EARTH … the element in Traditional Chinese Medicine associated with the period of late summer. We will be exploring in all my classes this month was in which we can ground ourselves. Working with the feet, the legs (inside outside backside frontside), sciatic nerve… exploring all things solid. And how this element affects our ability to sustain ourselves … when we are grounded we are humble, we live in a state of GRACE. When we live in a state of grace we can draw on the vast wisdom of the instinctual realm. See you on the mat!
Learn Plant Based Cooking with @caro.gante
15-21 June Casa Erica, Malaga, Spain
Hosted by @yogaspiritcircle
Move through a week of movement with me at the same
The Warrior theme is one of my all time favourites. I will lead you on a journey of how to move from fear to faith.
Cultivating the mind and body of the spiritual warrior, rising above our own limitations.
Booking link and more info in my bio ☝️
I am Friday night dreaming… are you? 💭only a few months till I will be at this beautiful space again … moving, breathing , connecting, teaching my SPACE TO BREATHE April 9-15 retreat… final few spots left. Yes! Link in my bio to book or visit @yogaspiritcircle 💜
What even is the present moment? How do I get there? 1. Orientation 2. Grounding 3. TRUSTING … relax and receive
This is what we are exploring this week in my classes. The mandala of the ☯️ Yin Yang in Chinese philosophy translates to “dark-bright,” it states that everything in nature consists of 2 paradoxical energies. Everything has a dual nature. Everything in life has this dual relationship… everything in life has moments of expansion and contraction. The two sides to this mandala can’t exist without each other.
👉 they are opposite of each other
👉 Interdependent: they exist without the other.
👉 they transfer into each other. If one changes, the other will follow.
👉 they control each other
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How can you notice these opposites at play in your life?
How can you use your practices to find the middle path between the two?
This is the beautiful Cucumber Fields…have you been before?
Very much home to me now as I have been teaching weekly classes in this space for over a year.
I am also delighted to be teaching not one but TWO retreat days here over the next month….
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Saturday 21st January - for CF's upcoming in-house retreat day to inspire your full mind-body wellbeing for 2023. The day includes Yoga, ZenCycle and Reformer Pilates exploring how the 3 practices compliment and enhance overall strength and mobility. Plus a Gut Health and Sleep talk to inspire your full internal wellbeing. Book via CF's website.
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Saturday 11th February - I am hosting ‘Move Pray Love’ : an exploration into self love practices intertwined with a deep soulful vinyasa practice and coupled with a 3hr Cacao Ceremony led by @helenhearthealer
To book follow the link in my bio or via my website.
*** Bring a friend for less - January Offer Available ***
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I was SO ready for the Solstice - how about you? I feel like I have been digesting life slowly for a few weeks now, or at least trying to - surrounded by cold, darkness. Trying to keep my eyes open as I confront my fears and there have been a lot of old conditioning rearing its neck really.
For me making offerings is an integral part of my showing up, particularly when things feel dark.
It is an honouring of the darkness, rather than a pushing away. A feeling it, an acknowledging of it.
The collective dreaming that we do in the darkness - have you done any of this recently?
Have you honed your ability to move in the darkness, to become wise to your own potential.
What was in your solstice offering?
And thank you @ for the cacao that is sustaining me through these winter months.
Blessings x
HUMMMMMMM we are nearly there my lovelies…. only 2 more months and if you dare we can spend a joyous week together in the heat of Thailand. There are 2 spaces left that perhaps your spirit is calling you to? More details swipe right 👉
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This is a journey into the breath my dear students.
The breathe is the bridge which yokes life to consciousness and is (in my opinion) the most important pillar of our yoga practice.
Humans cannot exist without drawing breath.
It is through the breath that we are able to connect to our inner bodies.
The breath is also inextricable linked to the heart.
Breath is carried into your body on the air, filling your lungs, the lungs encase the heart.
The breath is one of the primary keys to unlocking your heart.
The breath is the HEART of life.
The full importance of the breath cannot be expressed through simple facts. It is not enough to understand it theoretically in your thinking mind. You need to feel it on your physical plane. You need to connect to your felt body so you can sense the power you have to use your breath for transformation.
The ancient Indian traditions believe that breath is a gateway between the mind and the body and the whole system of yoga has been built on breathing techniques called pranayama which help us purify the body so we can quiet the thinking mind.
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Many of you have reached out to me over the last year asking about the importance of breath within their yoga practice - which is why I have designed an entire week around the breath this September so we can DIVE DEEP into these practices and give ourselves time to allow the life-giving element of air to replenish our bodies, our beings, our very essence.
The word breath and the word spirit in the ancient languages, Latin, Greek, Sanskrit derive from the same word and literally mean 'to give life to'...
If that is what you need, if you need to get to the heart of your practice, if you need to find your breath then join me on my ’Space to Breathe’ r
You are the sign you have been waiting for. It’s not in the stars, nor is it at the heart of everything synchronistic. It’s not stamped on the forehead of your beloved, nor is it lingering on the tip of the guru’s tongue. It’s not in the numerology, or the astrology, or floating on the wings of your angel-guides. It’s already here. It’s you. That you exist at all, with all the odds that were stacked against your incarnation, is evidence of your significance. So are all the gifts, callings and offerings that course through your veins. You are a signpost of miracle and wonder. It serves the shaming powers-that-be if you look for your signs outside of yourself, but you won’t find them there. You will find them in your own bones, right at the heart of your lived experience. After you clear the blinding clutter, you will realize that it was you all along. You are the sign that leads you home. ~ Jeff Brown
There aren’t really any words to describe deep transformation because it doesn’t happen in the mind it happens in the body. It’s all in your body. The mind sure likes to think that it happens in the mind (of course it does!) But it doesn’t. As Jeff Brown says ‘It’s all in your heart. It’s all in your feet. It’s all in your hips. It’s all in your shoulders. It’s all in your breath.’ All our emotional holdings, all our limiting beliefs, all our traumas from this life and the traumas we carry from our many lives passed are held in the deepest parts of us, they are held in the body. The body is a receptacle, a container, within which we are holding. Why are we holding? Why are we giving the body permission to carry forth the pain, the unresolved, the dis-ease? Real transformation is far from easy, far from comfortable.
