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Christine Poole Yoga, 206 Maunsell Road, Port Waikato (2025)

19/08/2025

Term 4 Classes for 2025

19/08/2025

LETTING GO OF THE NEED TO PLEASE
During my early years my decisions were governed by other people's perceptions of what my life should look like. Doing the right thing and making sure ‘everything happened at the right time.’ A great deal of my choices stemmed from expectation, whether school subjects, friendships, extra-curricular activities, university degrees, professional roles, travel destinations, house ownership, relationships. Interestingly I spent more time focussing on projections of myself instead of my true self. Not once in my late teens or early twenties did I ask myself ‘what do I want my life to look like?
So much time was spent in the pursuit of the aesthetic. How do I want others to perceive me? After perfecting the ability to match these expectations I realised I had completely invented this person and convinced myself that was who I was. Able to exist in my busy life, with a full schedule, fulfill my athletic practices, adhere to my strict diet and smile everyday in order to be ‘that perfect person.’ Until suddenly I wasn’t. I wasn’t happy.
I was far from it. For the first time in my life I felt like I had woken up. I had asked myself ‘what do you want’. Instead of what does everyone else want of me? I let go of the expectations of doing ‘the right thing, at the right time, looking perfectly perfect on the way’.
“I'd been doing everything to please everyone else, and some imaginary me,” - Jolene Stockholm.
It was only from that place that I realised the great pretending act wasn’t needed anymore. When you realise that you aren't happy with your life you are living it is the most liberating feeling. So many of us are living in a time warp of social media searching for likes and follows, caught in the vortex of wanting to please. Searching to be better, work harder, appear to the outside world as successful. What does that even look like? Why are we all looking from outside of ourselves to the inside with judgement and self-deprecation, instead of from the inside toward outside with compassion and kindness?
Socially we are primed to be self critical perceptions driven by the aesthetic of what other people expect us to look like or how we are supposed to behave. What if you let go of the need to meet this aesthetic and made decisions that empowered your own happiness? We all have responsibilities and obligations, but we also have a head on our shoulders, two feet on the ground, a heart in our chest that beats without intervention. Allow yourself to reside on the inside, where the aesthetic is obsolete.
Where you are human and I am human and you feel and I feel. And the warmth of your own happiness is tangible. In yoga we talk a great deal about the ‘heart space.’ I like to think that in this space there is an imprint, and your imprint is unlike anyone else’s, inside it swells and shrinks in times of joy and sadness. When you visit the inside, free from judgement your imprint grows, your sense of self seems magnified. When you forget to listen and focus attention on the exterior too long your imprint starts to wash away. Just a projection of yourself remains.
When it becomes faint, transparent and floating in space, you start to question your sense of self, feeling lost in the sea of expectation. Letting go of attachment to an aesthetic allows you to turn inward and nourish your own imprint. Gift yourself a life free of judgement from external minds and eyes. Drop the need to please. It is not serving you or those around you. Start to feel, really feel.
Namaste Christine

03/05/2025

Yoga Classes Port Waikato and Pukekohe. All levels welcome.

25/04/2025

Yoga Class timetable starting 28 April. Look forward to seeing you. All welcome to attend no matter what your ability is. Namaste

04/01/2025

NEW YEAR NEW INTENTIONS
There's just something about a new year. A fresh start. A blank page. An opportunity to begin as you wish to continue
It’s my absolute favourite time of the year. As though the entire ocean expands before me, it represents endless potential and fills me with hope.

Beginning is as important as continuation. Placing the first footing, finding firm ground and creating your own intention. Over the past few years my intentions have become less grand, less about achieving great feats and less likely to render me paralysed by over-commitment. Rather they have grown more modest, they have become quiet undertones, hues that I wish to colour my days. I find with subtle intentions there is less self-imposed pressure and therefore fewer disappointments. My intentions have become a word, a phrase, or a feeling. A touchstone that reminds me regularly to return to the life I am trying to cultivate.

This year my words are;

HEART-LED. SURRENDER. GRACE.

These are Intentions in their own right. But together they are ways of living , states of being, guides to feeling, that take me closer to the person I want to be. They are gentle focus points that invite my attention to the qualities I am actively trying to embody. They are not resolving any part of myself that is broken or needs fixing. They are not rules or regulations that require adherence. They are not terms that require punishment if not met. They are simply a quiet reminder of the rich and abundant life I am seeking.

