Yoga with Norman

04/01/2026

Yin Yoga 200-Hour Teacher Training

Jill Patterson and Norman Blair are excited to announce that they are teaching a 200-hour Yin Yoga Teacher Training. This course will prepare and equip participants in how to teach Yin yoga: anatomy, philosophy, meditation, breathing techniques and the poses/the potentials of this practice will be covered in-depth. This is for anyone who wants to take a deep dive into their Yin practice and be held in a group experience of learning over a longer period time, slowly embodying and connecting.

Jill and Norman have more than 30 years together of teaching Yin yoga and training people. They bring commitment, transparency and integrity and a deep love and commitment to the transformation Yin yoga can offer.

This training is predominantly in-person – there will be some online sessions and lots of recorded material; plus a substantial amount of course manual material.

Norman has been teaching Yin yoga since 2003; in 2016 his book was published: ‘Brightening Our Inner Skies – yin and yoga’. Jill began teaching in 2017; she has taught seven 200-hour teaching trainings.

Location: West London Buddhist Centre (Porchester Road, London, W2 5DP)
Number of participants: limited to 16 people so everyone is well supported and well-resourced
Cost: £2950 (with two places available at bursary of 50% cost); payment plans available
Yoga Alliance certification: in process
Structure: 2 five-day immersions and 5 Friday evening-Sunday weekends (Friday evenings are online). Starts 8-12 April.
For more details go to https://www.yogawithnorman.co.uk/yoga-training/200-hour-tt
To contact us email yogawithnorman@gmail.com

11/12/2025

Yin yoga with Norman at Shiva Shakti, Going Inwards to Resource Ourselves
Wednesday 17 December, 3.00pm - 5.00pm, £30

To book, click here: https://shivashaktistudios.com/workshops/

Yin yoga is centred around floor-based postures, which are held for several minutes using props as supports. Mindfully bending and gently moving can be remarkably rejuvenating; a wonderful way of simultaneously refreshing and slowing down. This workshop is suitable for every ability and level of experience.

09/12/2025

Yin yoga with Norman Indaba Yoga, Exploring Space
Sunday 14 December, 2.00pm - 4.30pm, £40

To book, click here: https://indabayoga.com/workshopsandcourses

Yin yoga is centred around floor-based postures, which are held for several minutes using props as supports. Mindfully bending and gently moving can be remarkably rejuvenating; a wonderful way of simultaneously refreshing and slowing down. This workshop is suitable for every ability and level of experience.

07/12/2025

Keep talking and keep writing and keep speaking about Gaza. Jean-Pierre Filiu (a French historian) recently wrote: “Now I understand why Israel is denying the international press access to such a distressing scene.”

Since the so-called ceasefire, Israeli military forces have murdered more than 370 people in Gaza (about 45 a week).

Israel intends to be an empire based on racism and apartheid. Israel is a stronghold of western imperialism. Israel needs to be disarmed and deradicalised.

04/12/2025

Supporting the launch of Yogamates, Brighton Natural Health Foundation.

https://www.bnhf.org/sponsor-a-mat/

Love Yoga?
Pay that feeling forward!
Sponsor a mat ... be a yogamate

What is a yogamate?

The Brighton Natural Health Foundation provides free classes for people facing health inequalities.

Become a yogamate by sponsoring a mat at one of their inclusive classes for someone experiencing:
• Homelessness
• Chronic Pain
• Trauma

Sponsor a mat - change a life!
£5 pays for one class for one person
£10 pays for two classes for one person
£30 pays for six classes for one person

https://www.bnhf.org/sponsor-a-mat/

Please share this post widely. Thank you.

03/12/2025

Zeev Sternhell survived the Holocaust; he lived in Israel and was a leading authority on fascism. In 2018 he stated: “The left is no longer capable of overcoming the toxic ultra-nationalism that has evolved here [Israel], the kind whose European strain almost wiped out a majority of the Jewish people. We see not just a growing Israeli fascism but racism akin to Na**sm in its early stages.” Prescient words.

Last month, I read a great book by Philippe Sands (a human rights lawyer): 'East West Street'. About the years leading up to the second world war; how the N***s ran incessant propaganda campaigns demonising and dehumanising ‘other’ (such as Jewish people); the Holocaust – and the Nuremberg trial after the war. Last week, I watched the 1961 classic film ‘Judgment at Nuremberg’.