I took myself away last week for a week of deep transformation and it was beyond… I returned over and over to my body, I moved, I processed, I purged, I allowed it to be touched and nurtured, I allowed myself to be held by others, I allowed myself to listen. It wasn’t easy but it was long overdue and so necessary. Have you been desiring this yourself for a while?
Do you respect yourself enough to take the steps you know you need to take to be where you would like to be? You already know the answers…you know what you need to do. Install a deep listening and then take action. Taking action requires courage but start with one step, and I promise when you do the next step will be presented to you.
If the answers are evading you in this moment - move your body, shut your eyes and allow it to move in the way that is really wishes…allow the movement to be your medicine. ✨🧙♀️💜
Impetus comes from the Latin word impetere which means ‘to seek’ or ‘from in’ … we have been exploring this word and our driving force in life this week in my classes. I find the spring is a wonderful time to work with momentum in the body, to use the in-breath to warm us and drive prana upwards so we feel bright. When I lean into the in-breath and invite it upwards from base to heart to throat I feel a willingness in me to reach beyond my general limitations. Questions to journal on this spring: are you able to recognise your limitations? What is it that you are seeking? And do those desires come from a place of integrity? From in? What ways are you able to instigate momentum in your life? How does this reflection help to lift your perspective? 💜 🙏🧘♀️🌈💐
Venus Stations Direct : a pose to release the granthi knots in your heart…. 💜💜💜 I have felt some deep bubbles these last few days - Venus has been retrograde for about a month and today stations direct. If you too have felt some underworld excavations try this pose….Supported Wide Leg Seat with a Pec Opener against the wall : hold for 2/3 minutes each side and breathe gently and slowly through the nose, constricting the back of your throat. 🧶 What are the granthi? There are 3 types of granthi in the body but the one that sit over the hearts anahata chakra are called the Vishnu granthi. These knots are associated with the bondage of emotional attachment and attachment to people and inner vision. 🖊 📖 To journal on: What is that is binding you? What are you trying to accumulate or cling onto? What is your ‘self’ trying to cherish? Observe this seat of passion in yourself and see how can you begin to give up this love of control and power and instead connect to the power of love. Assert yourself with vulnerability - open up. 💜💜💜
Venus Stations Direct : a pose to release the granthi knots in your heart…. 💜💜💜 I have felt some deep bubbles these last few days - Venus has been retrograde for about a month and today stations direct. If you too have felt some underworld excavations try this pose….Supported Wide Leg Seat with a Pec Opener against the wall : hold for 2/3 minutes each side and breathe gently and slowly through the nose, constricting the back of your throat. 🧶 What are the granthi? There are 3 types of granthi in the body but the one that sit over the hearts anahata chakra are called the Vishnu granthi. These knots are associated with the bondage of emotional attachment and attachment to people and inner vision. 🖊 📖 To journal on: What is that is binding you? What are you trying to accumulate or cling onto? What is your ‘self’ trying to cherish? Observe this seat of passion in yourself and see how can you begin to give up this love of control and power and instead connect to the power of love. Assert yourself with vulnerability - open up. 💜💜💜
CLEAR THE SLATE - Kapalbhati in Malasana Squat - one of my favourites at this time of year, particularly first thing in the morning when you jump out of bed. 🙏
What is Kapalbhati? known as the ’skull shining’ breath technique
How do we practice? Force / pump the belly back towards the spine - the inhale is smooth and automatic
Why is it good?
👉increases reqpiratory function
👉increases O2 levels in blood
👉removes waste materials from the body
👉activates brain cells … improving memory and concentration
👉improves digestion
👉boost endorphins - lift your mood!
What is Malasana? grounding foundational squat position
How do we practice? Knees point in the same direction as the feet, feet can be wide or narrow and you can prop under heels or sit on a block for support
Why is it good?
👉opens hips
👉releases lower back
👉great for menstrual pain
👉ankle strength and mobility
👉targets liver, kidney, bladder meridian lines
Working hard without the vigour! Deep hip STRENGTH and support for joint. With @tiffanycruikshank - If you try this short sequence at home, keep the pelvis still and the core engaged. This first challenge of the YMO Strength week was perfect for me as someone who runs 15k a week and has an old left hip injury with on/off referral pain plus all my yoga and yoga teaching. The focused stability work is something I am not very good at doing on my own! I chose to take part in this YMO Strength challenge for a number of reasons. Firstly to juxtapose the theme of ‘Surrender’ that I had chosen to teach in my own classes this month. But secondly because I have a difficult relationship with the work ‘strength’ and how it is often used in the same sentence as ‘yoga'. Thirdly because since our release from covid restrictions here in the UK life has gone back to strangely unnormal normal and I have had to dig deep to support myself through this transition. I find I am having to tap into a very different sort of fortitude. A sort of courageous firmness that I don’t think I fully understood before. A tenacious amount of boundary building while continuing to support my students with clout and compassion. How can this continued investigation of strength inform my teaching? Lets see…. #ymostrengthweek #globalcommunity #YM500 #yogamedicine #yogamedicineonline
