GabriellaYoga

27/10/2024

In February, I woke up at 5am with the most intense pain I've had since labour. The pain stretched from my lower ribs all the way to my perineum. Until 10am I could barely stand straight or hold a conversation, so that afternoon I had a GP appointment where they referred me for a pelvic ultrasound.

That same week, I went to A+E because I was getting a warm shooting sensation down the inside of my left leg every 30 seconds or so... This continued for about five days, and it was combined with bruising on the inside of my thigh.

In the mornings, I woke up with lower belly bloating and by the afternoon it has spread to my upper abdomen.

My hormones have also been out-of-whack too. Longer, irregular menstrual cycles, spotting before my bleed, struggles to focus, exhaustion, iron-deficiency and so on. Just not right.

Fast-forward to the pelvic ultrasound (SIX MONTHS after it was ordered) and my GP called two days later, "There is a 5cm structure on your right o***y. You have been referred to Gynaecological Oncology on the 2-week cancer pathway."

Wtf. Wt ACTUAL F?!

Two weeks became six weeks of letters, scans, blood tests, poorly-communicated information, unanswered phone calls and voicemails.

All the while, I'm PLOUGHING my body with supplement protocols, re-committing to womb work, working out, lymphatic drain massage, tapping, dating, meditating, affirming, BREATHING.

The breathing, in between the crying. The catastrophizing. The calling my life insurance provider. The envisaging my son watching me die. The ruminating about what I should write in my goodbye letters.

Y'all, I'm a feminine empowerment coach, a holistic wellness guide, and a mindfulness instructor, yes. And also? Also, I'm the single mama of a 5-year-old. I am not ready to die.

Well, thankfully, I'm not going to. I mean, I will one day. But I have the all-clear, with the explanation that apparently, my colon is a bit longer than it should be and it was bunched up on the ultrasound 🤷‍♀️

So, there is work to do digestively and hormonally, BUT. I will take it. And thank Goddess that's all it is 🙏

And thank you to my friends and family who supported me through this. I love you 😘

13/10/2024

Girl (Remastered)
Book by Jessica Jocelyn

05/09/2024

31/08/2024

🌄 As schools go back, and we return to our routine for the last few months of the year, it is a beautiful opportunity to rise with the sun and build (or rebuild) a meditation practice into our day-to-day 🌄

My recent book, The Morning Meditation Challenge: 21 Days to Boost Your Mind, Mood and Manifestations, is the perfect companion.

Inside, you'll find a treasure trove of meditation practices designed to awaken your senses and elevate your soul, including:

✨ Mindful body scans for a holistic check-in
✨ A somatic movement flows to release tension
✨ Visualizations to ignite your imagination
✨ Energy work with chakra chanting for deep healing
✨ Breathwork patterns to boost your daily energy levels
✨ Positive affirmations to lift your spirits
✨ Sensory practices harnessing the power of nature
✨ And more!

Plus, as well as receiving the book (print or ebook) you will also receive access to 21 meditation audios, so that you can get stuck straight into your practice! 🎧

The book is available at Amazon (just search Gabriella Sofia Buxton The Morning Meditation Challenge and it will pop right up 😘)

Or comment your country below and I will DM you the link 😘

Now let me know, did you already get your copy?

With grace and grit,
Gabriella x

26/08/2024

This time last week we were welcoming nine little souls and their families along for our Mindfully Me Family Summer Camp Day! 🏕️

Mindfully Me is a project offering term-time childcare provision to home ed families, with a conscious curriculum leading the way... Our main focuses are appreciation of nature, mindfulness and yoga, arts and crafts, making music, languages and culture, emotional intelligence and community connection.