Something interesting unfolds when our life is free from force. We relax. We realise that everything we have been seeking outside ourselves is already present within ourselves. When we connect with that feeling our focus is inward instead of outward. And we shift to a place where everything is a blessing instead of a treat. Every experience and encounter is an opportunity to learn, grow,and reaffirm our intention, instead of meeting someone elses expectation of us. When we live from this place we surrender our incessant need to control everything and everyone around us and we embrace what is. Until we embrace what is, we cannot realise that life is actually happening for us instead of for us. And when we learn from each experience and incorporate learnings into our behaviour, we are graciously becoming the person we were meant to be.

So perhaps this year we depart from the old model of choosing something to fix. Maybe instead of resolving lifes ‘problems’ we choose to tread gently and create an intention to guide our attention in the direction we would like to tread.

Happy 2025
I wish you a year filled with joy, love and being fully in the present moment

18/07/2024

SHADES OF GREY
Right and wrong. Good and bad. Healthy and unhealthy. True and false. Rich and poor. Perfect and imperfect. Healthy and unhealthy. Happy and unhappy. Black and white.

For the duration of our younger years we are raised to believe these extreme contrasts are all that exist in life. We label, categorise and box people and things into these categories, as if everything is black and white. But what are the implications of this ‘black and white’ thinking on our state of mind, our overall health and happiness.

It is quite simple to participate in a two dimensional way of thinking. Life is simple that way. When there are just two opposite concepts to grasp, right and wrong, true and false, rich and poor, success and failure, there is far less need for analytical thought. But the majority of us spend most of our lives navigating this ‘grey zone’ between these contrasting ideas. As a result we never feel satisfied, we never feel like we are enough and we are often left feeling that because we aren’t one way or the other- where do we fit in?

Interestingly we live in a world now where living a life somewhere between rich and poor- perfect and imperfect-happy and unhappy, is deemed average, mediocre or embarrassingly pedestrian. We are all consciously or unconsciously striving for this life of the perfect body, the happy home, the right car, the perfect partner, the wealthy bank balance, the restrictively healthy way of life, the job that reflects our true passions. Indeed we are all so perfect when we project ourselves on the internet… but does this reality even exist outside of print media or the online environment?

I was fortunate to be raised by two loving parents who told me I could do anything I wanted to do, I could have anything I wanted to have, provided I worked hard for it. These ideas were well intentioned. And they were all well and good until they weren't helpful anymore. This black and white thinking saved me quite well, until I entered the unforgiving real world when I left home. I worked hard, then harder still. I did all the ‘right’ things. I kept ‘healthy,’ I ‘budgeted,’ I made ‘good friends,’and everything was going ‘perfect.’ Until all of a sudden it was going less than perfect.I couldn't understand–I did everything right, this couldn’t have been my fault, I followed the rules and I did what I was told? My falling short of success automatically became in my mind immense ‘failure’.

Did I fail? Not really. Simply put, I just didn't succeed in the way I had envisioned. But it was definitive black and white thinking that was so detrimental to my mental health it eventually resulted in a serious bout of depression. I put myself in the box with a big label on it saying: ’I'M A FAILURE’. I sat in that box for a long time trying to figure out how it all went so wrong. Along with feelings of being a failure came perceived loss of influence, loss of potential income and wealth, loss of living the right life. I was miserable.

It took a long time for me to realise that all that had happened was that I entered the “Grey Zone’. It wasn’t that I did badly, It wasn’t that I did exceedingly well, it was that I was ‘good’. I had never just been ‘good’ before. It was heartbreaking. I think sometimes it’s easier to deal with complete failure or complete success than it is to be perceived as mediocre or run-of-the-mill. But you know what- most of us are living these wonderful ‘normal’ lives and there is nothing wrong with us.
Most of us worry about money, most of us struggle with fears of not being enough, most of us sit between happiness and unhappiness on a daily basis, most of us eat cake and feel bad about it, most of us feel naughty if we don’t exercise, most of us tell white lies to protect the people we care about, or relieve the pressure of an already hectic life, most of us feel failure at some point in our lives, most of us look in the mirror and think thoughts far short of perfection, most of us move through life in the middle ground- the grey-zone- where we just deal with being a fallible human being.

