Sarah Rush Yoga, 36 Darwin Road, Southampton (2026)

08/03/2026

With the hideous news of war and the Epstein files this week I’ve been reminding myself of all the good in the world and actively seeking evidence to stop me running away to live in the woods forever.

It really didn’t take me long - I saw a woman teaching people to read for free in Portswood library on Tuesday - she was so kind and patient. It moved me so much that I told her I hoped she knew how kind she was and, I’m blaming this on the full moon that day, then burst into tears. A librarian appeared and gave me a tissue and a glass of water and patted me on the shoulder, although I made a note to self to not return for a few weeks out of embarrassment, evidence again of the kindness that is there if we look. On Wednesdays and Thursdays I work with volunteers at Citizens Advice who give so much so that’s a win. Even on a good day it’s stressful and distressing to witness the suffering of those who come in, but they come each week and give their time. In the UK there are more foodbanks than Mc Donalds now - all mainly staffed by volunteers.

Our practices this week will be focusing on kindness as the Buddhist teacher Jack Kornfield states “ If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete” . Practices to soothe and nurture you through mindful movement with breath drawing inspiration from the Buddhist teachings around metta.

Monday’s class is 6-7.15 at St Mark’s Shirley - lots of space plus car parking available. Booking link in bio

This post comes from my heart without any assistance from TW*T GPT

02/03/2026

I’ve been thinking about marketing lately because I don’t really do any. I genuinely believe if I work on my energy my classes are busy. I have been teaching for 15 years now and this does seem to be the case. In terms of a marketing strategy, however, trusting the universe is a start but putting something on Instagram occasionally and knocking out a flyer or two probably won’t do me any harm.

So I am really grateful for the work I’m doing at the moment with on my marketting as it’s helping me to focus on what I am offering and why. All a yoga teacher can ever share is their practice and , whilst I’m inconsistent on social media , I do show up every day for my yoga and meditation. If I don’t it doesn’t take long before I’m bouncing off the walls and burning out.

My nervous system is often dysregulated and always has been ,but I don’t always notice, so my practice is only ever about regulation - through breath, mindful movement and stillness. Despite the endless posts on insta from the sorted perfect people who think being “good” at yoga is showing off their athletic prowess in a pose (yawn) especially on a beach (bigger yawn). I know I’m not the only one. There are currently 131,000 women in the UK waiting for an ADHD diagnosis. I won’t be joining the queue because I can’t sit still long enough and anyway I don’t think it’s a disorder but rather a rational response to a world that’s too loud, too fast and too overstimulating. Practices like yoga help quieten the nervous system, slow the pace, and create space to reconnect and give the mind a break from being constantly “on.” It’s only from this space can we begin to truly heal.

So that’s why I do yoga and if that appeals I’d love to see you. Send me a message if you’d like to try my Monday class for free 6-7.15 in Shirley, Southampton.

22/01/2026

I was never really a Madonna fan. I think I switched off somewhere around Living in a Material World as it epitomised the hideous greed of the the eighties a bit too much for me. However when I turned the radio on yesterday and heard Open Your Heart, I took it as a nudge from the universe - like a cosmic instruction or something . So I tried my best and managed it for about a minute — feeling gratitude for another day noticing the small good things present and then the news came reminding me of the prick in America playing a game of risk on the global stage.

Some days, opening your heart isn’t easy and as I work for Citizens Advice twice a week now where people don’t come in to tell you their lives are wonderful I do have to dig deep some days.

So once again I thank the goddess for my yoga practices - not as an escape, but as a way to regulate my nervous system — to slow things down, breathe and feel my feet on the ground again. It gives me just enough space to look up, to look around, and to remember there is still good here.

Most people are kind and we do have collective power when we come together in community

So some days take more effort than others and maybe just opening your heart for a few steady breaths is enough to let a little hope back in.

Today my heart opened when I saw a woman buy a coffee for the homeless man at the station, I supervised amazing volunteers at Citizens Advice and I am off for a pizza tonight with my mates - lucky lucky me.