In the last two years, Israel has shown that as a state it needs to be disarmed and deradicalised. History did not begin on 7 October and it will not end with Trump’s colonial so-called ‘peace plan.’

02/12/2025

I have compiled a document with quotes (from Tara Brach to Krishnamurti, from James Baldwin to Vanda Scaravelli). About 30,000 words; more than 450 quotes from more than 300 people. Words that I have found to be helpful and instructive. Precious diamonds that have given me some guidance.

If you would like to receive it (as a PDF), please email yogawithnorman@gmail.com

I hope that you find words within this document that make you think, make your heart open, make you smile – that encourage you to engage and to reflect…

01/12/2025

Practice Yin Yoga with Norman and West London Buddhist Centre this weekend, Friday 5th December and Saturday 6th December.

Slow Down Friday: online via Zoom
6pm-8pm, £20/£10

Saturday: in person West London Buddhist Centre
2-5pm, £40/£20 (four spaces left)

To book, click here:
https://www.yogawithnorman.co.uk/bookings

The long Yin workshop is a precious chance to slow down and soften. This practice of mindfully bending and gently moving can be remarkably rejuvenating for our body-mind-heart. Yin yoga gives us the space to slow down and stay with our experiences rather than always rushing and striving to achieve.

27/11/2025

Three live classes with MFML Movement for Modern Life in December

Monday Evening Yin Yoga with MFML and Norman Blair
December 1st, 15th and 22nd | 7-7.45pm BST

The Christmas ritual is back! Norman Blair’s Christmas Yin classes are an MFML festive ritual to look forward to every year, helping us stay grounded and well as the season gets busy.

Let’s step out of the chill and into the soft, cosy calm of our bodies with 45 minutes of deeply restoring Yin Yoga.

Create a cosy Monday night ritual of warmth, stillness & release - it’s like a yoga hot water bottle.

Subscribe to Movement for Modern Life to join the classes and get 30% off the cost of your subscription with the code NORMAN30
Link to subscribe: https://movementformodernlife.com/
Link to view live classes: https://movementformodernlife.com/blog/liveyogaclasses/

30/10/2025

Practise Yin yoga with Norman, on Saturday afternoon at the West London Buddhist Centre, 2.00pm - 5.00pm, £40/£20

To book, click here: https://www.yogawithnorman.co.uk/bookings #/

17/10/2025

This is a great article by Liz Bucar about potential drawbacks to secular meditation (although this risk is not limited to secular meditation.
“When meditation becomes primarily about managing your own internal state rather than connecting you to collective struggle, it can become a tool for turning away from rather than toward political reality… when meditation is divorced from its ethical and social context it can become a tool for political quietism… when fascism is rising and people are being harmed, that calm becomes a form of avoidance."

There’s a moment in Ezra Klein’s recent interview with Ta-Nehisi Coates that’s been bugging me.

15/10/2025

Here is something that I recommend and support from Kwame Daniel.

"A number of folks have expressed the desire to move their websites away from Wix to more ethical providers recently - so I'm going to offer some FREE help in this regard. We love a bit of Ahimsa.

I need to find some downtime between projects to prepare some resources, tips, guides etc so I'm going to use this post to collect questions and requests etc.

So please, if you're one of the folks who was hoping to move from Wix drop your questions/worries etc here and I'll either answer direct or I'll add them to my list as I try to prepare a longer post or some useful resources.

No DMs.

My goal will be to help make it easy for folks who want to do it DIY without tanking SEO and with minimal stress (can't promise zero because it's a stressful task).

Hope this helps.

For context, in my day job I'm a web designer and developer and have been for years. I write my own code and am very experienced with all major platforms (Webflow, Wordpress, Squarespace, Shopify and even WebStudio) so I'm not offering this as a random teacher who just happens to have some experience with websites.

I am not offering this as self-promotion or as a "lead magnet" but as a way to support the community. Please feel free to search my post history and search for "squarespace" or "wordpress" etc and you'll see I've fairly regularly offered free advice and help and rather long posts in this group and others. And you can likely find links to my site (not sharing it here to avoid self promo) or just Google if you want to see feedback/reviews to know I'm legit.

This is directly in response to recent requests."

Contact Kwame at kwame@kwameand.co