I’m not saying don’t strive, I’m not saying don’t bother working hard because you are never going to make it where you want to go. I AM saying, leave the self criticism behind, leave the comparisons behind, and leave the black and white thinking behind. When you can realise there is two dimensional self chat underpinning your behaviour, your thoughts and your feelings remind yourself that life is actually a journey in shades of grey, nothing is ever black or all white.

See you in class; Namaste Christine

12/04/2024

ALTOGETHER ALONE
Our society is more connected than ever before. Technology allows us to be united when we are apart, feel joined when we feel disjointed and become included when we are excluded. We are more ‘together’ than we have ever been in history, so why are we feeling so alone? There is a modern plague, not obesity, not even heart disease. It’s loneliness. The experience of being isolated, separated or rejected from the rest of your community. This feeling of ‘being the only one; is quietly eating away at our sense of purpose and leaving us disconnected.

A little over two years ago my heart felt heavy with these same emotions. My life began to change as I withdrew from the things that used to bring me a great deal of pleasure. I was suffering . I didn’t fit in. And I felt entirely alone. The life I had come to live was not the life I had envisioned for myself and everywhere I looked I saw people on their path, seemingly succeeding. Living, sharing and finding belonging. The truth is what I saw was merely a guise, a facade hiding everyone’s struggle to be accepted.

In our search for acceptance I think we have found ourselves completely distracted. This guise of receiving ‘likes and follows’ from people we don’t even know became more important than spending time with our real friends. Being reachable through our devices became a perpetual plug in, where our real life is interrupted by what is ‘more important’ [emails, social feed chatter and reminders]The purpose of our actions and relationships shifted to doing it ‘for the gram’ instead of doing it because it ignites our passion and makes us feel alive. We are becoming less and less present in our own lives, and more and more fixated on the numbing scroll through the lives of others. And yes, there’s a tradeoff. Our disengagement with what is real and happening right now, right in front of us, has left us feeling isolated, insufficient and alone.

Everywhere we look we feel like we aren’t good enough. Bombarded with the message that we need to change who we are, to fit the expectations of society. Our Purchases are being shaped by influencers, our want’s dictated by what is trending and our decisions pressured by a bias we don’t even know infiltrated our feed. These subliminal and unconscious messages have mass implications. We feel like we need to conform with everyone around us in order to be accepted.There is only one thing that happens when we try to fit in with the masses. We force a change in ourselves that we aren’t meant to make. We sacrifice our beliefs, our perspectives and what makes us uniquely different. The result is not belonging, in fact our fruitless efforts give rise to the hues of loneliness. A superficial feeling of acceptance soon subsides to leave us feeling hollow and unfulfilled.

I have come to realise that we are all confronting the same demons, traumas and fears. All we are really searching for is love. Love is the only antidote to loneliness. As human beings it is at the very core of our programming to search for belonging. To find a community of people where the culture resonates with us and makes us feel at home. It’s why understanding our heritage brings us a sense of connection. It's why spending time with friends and family allows us to feel nurtured. It’s why doing what we love, with the people we love, makes us feel whole. When we connect with the reminders of who we really are, we feel more ourselves and less someone else.

In yogic philosophy ‘being yourself’ is known as fulfilling your dharma. Dharma is your purpose, meaning or reason for being. It is believed that no-one else can fulfill your dharma. Like a fingerprint is unique, yours and yours alone. Living your dharma brings you a sense of abundance, love and freedom.

In my classes I try to encourage people to be themselves and find more meaning in their lives. Our yoga space is a safe place and everyone is welcome, without any effort needed to fit in . An environment that encourages everyone to explore themselves without distractions, where we can tune out the noise that has infiltrated our lives and re-connect.
The connectedness you so deeply desire from the world can only be found when you truly connect with yourself. When we rediscover our sense of self we realise that we are not alone. We come to realise that we all share the same life. The air we breathe is the same air, the ground we walk on is the same ground, the water we drink is from the same source. We are all in this together. You are just like a universal synapse, you form a part of a much bigger whole, and there is a great deal of comfort in knowing everyone is too.When we practise together we are all on our own journey, but there is just something magic about being surrounded by the energy of others. A class environment reminds us that we are not alone. We too are feeling, breathing and being. We too are processing, struggling and questioning. We too are real human beings supporting one another by showing up and being real together. Join me for a yoga practice and find belonging within yourself and your community.
Look forward to seeing you on your mat
NamasteChristine

12/04/2024

Yoga Classes commence on Monday 29 April for term 2. Everyone welcome no matter what your ability is. Come and stretch your body and your mind to find more calm , clarity and balance.