I hope your heart is well and truly open today ❤️

10/01/2026

My all time favourite David Bowie died ten years ago today so it seems right to be taking inspiration from my favourite Bowie track (yep pop pedants - I know it’s a cover!) Fill your heart from Hunky Dory

As we move deeper into the darker, colder months the song invites us to “Fill your heart with love today.” Not yesterday or tomorrow but here and now.

At this time of year, when energy naturally drops and old memories or self-doubt can rise to the surface, these lyrics invite us to come back to the present moment. Bowie asks us not to “play the game of time,” reminding us of the teachings of yoga and Buddhism that tell us suffering grows when we cling to the past or worry about the future—because those stories live only in the mind.

This week we will move through heart-opening movement, breath, and mindfulness creating space to soften, to reconnect with compassion, and to remember that we can light our inner spark even when the world feels cold.

05/01/2026

When I started teaching Yoga over 15 years ago, I used to feel like Delboy at this time of year smiling inside at the prospect of being a millionaire this time next year as so many newbies turn up for class.

Of course the reality is that by end of February numbers drop again and we fall into our old habits if our reasons for coming to yoga are to “get fit” or some other goal or resolution, generally coming from a place of not being good enough.

I can’t speak for other yoga teachers, especially not the shiny happy full of light ones , but the practices I offer invite you to come as you are because you’re already perfect and there’s nothing to fix or improve.

As an alternative to the goal directed, pushing forward BS we can buy into at this time of year my classes this week invite you to slow down and bow into who you are right now exploring what receptivity means in our body and mind.

Tonight sees us moving into a bigger space at St Mark’s school in Shirley - I’ve totally loved teaching from home over the past 5 years but can’t fit any more people in so I’m really looking forward to expanding our REAL LIFE community as we move into the new year.

Flow and Restore class Mondays 6-7.15

This time next year Rodney …..

To book a class see here

https://www.sarahrushyoga.com/book-online

30/12/2025

Timetable from January 2026

NEW community class begins Monday 5th at St Mark’s school in Shirley 6-7.15

30/12/2025

58 today and still cartwheeling - how very lucky I am ❤️❤️

02/10/2025

Man that was good. Just done yoga on a roof in Barcelona.

I practise yoga most days but don’t get to class enough - it’s magic being with others, breathing and moving together and despite not understanding a word the teacher said I always leave feeling full of hope. If we all did yoga there’d be a lot less friction.

Our theme for October is hope. Not the kind of hope that floats above reality like a wishful thought or naïve optimism but as a conscious choice in how we choose to show up in the world. Working on warrior poses to build strength, backbends to open our hearts and forward folds to surrender and let go of control. Every pose is a chance to meet ourselves again. This is where hope lives—not in the s**t show playing out there but in the courage to choose how we respond in this moment - right here right now.

In a world where despair can feel louder than hope, it’s easy to think of it as a nice idea but hope is one of our greatest strengths. Hope is the courage to breathe deeply even when the air feels heavy and you don’t know which way to turn. Hope is not passive - it’s a practice of remembering that you belong to something larger than you and you can trust in it’s unfolding. With each new breath we have a chance to begin again
and in this way it’s a practice of hope.

Back next week for full timetable plus a pop up moon class on Wednesday in the beautiful

To book a Southampton class see here https://www.sarahrushyoga.com/book-online

18/09/2025

As I’m using the themes of Autumn for my classes at the moment I’m noticing the phrase “letting go “ sneaking in a bit too often which I’m hoping to stop. I hear it a lot in yoga classes let go of this, let go of that let go of all that doesn’t serve you blah blah blah. If only eh?

Right now I’m experiencing so much anger - the state of the world, some highly annoying family members (it’s never me) and underlying grief which is in the mix. I wish it was that easy to breathe it all out and let it go but it isn’t.