We decided to launch the project with a Family Summer Camp Day where little ones could bring their grown ups along to share a day in the outdoors... Here is what we got up to that day:

🧘‍♀️ Family Yoga play!
🔪 Carving pokey sticks (safely)
🔥 Building a campfire
🤤 Toasting marshmallows
🧺 Sharing a picnic
🐜 Rebuilding a broken bug hotel
🎨 Rock painting
🪇 Creating a rhythm
👐 Sculpting tea light holders
🙈 Hide and seek
🧗‍♀️ The climbing wall
💃 Practicing poi and ribbon dancing
⚽ Freeplay football
🖍️ Mindful colouring
☕ Sipping a hot drink around the fire
🎤 Enjoying a group sing-along

It was such a beautiful day of belonging, and so many of the adults have since messaged me to share how their children thrived in the environment (it was clear to see!)

If you'd like details for our next Family Camp day (coming in October), or the home ed days (starting in September) hit the ❤️ and I will ping them straight over.

Thank you so much to my mama, Mel and John for helping to make the day as brilliant as it was, to Phil at Trentham Scout Hut for hosting us and to all of the gorgeous families who joined us!

24/08/2024

There's a bit happening at the moment, so this is a time for doubling-down on my gratitude, manifesting and healing practices.

It's a period of turning inward, working with my higher self and connecting with Source energy.

I'm bathing in light codes when I can, taking the supplements, doing late-night womb healing meditations, eating light and choosing super foods where possible, and working yoga sequences to soothe the nervous system...

This is what I have been training for the last 33 years. This is what I qualified in. And this is what I will teach, when it is all over ❤️

Is anyone else going through something big, as the wheel of the year turns from summer to autumn? Tell me in the comments ⬇️

23/08/2024

RUN THE DISHWASHER TWICE.

When I was at one of the lowest points in my life, even getting out of bed felt impossible. I had no energy, no motivation, and was barely surviving.

Once a week, I’d drag myself to therapy. But during one session, I had nothing to say. My therapist asked how my week had been, and all I could muster was, “I dunno, man. Life.”

He wasn’t satisfied. “No, what exactly are you struggling with right now? When you go home after this session, what will be staring you in the face?”

I hesitated, embarrassed by the answer. I wanted something more meaningful to say, something bigger. But the truth was so small. Finally, I admitted, “Honestly? The dishes. It’s stupid, I know. The more I look at them, the more I can’t do them. I’ll have to scrub them first because the dishwasher sucks, and I just can’t stand there and scrub.”

I felt ridiculous. How could a grown woman be undone by dishes? But my therapist didn’t judge. He just nodded and said, *“Run the dishwasher twice.”*

I started to argue that you’re not supposed to, but he cut me off. *“Why not? If your dishwasher sucks and you don’t want to scrub, run it twice. Run it three times. Who cares? There are no rules.”*

His words blew my mind in a way I can’t fully explain.

That day, I went home, threw the dirty dishes in the dishwasher, and ran it three times. It felt like slaying a dragon. The next day, I took a shower lying down. A few days later, I folded my laundry and put it wherever it fit. Suddenly, there were no arbitrary rules holding me back, and I could start accomplishing things again.

Now that I’m in a healthier place, I rinse my dishes, I shower standing up, and I sort my laundry. But back when living felt like a struggle instead of a blessing, I learned one of the most important lessons of my life:

THERE ARE NO RULES. RUN THE DISHWASHER TWICE.

✍️🏻 Author | Kate Scott
🎨Pinterest | Ctto
By: A Friend

13/08/2024

“Did you know that if you put 100 black ants and 100 red ants in a jar, nothing will happen?
But if you shake the jar hard, the ants start killing each other.
The red ants consider the black ants their enemies, and the black ants consider the red ants their enemies.
The true enemy is the one shaking the jar.
The same thing happens in human society. So, before we attack each other, we should ask ourselves, who is shaking the jar?”
Stop the division already and ask yourself “Who’s shaking the jar?”
It’s simple.
Stop looking for things to be offended by and Look for the things that unite us, moreso than what divides us!!!

13/08/2024

Once upon a time, online business owners (like me) were told, “Share your stuff for free on the internet and then, use a FUNNEL to bring clients from the free content, towards your paid content. Which will basically be the same as your free content, but hopefully no-one will notice, because they will be in a shared ‘container’ which will have a different kind of energy.”