08/09/2023

YOGA FOR EVERYONE

There is something I really love about students new to yoga. There is an unknowing, a blank canvas ready to be printed, a journey about to begin. So often they are drawn to the practice as a "stretch" for the purely physical benefits of which there are so many. But when does yoga stop being a stretch class ( as I hear so many people call it) and start becoming something more than that?

I have had numerous questions recently about what I offer that doesn't have any of the philosophy, any of the meditation , any of the "you know... extra spiritual stuff". This really had me thinking. As a lay person the perspective of yoga is that we sit around with hands on each other's backs, chanting , ommmming, and tying ourselves up in knots before we meditate to the sound of Indian bowls. It saddens me that stereotypes of yoga and people who practice it(yogis) portray us as "alternative".
I defend yoga wholeheartedly when people ask for a class without the "spiritual stuff'. Without Yoga Philosophy, Pranayama, Mudras a sankapala (intention) or even the Yamas and Niyamas a yoga class is just a stretch that you could do at home. A yoga class is there for you to learn something, to be inspired, to challenge your perspective, to be critical and ask why, to become familiar with your body , your mind and perhaps (god forbid) your spirit or soul. This is the reason yoga and meditation are so special, this is the reason you leave feeling at peace and in a place of great contentment.

I have spent many years of my life studying yoga. I do not consider myself spiritual in the typical construct of that word, I drink wine , I love coffee. I enjoy cycling and walking. bodyboarding. Have nothing against gym classes or running. And yes I like to chant on occasion. I do not feel I am weird or "alternative" by any stretch of the imagination. In fact I feel that because I practice yoga I am mainstream- just like the millions of other people that practice globally. And FYI- meditation is about the best thing you could possibly do to find good health- so if you're not doing it, why the hell not?

Life is changing . It's becoming busier, we have more responsibilities, greater stress and most of us feel spread thin- most of the time. What do we do? We go for a 10km run , we trash ourselves at the gym, we drink coffee,eat lots of chocolate and we all contribute to this cycle of tension. Isn't it weird to be contributing to your ill health when you have accessible opportunity to do something completely un-weird and join the movement of people who have realised there is a better way to live?

The irony is the excuses I have been fed from people who won't try yoga or don't make it part of their regular routine..

"I'm too busy at the moment - when life gets less crazy I will try and come!"----You make it busy, yoga makes life less damn crazy.
"I don't have the headspace at the moment'.---- Yoga will create headspace
"I am to tired" ---- Have you heard of Yin or restorative Yoga?
"I am too busy training"- ---Yoga is about the best thing you could do for your training.
"It's too expensive"---- It's body maintenance and a lot cheaper than the dentist.
"I'm not flexible enough to practice yoga "-----REALLY? This is WHY you practice yoga!
"It's boring and slow" ---- Not all yoga classes are slow a flow class might be just up you alley.

All are fragments of the imagination and not at all the reality of what a yoga practice involves or requires.
Yoga is not a "stretch class", it's not a fad and is certainly not alternative!

Yoga is a powerful tool to get to know yourself, to breathe and above all truly enhances your way of life. Those that practice yoga and meditate are not "hippies'. They are the most intelligent ones who have realised that there is a sustainable form of movement and mind exercise available to them.
So share this with someone who is considering yoga. Well done all of you who are already on this journey. See you on the mat.

