Yoga Matters ૐ ૐ ૐ

17/03/2026

…what were you like in the 90s? No TikTok! (tg) no sweat :(… ahem… oh! Happy St Patrick’s Day y’all ☘️

14/03/2026

Some of the world is in a nasty and a bit of a deranged 'mood' don't you think? The feed is noxious. Alongside the obvious news of the day... the current global zeitgeist could be defined by a deep sense of uncertainty, economic anxiety, and profound technological disruption driven by AI. Here is where YM comes in. We want you to unplug so that you can:
~RELEASE ~RESET ~REOPEN ~RETURN ~RENEW ~REVEAL.
PHYSICAL AND MENTAL WELLBEING are very core of what is getting attention in Bikram Yogasana class. Whether you know it or not, whether you can articulate what you are feeling or not, every time you step on your mat you have an encounter with your Self.
~YOUR BODY KNOWS where the physical and mental pain is. ~YOUR BODY KNOWS what it needs~
~YOGA KNOWS where the pain and uncertainty and anxiety is. ~YOGA KNOWS what the body needs~
WE HAVE TO BE ALLOWED to ~RELEASE. WE HAVE TO BE ALLOWED to ~RECONNECT the different intelligences WITHOUT INTERFERANCE; we need to get 'away' from the 'mood' and ~RECONNECT all the different energies that operate within us. And we have to create the opportunity and ALLOW the process to take place, the shedding of negative emotions that we may have been inhabiting too long in recent times. FIRST, WE HAVE TO TURN UP!
REMEMBER! noone starts off being excellent; be REALISTIC about where you are at right now in your body and mind; YOU ARE NOT ALONE if you need TIME to get back on top of your practice and ~RECONNECT with your true Self. Time but no measures. ALLOW YOURSELF to be a beginner. Have faith in the process! LET us ~RECAST ourselves together knowing even iron will bend in heat! ~RE-TURN UP to YM to ~RE-START your practice! You’ve got this!
Om Om Om LET US ~ REGARD RECOMMENCE RESTORE RESOURCE REAFFIRM REFLECT RECEIVE REVIVE REJOICE RESILIENCE REALIZE !

12/03/2026

Are YOU a Mama?
~On 'Mothering Sunday' ALL Yo’ Mamas, Mammies, Mummies & Maters ALWAYS get a FREE PASS to YM!
~Mums just add the free 'MAMASTE 2026' pass to your account and use it to book Sunday 30th in the usual way.
~ Couldn’t be simpler! Everyone is Welcome (not just Yogi Moms!).
New to YM? simply ‘Register’ via Momoyoga link below and Book.
http://momoyoga.com/yoga-matters-jersey/register/
Om Om Om RESPECT!
~Don't Forget to say ~ 'MAMASTE' ~ on the day!
@

07/03/2026

Right now there are women fighting for liberty and life for themselves and for those around them who cannot! If we do not lift up these women, everyone will fall short! IWD website says Purple signifies Justice and Dignity! YES! Justice and Dignity for ALL women everywhere. Have a SUPER purple IWD ladies

01/03/2026

20/02/2026

*** This weekend @ YM ***
Original Classic Bikram 26n2 90minutes HOT! 🔥
Sat 4pm Darren 🔥
Sun 930am Trisha 🔥
All Welcome 🔥
Simply register and Book via Momoyoga and get a week of FREE Hot Yoga download here: http://momoyoga.com/yoga-matters-jersey/register/

15/02/2026

** Beginners Yoga/Therapy Course ** (2 spaces left)
The next course starts Saturday 28th Feb in St Helier near Minden. Includes Conscious Breathing Exercises, Mindful Movement and Accessible Yoga Postures. Course fee £60 for 6 x 1 hour classes. Saturday mornings 9.15 to 10.15.
To sign up please email: greenyogigirl@hotmail.co.uk for a registration form. Read more here: http://yogamattersjersey.uk/omg-yoga-therapy-6-class-course/
Thank-You, Darren🙂
@

We are born to live in balance. Harmony is our natural state yet daily we strive to recreate a harmony that is already present at the very core of our ... Read More