There are so many problems with that guidance, but at one point it worked. In fact, it worked so well, that I told my Soul-Led Solopreneur clients to do the same, if they could.

In it's most robust form, it could look like this:

1. Once a week (minimum) write a blog post/record a podcast episode/film a youtube video/IG Live/facebook live and direct people to a free download connected to that topic at the end
2. Create 3-5 social media static post/carousel/reel/graphic per week to go on your insta/facebook/pinterest/Tiktok/X feed to promote what you’ve done for Step 1
3. Build out a marketing funnel with mailing list so that when people come to get the free download they exchange their email address
4. Email them once a week (minimum) for 12 weeks with a ‘nurture sequence’ of emails, always directing them to like/follow/subscribe on all of the platforms so that they enter ‘your world’ (aka. your marketing ‘ecosystem’)
5. After those 12 weeks, begin promoting a paid-for offer as they now know, like and trust you! Kerching!

It worked. It really did.

But honestly, I feel like those days are gone… With the over-saturation of social media, the ROI for the amount of time, effort, energy, expertise and experience that goes into building out a funnel like that, with genuine, high-quality, life-changing content for prospective clients, is nowhere near worth it.

That’s why I quit.

I will be sharing a little more over the next few weeks about what I’m doing instead, but if you head to the place where links are kept, and look for The Soul-Snack Subscription, you can find out about it there.

How does your marketing process utilise social media?

With grace and grit,

Gabriella x

13/08/2024

🌸 Your practice doesn't need to be fancy or 'perfect'. All you need is an open heart and a willingness to try. 🌸

Inside, you'll find a treasure trove of meditation practices designed to awaken your senses and elevate your soul, including:

✨ Mindful body scans for a holistic check-in
✨ A somatic movement flows to release tension
✨ Visualizations to ignite your imagination
✨ Energy work with chakra chanting for deep healing
✨ Breathwork patterns to boost your daily energy levels
✨ Positive affirmations to lift your spirits
✨ Sensory practices harnessing the power of nature
✨ And more!

Plus, as well as receiving the book (print or ebook) you will also receive access to 21 meditation audios, so that you can get stuck straight into your practice! 🎧

The book is available at Amazon (just search Gabriella Sofia Buxton The Morning Meditation Challenge and it will pop right up 😘)

Or comment your country below and I will DM you the link 😘

Now let me know, did you already get your copy?

With grace and grit,
Gabriella x

13/08/2024

I think it was Brene Brown who told a story about a village where all the women washed clothes together down by the river. When they all got washing machines, there was a sudden outbreak of depression and no one could figure out why. It wasn't the washing machines in and of themselves. It was the absence of time spent doing things together. It was the absence of community.

Friends, we’ve gotten so independent.

We’re “fine” we tell ourselves even when in reality we’re depressed, we’re overwhelmed, we’re lonely, and we’re hurting. “We’re fine, we’re just too busy right now” we say when days, weeks, months, and years go by without connecting with friends. I’m fine, I’m fine, I’m fine. It’s so easy to say even when it’s not true.

We’ve become so isolated and it’s hard to know how to get back. It’s so hard to know how to even begin to build the kind of relationships our hearts need. And I think In our current culture, it’s just not as organic as it once was. It's more work now.

Because you know, we have our own washing machines. We don't depend on each other to do laundry, or cook dinner, or raise babies anymore. We don't really depend on each other for much of anything if we're being honest.

In Brene Brown’s book Braving the Wilderness, she says that being lonely affects the length of our life expectancy similar to smoking 15 ci******es a day. I don’t say that to freak anyone out, but to let you know that the longing for connection is LEGIT. I think we’ve treated friendship like a luxury for far too long; friendship isn’t a luxury, it’s a necessity.

We don't want it. We kind of need it.

Be independent. Be proud of it. But be an independent woman who realizes the value and the importance of opening the door to other good women.

You can do it alone, but you don't have to. Islands are only fun for so long.