Namaste Christine

13/04/2023

LETTING GO AND FOLLOWING DREAMS

During my earlier years my decisions were governed by other people's perceptions of what my life should look like. Doing "the right thing' and making sure 'everything happened at the right time'. A great deal of my choices stemmed from expectation; whether school subjects, friendships, extra -curricular activities, university degrees, professional roles, travel destinations, home ownership, relationships. interestingly I spent more time focusing on projections of myself instead of my true self. Not once in my late teens, twenties or thirties did I ask myself 'what do I want my life to look like?'
So much time was spent in the pursuit of the aesthetic. How do I want others to perceive me? after perfecting the ability to match these expectations I realized I had completely invented this person and convinced myself that was who I was. Able to exist in my busy life, with a full schedule, fulfill my athletic practices, practice my yoga, adhere to my strict diet and smile everyday in order to be 'that perfect person'. Until suddenly I wasn't. I wasn't happy, I was far from it. For the first time in my life I felt like I had woken up. I had asked myself 'what do you want?' instead of 'what does everyone else want of me?' I let go of the expectations of doing 'the right thing, at the right time, looking perfectly perfect on the way'.
"I'd been doing everything to please everyone else, and some imaginary me.' Jolene Stockholm

It was only from that place that I realized the great pretending act wasn't needed anymore. When you realize that you aren't happy with your life you are living it is the most liberating feeling. So many of us are living in a time warp of social media searching for likes and follows, caught up in the vortex of wanting to please. searching to be better, work harder, appear to the outside world as successful. What does this even look like? Why are we all looking from outside of ourselves to the inside with judgement and self-deprecation, instead of from the inside toward outside with compassion and kindness. Socially we are primed to be self-critical- all perceptions driven by the aesthetic of what other people expect us to look like or how we are supposed to behave. What if you let go of the need to meet this aesthetic and made decisions that empowered your own happiness?
We all have responsibilities and obligations, but we also have a head on our shoulders, two feet on the ground and heart in our chest that beats without intervention. Allow yourself to reside on the inside, where the aesthetic is obsolete. Where you are human and you feel and I feel. And the warmth of your own happiness is tangible.
In yoga we talk a great deal about 'the heart space'. I like to think that in this space there is an imprint, and your imprint is unlike anyone else's. Inside it swells and shrinks in times of joy and sadness. When you visit the inside, free from the judgement your imprint grows, your sense of self seems magnified. When you forget to listen and focus attention on the exterior too long your imprint starts to wash away. Just a projection of yourself remains. When it becomes faint, transparent and floating in space, you start to question your sense of self, feeling lost in the sea of expectation.
Letting go of attachment to an aesthetic allows you to turn inward and nourish your own imprint. Gift yourself a life free of judgement from external minds eyes. Drop the need to please, It is no serving you or those around you. Start to feel , really feel.
Namaste Christine

01/02/2023

THE NEW LAND

Happy New Year to you and your loved ones

16/10/2022

OUR BODIES ARE MIRACLES

Our value is not measured by the amount of air between our legs. Our worth is not dependant on the circumference of our biceps, the ratio of our hips to our waist or the amount a scale moves when we stand on it.
Our bodies are beautiful, magical and mysterious things. They're vessels, homes and tiny galaxies. Our bodies are more than mass and muscle. More than a skeleton and skin.
Our bodies are miracles.....

We don't look at a sunrise or a rainbow or a waterfall and judge it for not being tall enough, thin enough or toned enough. We don't put two different flowers side by side and criticize and compare them. We don't want to change them. No They're forces of nature-perfect just the way they are.
What if we treated our bodies with the same mentality... forces of nature; wild and wonderful. Perfect, JUST the way they are. We don't choose our friends based on their dress size. We don't look at other people and believe they would be better if they were thinner or lighter. So why do we treat ourselves any different?

The way we speak to ourselves , the way we think of ourselves and the way we see ourselves is not kind nor loving. We would never speak to someone else the way we speak to ourselves, would we?
Our internal dialogue is powerful beyond measure.
We need to change the way we see our bodies
I have made a pledge, to be grateful for all the things my body allows me to do- my body is what its capable of, not what it looks like.

And to remind myself that bodies come in all shapes and sizes, and no matter what shape and size my body may be, it is worthy of kindness, love and nourishment. My entire being and essence can see this is an issue we desperately need to fix.
We are beings after all, not bodies. As Pantanjali states in the sutra below
UPANISHAD 2:12
Health, a light body, freedom from craving,
A glowing skin, sonorous voice, fragrance of body:
These signs indicate progress in the practice of yoga.
Look forward to seeing you in class. Kindness always
Christine

Christine Poole Yoga

19/08/2025

19/08/2025

03/05/2025

25/04/2025

04/01/2025

18/07/2024

12/04/2024

12/04/2024

08/09/2023

13/04/2023

01/02/2023

16/10/2022

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