Yoga with Amy-Clare

27/03/2025

Hello lovely clients and yogis!

I am out of the office until 15th April for our Easter holidays.

You can still message for bookings, though please be patient as I spend some much needed family time.

See you on the flip side!

07/12/2024

For part of our we are attending Moray Markets & Car Boot Sales Christmas Fair in Lossie!

Come along and support lots of local crafters!

05/12/2024

we are delighted to be taking part in this online craft auction!

Check it out from the comfort of your sofa this weekend.

28/11/2024

We have winter flu doing the rounds and my kid is very poorly today.

If you would like a personalised shopping experience for the next few days (and a ticket for the Shop Lossie event draw!) please do message and we can arrange a time to meet at the shop.

Thanks so much!

22/11/2024

Opening hours for the festive season (all going well!)

If I am not in, please do drop me a message here or on 07949 404730 and we can see about a personal visit. ❄️

See you soon, and thank you for your continued support. 💜

10/10/2024

Brrr! It definitely feels like autumn 🍁 😊

Check out the new spooky pins, exclusive to 'in person' shopping!

I will be back in the studio from next Thursday, 17th October.

Have a great tattie holiday until then folk 💕👍☺️

19/09/2024

I hope you are enjoying this lovely weather, we certainly are 😃

The shop will be closed tomorrow (Friday 20th) as we are away for a wedding in Dundee.

Shiny new gift sets are in stock, and available down at Nature Kids Acorn Kids on Queen Street!

17/09/2024

Did you know the Ellipsis Studio is available for hire?

Located in the heart of Lossiemouth on James Square, the studio space is ideal for one to one movement classes, small groups or for meetings and socials.

Rates from £10/hour and time available up to full days.

Message Amy-Clare to visit the space or to book!

12/09/2024

The shop will be closed a little early today. We are juggling care needs for the family.

Back in tomorrow morning at 10am

29/08/2024

I am out of the studio today with 'back to school' lurgy.

Rather than spread it further than our house, I will be back next week.

Shopping still available online

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17/06/2024

The goal of practicing yoga is to learn more about our minds and bodies. To notice what is going on with us without judgement (that means no finger pointing, blame or moral feelings towards our pain, limitations or thoughts. It's a tough job for certain.)

I took a week off to try and allow my body and mind to rest and when I sat with my discomfort I learned a lot.

The first thing is this, I need more time.

This realisation was among the hardest to separate from my judgement. The feeling of failure, of weakness. The pressing notions of external validation, of how I will be perceived. My guilt.

However, listening and learning from our body is only half of the story. Once we find discomfort, discord, pain or fear we must stop, take a breath and then decide what to do next.

Our smartest choices happen in those moments. Ana Forrest prescribes breath, noticing, breath, feeling, breath, then choices. Stop. Breathe. Feel. Then decide what to do to move forward, through and out of pain.

More than that, we have to teach our bodies that we will be heard. That a pain message will receive healing. That sadness will feel comforted. That fear will be given safety and support. So if my body says "rest" it's so important to offer something like recuperation as one of the options.

This year has been among the hardest for me. I am learning again how to be a single parent. Raising my boys, keeping myself healthy (and sane) and finding enough resources to put food on the table. My dreams of a yoga studio of my own have been a long time coming, from before lockdown. Those dreams haven't gone away, but the energy and resources at my disposal have reduced significantly in the last 10 months. This is a harder truth to navigate, and less in my control.

For now I can begin positive change, I will take a little longer to rest and regain some reserves of energy for myself and my little family.

I can also offer my studio space out to rent, so the work I have put into creating a serene and safe space will reach more people!

I intend to see you all before too much longer. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

28/03/2024

Hi my name is Ace and I'm an autistic non-binary yoga teacher. I specialise in understanding the body and muscle therapy. Today I want to talk about hypermobility so if this isn't something that interests you feel free to scroll on.

There are several kinds of hypermobility all of which are to do with collagen production, retention and form in your body. This has an effect on joints, tendons, sometimes skin, and more clinically things like Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (EDS) which comes in a variety of forms. As you may know if you are q***r or neurodivergent you are much more likely to experience one or several of the various forms of hypermobility or muscle fatigue.

The combined effect of this means that exercise is often difficult and it's difficult to know what kind of exercise will be best suited to your body. For example I routinely partially dislocate parts of my body and it can be odd to see the town yoga teacher walking around with support aids (like a sling 🙂) however, these tools support my recovery and yoga in general is my prevention let me elaborate.

in doing yoga and focusing on my needs and building strength around problematic joints I am able to prevent almost all of the little injuries that might otherwise occur. This is really helpful but is not foolproof! hyper- mobility is a reduction of the collagen in your body and for the most part what this causes is the tendons and ligaments around the joints to be a little looser. If you suffer from this you'll find that your muscles are tighter because they're trying to compensate for the lack of support.

Appropriate use of tools like yoga and strength training can help develop more intelligent muscle structure. This means that the muscles will be tight when they need to be to hold those joints together, but also able to relax when needed. (most) Injuries from hypermobility are caused when the muscles are tight but the tendons, because of low collagen, are still slightly Slack so if a joint is likely to pop or move out of place those tight muscles actually drag it further than it might otherwise go.

It's really important even if you have hypermobility ( I'll come to EDS in a moment) to work on strengthening and lengthening your muscle fibres. Working in an intelligent and deliberate way to build a support structure for your body type. Yoga isn’t about just being super flexible, it's about developing a conversation between what you know and feel in your body and how your body is able to react and support you.

Hypermobility causes fatigue and this is something I don't know if many people are talking about. because your muscles are working harder to compensate for looser tendons, you are going to feel tired faster and it's going to be harder to get those fibers in your muscles to release as needed. For example if you're walking or running a muscle is constantly going from contract to relax, contract to relax and you need both of those states to be efficient in your movement.

When your muscles are compensating, they are tighter all the time which means you're using energy just to hold your body together. When we practice intelligently knowing this we can use supports like blocks and rolls to allow those muscles to begin to unwind in safe environments and then you build a better connection with your muscles. So when your brain is sending a relaxation signal your muscle is better able to respond.

I mentioned EDS and this is a very specific medical condition you would be diagnosed for by a medical professional. There are several types of EDS, though the most commonly diagnosed are Hypermobile EDS and Classical EDS. EDS is an extreme reduction in collagen throughout your body so it's not only ligaments and tendons but can also result in differing bone structure, valve structure (in your heart and blood vessels) and skin structure. It's really important if you want to work on exercising and you have this condition that you consult with your exercise practitioner first so they can work out how best to support your EDS. As with many things a diagnosis does not just immediately rule out exercise but you will be working with the Most Extreme end of all the things I've discussed here from fatigue to potential dislocations. I promise there will be an exercise program out there that works for you and allows you to work with your body rather than feeling imprisoned by it.

I hope you found this interesting if there's another topic you'd like me to discuss that I know a bit about. I like to think I am good at pulling information together in a helpful way. Please write me a comment below and if you want to talk more about hypermobility or maybe you have EDS or fatigue and these are things that interest you again discussion in the comments I'd love to chat with you .

bye!