On this wonderful Bank Holiday weekend, a gentle reminder to keep up your yoga practice. One of my favourite quotes on the infamous question “What is Yoga?” There are usually many experiential replies. Yoga is certainly a journey, that begins with a step and understanding develops with life and practice. Whilst yoga can be found in a posture, it’s not defined by ‘a yoga posture’ (my view). I feel blessed to share my love of yoga as a Yogi and a Yoga Instructor and strive to empower and encourage experienced students towards regular self-practice, with gentle asana and pranayama…
Tag: meditation
Letting Go
In my earlier days when practicing a yoga posture, I began to notice that I held my breath, particularly if I was doing something that I found mentally or physically challenging. Your yoga practice can reveal much to you about yourself and how you respond or react to every day things in life. I recall asking my yoga teacher at the time about that and she kindly shared, that if I focused on the exhale, the inhale would naturally follow. It took time for me to understand what a powerful metaphor, this reality is. Recently I was thinking about drinking…
Protected: Sankalpa for Pregnancy and Postnatal Yoga
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Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga
The Primary series of Ashtanga vinyasa yoga is called yoga chikitsa, translated simply as yoga therapy. In combination with its healing elements, yoga chikitsa is designed to ground practitioners in the key elements of breath, drishti (focus), vinyasa (flow) and bandhas, building a strong foundation from which the practice of future series may grow (there are 6 altogether). Regular practice of yoga chikitsa has a cleansing and toning effect on the body and mind. In yoga philosophy the body comprises of thousands of nadis. Nadis can be thought of as a stream or channel through which prana (life force) travels. …
Asana Explored
Raja yoga is the science of the mind and its primary text, The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali provides that the goal of yoga is ‘chitta vritti nirodhah’. Translated from Sanscript this means ‘restraint of the modifications of the mind stuff.’ Patanjali divides yoga practice into 8 stages or limbs, known as Ashtanga or eight –limbed yoga. Each are of equal value, are necessary and should be maintained in yoga. The 3rd limb is called ‘asana’, which Patanjali defines as ‘comfortable and steady posture’. This can be any posture, whether standing, sitting or lying down that one can maintain in comfort for…
Sankalpa
Choose your resolve wisely: “Sow a thought, and reap an action. Sow an action, and reap a habit. Sow a habit, and reap a character. Sow a character, and reap a destiny.” Swami Sivananda
Giving Love to You
Wisdom lies in finding your own truth – Series 2 Am often inspired by things I read which cause me to reflect upon what is being shared. The most reflective pieces are usually those written from a writer’s heart; when they share their own truth – and Jamie Catto’s blog recently did just that. It led me to reflect upon giving love to oneself. Through life there is often much focus upon pleasing others. Perhaps this begins in early childhood. When we make our loved ones laugh, or we do what they ask of us – they are happy, they…