Each morning I set the intention to but, like the autumn leaves in the wind , memories, feelings, and stories swirl up again so maybe the best practice isn’t to let go but to let be instead. Just accept sometimes things feel s**t but trust that it won’t always be this way.
So the practice this autumn is not a dramatic letting go, but a soft presence with what is loosening. To breathe into the ache instead of pushing it away. To trust that what clings will eventually release in its own sweet way. To walk gently with ourselves, as the trees do—quietly, leaf by leaf, surrendering when the time is right.

This too can be our spiritual practice: not forcing release, but softening into life’s natural rhythm of holding and loosening, falling and returning.

As Jeff Foster says

Forget about ‘transcending’ the body.
Love it instead!
Let go of the idea of ‘letting go’.
Instead, let love go deep into the tender places, the parts that ache.
Breathe into your sadness. Let your fear move deep within.
Bow to your uncertainty.
There is an untouchable place in you that fearlessly allows itself to be touched.
Here, even your unworthiness has worth!
And that old feeling that you are unloveable? It is loveable here!
There is so much room in you, friend.
So much room.
There is nothing wrong with you,
including the idea
that there is something wrong with you.
So stop trying to love yourself;
simply be the Self that loves.

And if you fancy NOT letting go in a beautifully crafted yoga practice for the Autumn Equinox there’s still spaces on Sunday at 6pm 6-7.15

15/09/2025

“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished” Lao Tzu

As the wheel of the year turns toward autumn and the trees remind us about the nature of impermanence we will be incorporating these themes into our practices this week as we work on tree pose, connecting to our roots along with breathing practices that help us to ground into Autumn.

When we live in rhythm with seasonal cycles we can bring this into our spiritual practice. Autumn, especially, is the season of turning inward just as we do in our meditation and yoga. The harvest is over. The work is done. Now comes the time to return to the root. Autumn invites us back home to drop away our layers and trust that we are still enough.

Trees show us that there is strength in stillness. That resting is not laziness, but preparation and the growth that matters most often happens in silence, beneath the surface.

If you like to journal consider

What am I holding that is ready to be released?
What would it feel like to let go without fear?
What lies beneath the surface of all this letting go?

Sign up for my newsletter if you’d like an Autumn Equinox ritual pack delivered to your inbox
https://www.sarahrushyoga.com/contact

13/09/2025

I’ve been part of the peace movement in one way or another for 40 years now—ever since I joined CND at 17. Back then, the slogan was One World, and I’ve never stopped believing in it. Because the truth is, we have far more in common than we do differences.

And yet, after all this time, it’s heartbreaking how much further from world peace we seem.
Five months back, I returned to anti-poverty work, and what I’ve seen already is staggering. So many are suffering—truly suffering—in a country overflowing with wealth hoarded by a tiny few at the top. It’s obscene.
When I first moved to London, I worked on a project supporting asylum seekers. The stories I heard will stay with me forever:
A homeless man showing me bayonet wounds, infected and untreated. A mother who escaped a war zone with two of her children on a rescue helicopter—sharing a photo of the daughter she had to leave behind, the one she saw being shot as she ran into the woods.

I felt physically sick today seeing the streets filled with Tommy Robinson supporters. Imagine how satisfying that must be for the ultra-wealthy—the tax-dodging elite—watching those at the bottom turn on others even more vulnerable than themselves.
This isn’t the world we dreamed of when we marched for peace. But it’s not too late to remember who the real enemies are.

Let’s stop tearing each other down. Let’s unite—not in hate, but in peace, in justice, in solidarity. One world, still. Always.

09/09/2025

Ah, Spidey — the ultimate symbol of balance.
No matter the chaos around him, he stays centred, grounded, and focused. He’s learned a lot from me.

This week in class, we’re channeling the same - simple flows and steady breath.
Each moment an invitation to return to your centre—again and again.

Sarah Rush Yoga

08/03/2026

02/03/2026

22/01/2026

10/01/2026

05/01/2026

30/12/2025

30/12/2025

02/10/2025

18/09/2025

15/09/2025

13/09/2025

09/09/2025

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