14/02/2026

@

07/02/2026

~BELLY UP IV~ I would like YM students to become more considerate of all the layers of muscles and organs* residing in this area. Use your Yoga to tune into the deeper abdominal muscles to strengthen them because this is important to their function as stabilizers of the limbs but there must be movement here too, not rigidity. (After this post I list the organ and functions if ye want to have a little reminder*).
🔥Abdominal muscles assist breathing, align the pelvis, flex and rotate the trunk, hold in and help protect viscera, keep the torso erect, support the lumbar spine. The ‘core’ is a useful phrase in what we do; the word is a shortcut in an instruction but it can also be both ‘misunderstood’ and sometimes ‘mis-elevated’ in translation of its meaning. Your abdominal muscles are PART of your CORE and strong abdominal muscles support good health. YOUR CORE IS BROADER THAN YOUR ABDOMINAL AREA. You will work ALL your core in Bikram Yoga even when we do not focus on it; you will activate the core muscles, mostly we are not interested when teaching in ‘compartmentalising’ like you might when using different apparatus in a gym; but right now I focus on abdominal core. Just beneath your skin there is a sturdy wall of muscles stretching over your internal organs:
🔥RECTUS ABDOMINUS: On the surface the ‘straplike’ Re**us Abdominus extends along the front, from p***c bone to sternum.
A well maintained, responsive Re**us Abdominus: can help in forceful exhalation (accessory muscle), keeps the abdominal organs in place, helps you do sit up with ease, helps protect lower back. These are NOT the muscles that helps you pull off the fancy Yoga poses
Prevailing images of a six pack as representative of strength and health has led to the common misunderstanding about what is the ‘core’ of your body leading many to work these muscles in isolation. The core is much much more than the abdominals and much more than the Re**us Abominus. You can have a strong core without a six pack. Conversely, you can have a six pack ‘without’ core strength!
Overworking these muscles (to achieve six pack) not only compromises your backbends it can actually create a rounding towards front of torso and flatten the natural curve of your lumbar spine.
🔥EXTERNAL & INTERNAL OBLIQUES: Either side, a thin powerful muscle called the External Oblique runs diagonally from the ribs to the re**us, forming a “V” when viewed from the front.
Running perpendicular to the External Obliques, the Internal Obliques lie just below.
These two pairs of muscles work in concert, rotating the trunk and flexing it diagonally.
🔥SUCKING IN YOUR TUMMY: You hear us say this in class (interchangeably with ‘engage your abdominal core’ instruction). In teaching a ‘beginning Yoga‘ class, with a high proportion of new people (first timers) trying this out (in every class), ‘Engage your core’ can mean ‘a b s o l u t e l y n o t h i n g ’ to them. Suck in your tummy is more useful instruction to bring attention to the ‘AREA’ that they are going to be working, just to keep things simple. (Remember a high proportion of people who try this Yoga never keep it up and in order to keep the class on track for regulars it is not Bikram method to pause the class for deep/detailed instruction on anatomy. There is no time (see ‘Method to the Madness’ ). (Hopefully the rest of this post will reassure those for whom ‘engage your abdominal core’ means nothing.)
Suck in your tummy is NOT an instruction to hold your breath! To effect it you pull your belly button towards your spine to create a hollowing effect. Effectively you are now recruiting the Transverse Abdominus muscle. REMEMBER! Always start these actions from neutral spine position! Sucking in your tummy is a very good start where one has never activated this area before. Longer term practitioners, as they evolve their practice and educate themselves, want to know more about this instruction and what other actions they can take in this area for longer term progress in some of the postures. Never worry! This can be experimented with, it does not have to be ‘rigid’ly practiced or relied on to effect posture and obtain benefits. People learn in time how to activate core abdominal muscles as necessary.
🔥TRANSVERSUS ABDOMINUS (THE BIG ONE !): The innermost layer of abdominal muscle the Transversus Abdominus (hidden behind the six pack) runs horizontally wrapping the torso like a CORSET. Hidden they may be but most essential to Yogasana they are. Hugely functional, they stabilize the pelvis and lower lumbar spine.
