-I’ve seen them walking down
the beach holding a few stones, and they
look at them rather more closely now.
Once in a while, I swear, I’ve even heard
one or two of them saying “Hello.”
Which, I think, does no harm to anyone or
anything, does it?

- Mary Oliver

02/10/2025

A true gift for the planet, the animals and the global human heart. Rest in love Jane Goodall.

"She walked softly through the forest, yet her voice carried across continents.

Jane Goodall was not merely a scientist; she was a soul entwined with nature’s breath.

With patience as her compass and compassion as her creed, she listened to the whispers of chimpanzees and taught humanity to hear.

Her legacy is etched not in stone, but in the living pulse of every creature she defended.

She stood against extinction, against indifference, against despair; undaunted, unyielding.

Her eyes saw not just animals, but kin.

Her hands planted hope where others saw ruin.

And now, though she walks in flesh no more among the trees, her spirit rustles in every leaf, echoes in every call of the wild.

Let us carry her torch; not as mourners, but as stewards.

For Jane Goodall did not vanish.

She became the forest."

~ unknown author and artist

12/09/2025

Just a Girl and Her Firetruck

It feels like a lifetime ago that I was a firefighter with the Melbourne Fire Brigade.

That chapter of my life was filled with exhilaration, uncertainty (which I loved), camaraderie, and deep friendships. I look back on those years with gratitude and continued mateship that has endured long after I hung up my helmet.

A back injury ended what had been a long and valued career. I found myself living with chronic pain for years—pain that felt endless and life-defining. I couldn’t imagine what it would feel like to live without it.

But fast forward to now:
I live without pain.

And for that, I have my yoga practice to thank.
Yoga gave me my life back. It opened up a world of possibilities I never thought I’d experience again.

Chronic Pain and the Nervous System

Chronic pain isn’t just a lingering injury or discomfort—it’s a complex mind-body experience. It differs from acute pain in three significant ways:

Increased Sensitivity to Threat:
The body starts sending threat signals to the brain even when the danger is minor—or doesn’t exist at all.

Pain Amplification by the Brain:
The brain begins to interpret more and more situations as threatening, causing pain responses that are disproportionate to the actual threat.

This learning process—called neuroplasticity—is one of the nervous system’s greatest strengths, but in the case of chronic pain, it becomes a double-edged sword. Your body gets better at detecting danger and producing pain. Unfortunately, this means more pain, not less.

Unlearning Pain Through Relaxation

Here’s the good news:
If pain can be learned, it can also be unlearned.

The most powerful way to rewire the nervous system is by offering it new, healing patterns to practice.
Restorative yoga, breathwork, meditation—these aren’t just feel-good practices. They actively retrain your nervous system to move from a state of chronic stress to one of safety, healing, and ease.

Relaxation triggers your body’s healing response:

It turns off stress

It supports immune function and digestion

It activates growth and repair

It helps unravel the pain-imprinted patterns in the mind and body

Through consistent, compassionate practice, you can teach your system that it is safe. That it can rest. That it doesn’t have to be in emergency mode all the time.

Whether it’s a deep breath, a gratitude meditation, or a restorative pose that lets your body fully surrender—these moments of ease are the medicine.

A life without pain is possible.
And for me, it began with one breath, one pose, one quiet return to myself.

11/09/2025

The answer will always be found in nature. No matter the question... I have found the people with the biggest heart's open themselves up to it all - sun and moon, ocean and meadow, gardens and birds, trees and mountains. The universe is always trying to tell us something if only we listen. For we become better people when we do.

-Christopher Poindexter
Photo Kauai on retreat

04/09/2025

There is a thread you follow, it weaves amongst things that change but it doesn't change. People wonder what you are doing or pursuing and it's hard to explain the thread, but whilst you hold it you can't get lost.

Tragedies happen, people get sick or die, you get older; nothing you do can stop time unfolding. But you never let go of the thread, the thread that weaves amongst things that change, but it doesn't change.
- by William Stafford

What holds you to your thread? to your place of steadiness? Is it your yoga practice? Gardening or Cooking? being in nature? whatever holds you to your place of steadiness, acknowledge and honor that.

01/09/2025

We celebrate spring’s returning and the rejuvenation of the natural world. Let us be moved by this vast and gentle insistence that goodness shall return, that warmth and life shall succeed. Help us to understand our place in this miracle. Let us see that as a bird now builds its nest, bravely, with bits and piece, so we must build human faith. It is our simple duty; it is the highest art; it is our natural and vital role within the miracle of spring; the creation of faith.

Amen by Michael Leunig

28/07/2025

Slow Time
When the rhythm of the heart becomes hectic,
Time takes on the strain until it breaks;
Then all the unattended stress falls in
On the mind like an endless, increasing weight.

The light in the mind becomes dim.
Things you could take in your stride before
Now become laborsome events of will.

Weariness invades your spirit.
Gravity begins falling inside you,
Dragging down every bone.

The tide you never valued has gone out.
And you are marooned on unsure ground.
Something within you has closed down;
And you cannot push yourself back to life.

You have been forced to enter empty time.
The desire that drove you has relinquished.
There is nothing else to do now but rest
And patiently learn to receive the self
You have forsaken in the race of days.

At first your thinking will darken
And sadness take over like listless weather.
The flow of unwept tears will frighten you.

You have traveled too fast over false ground;
Now your soul has come to take you back.

Take refuge in your senses, open up
To all the small miracles you rushed through.

Become inclined to watch the way of rain
When it falls slow and free.

Imitate the habit of twilight,
Taking time to open the well of color
That fostered the brightness of day.

Draw alongside the silence of stone
Until its calmness can claim you.
Be excessively gentle with yourself.

Stay clear of those vexed in spirit.
Learn to linger around someone of ease
Who feels they have all the time in the world.

Gradually, you will return to yourself,
Having learned a new respect for your heart
And the joy that dwells far within slow time.

- John O'Donahue

01/07/2025

Be soft. Rest when you can. Take time to sip your coffee (or tea). Study a leaf. crouch down low and witness the beauty of moss and its art. Paint colors in your mind. Turn a corner of a room into an oasis.

Clear out the clutter. Stack books any way you please. Paint a wall pink or blue or yellow. Follow the vines in your soul and climb up or down or swing back and forth. Listen to your heart. It knows what you need. Slow down when confused. Pause inside the tidepools and breathe. Ask the night to bring you dreams. Ask the day to bring you slices of daydreams.

Sprinkle soul juice on your heart. Soften those brow furrows and nibble on dark chocolate. This world wants to change you. Say no. Be soft. Be you.

Inspiring and beautiful words by Carolyn Riker, author of, “The Colors I Hear."

What colours do you hear?