Kerry Searle- Yoga Teacher & Psychologist

23/02/2023

Thanks Frontline Yoga for bringing this to our attention. This is why I’ve trained in yoga for trauma and mental health!

Bessel Van Der Kolk is one of the world's leading trauma experts. In his book, Childhood Trauma Leads to Brains Wired for Fear, he writes:

“We just did a study on yoga for people with PTSD. We found that yoga was more effective than any medicine that people have studied up to now. That doesn't mean that yoga cures it, but yoga makes a substantial difference in the right direction.”

Many studies have shown the effectiveness of yoga on trauma and PTSD, and yoga is even more effective when taught with a trauma-aware focus. This is why all of our teachers are trained with trauma awareness and can deliver expert classed to our frontline workers.

See you on the mat 😉

15/02/2022

Author: Pierre Alex Jeanty, Sparking Her Own Flame

07/11/2021

Perspective is a wonderful thing. A while ago a tree in our yard had white cherry style blossoms on it and a plant id app identified it as a cherry tree. So the cherries developed and some have now ripened and dropped to the ground. Unfortunately they just didn’t seem right and had a weird texture so I resigned myself to the fact they weren’t edible. Until tonight when I checked them out again and realised they are a small plum! They make complete sense as plums! Happy Days! What are you holding onto, doing or not doing because of a story you’ve been told, you’ve been telling yourself or something from the past that might not be relevant to today? Can you get in the moment and look at what is truely in front of you?

22/08/2021

Wow!

my brain and
heart divorced

a decade ago

over who was
to blame about
how big of a mess
I have become

eventually,
they couldn't be
in the same room
with each other

now my head and heart
share custody of me

I stay with my brain
during the week

and my heart
gets me on weekends

they never speak to one another

- instead, they give me
the same note to pass
to each other every week

and their notes they
send to one another always
says the same thing:

"This is all your fault"

on Sundays
my heart complains
about how my
head has let me down
in the past

and on Wednesday
my head lists all
of the times my
heart has screwed
things up for me
in the future

they blame each
other for the
state of my life

there's been a lot
of yelling - and crying

so,

lately, I've been
spending a lot of
time with my gut

who serves as my
unofficial therapist

most nights, I sneak out of the
window in my ribcage

and slide down my spine
and collapse on my
gut's plush leather chair
that's always open for me

~ and I just sit sit sit sit
until the sun comes up

last evening,
my gut asked me
if I was having a hard
time being caught
between my heart
and my head

I nodded

I said I didn't know
if I could live with
either of them anymore

"my heart is always sad about
something that happened yesterday
while my head is always worried
about something that may happen tomorrow,"
I lamented

my gut squeezed my hand

"I just can't live with
my mistakes of the past
or my anxiety about the future,"
I sighed

my gut smiled and said:

"in that case,
you should
go stay with your
lungs for a while,"

I was confused
- the look on my face gave it away

"if you are exhausted about
your heart's obsession with
the fixed past and your mind's focus
on the uncertain future

your lungs are the perfect place for you

there is no yesterday in your lungs
there is no tomorrow there either

there is only now
there is only inhale
there is only exhale
there is only this moment

there is only breath

and in that breath
you can rest while your
heart and head work
their relationship out."

this morning,
while my brain
was busy reading
tea leaves

and while my
heart was staring
at old photographs

I packed a little
bag and walked
to the door of
my lungs

before I could even knock
she opened the door
with a smile and as
a gust of air embraced me
she said

"what took you so long?"

~ john roedel (johnroedel.com)

12/07/2021

Thanks Yoga for Everybody

07/04/2021

Very interesting article about the anatomical variation of ribs. One of the reasons why we need to take each breathing practice and see how it works for us personally

Is belly breathing better than chest breathing? The simple answer is that it depends.