You engage this muscle when coughing, sneezing or exhaling forcibly. See! These muscles know what to do even without your interference! They are protecting you already . You activate THIS muscle to pull in your belly. THIS is the muscle that keeps you light.
Unlike the other three groups of abdominal muscles, the Transversus Abdominus doesn’t move your spine, it controls mobility. Perhaps the most effective means of exercising it entails working with the breath. Pranayama practices involving active/vigorous exhalation e.g. Bikram Kapalbhati provides an excellent workout for this deep muscle.
🔥HOW DO YOU KNOW IF YOU’RE ENGAGING CORRECTLY?: Test it in a seated forward fold. If your Transversus Abdominis is engaged correctly you will almost feel your hips moving behind you in the opposite direction of your fold.
The location, deep inside the abdominal cavity, makes it difficult to engage this muscle in isolation for Yoga moves but you don’t really want to isolate it.
Whilst it is nice to know the individual muscles you are working in Yogasana it is important to know that there is more than one muscle involved in creating an action. In class you are effectively teaching the muscles in the body to work together more efficiently. So you work your Transversus Abdominus WITH your Pelvic Floor muscle to maximise stability and ease in the abdominal and lower back area in many postures and posture transitions. (Also they work with Multifidus, but that is topic for another post.)
🔥WHAT is the PELVIC FLOOR?: The Pelvic Floor separates the pelvic cavity (above) from the perineum (below). It is the muscular base of the abdomen attached to the pelvis running from your p***c bone to tail bone Hence ‘Floor’.
When the muscles of your Pelvic Floor activate your Transversus Abdominus can engage (contract) properly.
🔥HOW: Getting your Pelvic Floor to engage properly is a combination of pulling upward and inward action; The most common way to describe how is to ‘try’ and pull back or stop yourself weeing mid flow.
In Yoga this is known as Mula Bandha (See Bellyup Part III). If you are unsure about how to do this; practice it on its own first in a seated meditation position and then incorporate it with asana. Ensure you engage this lock when you are in spine neutral position before you take any other action to effect posture. Endeavouring to use Mula Bandha improves concentration and mental clarity and helps improve energy and vitality (it’s an energy seal).
Using Mula Bandha with asana can increase core stability.
WHERE / WHEN TO ACTIVATE TRANSVERSUS ABDOMINUS & PELVIC FLOOR: No, I don’t walk around all day long with my abdominal core engaged and no I don’t engage it all the way through every class either. Yes, I could/should probably engage it a bit more than I do in my daily activities and in my practice (human person being that I am ). No, my world won’t grind to a halt ‘cos I don’t. It does not constitute an emergency; you are not going to Yoga hell if you don’t engage 24/7.
🔥PLEASE STOP WORRYING ABOUT THIS RIGHT NOW! If I instruct you interlock your fingers to and pick up your foot, for the most part, without specific instruction you will engage your core to some degree to effect that action anyway! It is an automatic response for many but this is hard to convey so people sometimes worry if they are/are not doing something they should/should not. PLEASE don’t worry about this stuff; if you do you are introducing stress to your practice. Some may be weak in this area but if you TRUST yourself that in your actions in class you are being mindful, listening to the instructions, following them to the best of your ability, listening to the feedback from your body, stopping actions when you need to! You will be fine!).
IF you know you want/need to engage them more then YOU HAVE TO focus deeply on the feelings as you repeatedly try to activate these muscles. You can practice engaging them in static/neutral positions (standing in the shower, in the queue in the bank ), moving (walking to work/class). Ultimately, if you want to have lighter postures and you know your core is the answer then you have to activate these muscles in the proper context. In your Yoga class. This took me a long time to get going on myself, there was SOoooo much else to think about in the postures and HEY! I’m still ok. You have to focus EVERY time. I mean EVERY time you practice. START TODAY. Engage these and you can fly in Yoga. Please, LET THEM GO when you are finished with them.
Om Om Om phew! BELLY OUT!