There is true magic when women come together and hold hands and share ideas and share stories and struggles. You use your gifts, and I'll use mine, and then we'll invite that woman over there who brings a completely different set of skills to the table we are building, and we'll watch together as something miraculous unfolds.

✍️ Sister, I am with you.
🎨 Ingrid Brandstetter

08/08/2024

📢 Calling all local families who are craving some quality time together: You are invited to join us for our Mindfully Me Family Summer Camp day! 🏕️

During the day we will be:

🧘‍♀️ Starting off with a fun family yoga playshala activity 🧘‍♀️
🎨 Creating a mindful craft which introduces the power of positive affirmations
💃 Making music together as a community
🧺 Exploring new food flavours and textures in a bring-and-share picnic lunch
⛺ Building an outdoor shelter and campfire
🍫 Reflecting on the day with s'mores and singing
✨ And more!

This day will act as the perfect opportunity for those of you who would like to know what we will be getting up to during our term-time home-ed kids club, to come and experience it for yourselves...

So here are the details:

🗓️ Date: Monday 19th August
🕗 Time: 10am-3pm
📍 Location: Trentham Scout Hut
💷 Price: £22 per child early bird*, adults go free! (£33 per child 'late bird'... Adults still go free!)
🌯 Bring: shareable lunch bits (we will have a picnic!), a yoga mat per child if you have one and weather-appropriate accessories as we will spend a big portion of the day outdoors
🕶️ Wear: comfortable clothes which you don't mind potentially getting a little bit muddy/painted on

We know that home ed doesn't work for everybody, so we wanted to make sure that a few times a year we do activities which are inclusive to conscious families who love spending time together getting into nature, being creative and learning through play.

If this sounds like you and your family, then please hit the ❤️ and I will send you all of the other details!

If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask them below...

Otherwise, we hope you will join us for our first ever Mindfully Me Family Summer Camp Day! 🎉

With grace and grit,
Gabriella x

*Early bird prices run until Friday the 16th August OR until 10 families have booked. At the moment our maximum is 15 families in total. To reserve your family's spot, send me a DM with the names and ages of everyone who would like to come. I will confirm your provisional space and advise how to make payment. Your space is not officially confirmed until payment has been received. All payments are non-refundable and non-transferable. Payments to be made via PayPal or bank transfer 😘

07/08/2024

This is something I’ve been wanting to share for a little while now, but my heart became full with the Mindfully Me project (which, FYI I am super excited about!) BUT, now is THE TIME! 🎉

You may have noticed (or not) that I’ve been a little quieter on social media over the last four weeks… This is because:

1. Algorithms have become trickier to navigate. Part of this is (in my opinion) because there are almost too many features in the apps now, and whenever you focus on whichever the new feature is, your content gets favoured… But then a new feature is introduced the next week and that means that whatever you learned for the previous feature is no longer at the front of the algorithm line 🥴

2. There has been a lot of talk recently about how this app has made a deal to begin selling our content (written, video, image and audio) to AI, so that AI can become better at replicating the human touch. Needless to say, that feels yucky AF. If my content is being sold to anything or anyone (not least something which might make me obsolete) I’d like a cut of the moolah 🤑 thank you very much.

3. Public social media has become oversaturated. We all know this. This is why, and how, we can watch a 30 second reel that a creator has put hours into making, about a topic that we’re really interested in, but then scroll past without even hitting the ‘like’ button nevermind stopping to comment, share, join their mailing list or buy their super-cool product or service 🤷‍♀️

It just no longer feels like something I’m keen to invest too much of my time, energy and art into… And that is scary, because social media became my primary form of marketing my business about eight years ago, and has stayed that way since, but I’m taking a leap of faith 🤞

I will be sharing a little more over the next few weeks about what I’m doing instead, but if you head to the link below and look for The Soul-Snack Subscription, you can find out about it there.

How are you feeling about social media at the moment? Tell me in the comments.

With grace and grit,

Gabriella x

https://www.gabriellayogalife.com/plans-pricing