Mental Health Awareness Week – the Three Minute Breathing Space
As it is mental health awareness week I wanted to share some of the struggles I’ve had with anxiety and self doubt and a simple practice that can help as a coping strategy. I learned…
Read MoreYoga to prepare for meditation
Yoga has an inner aspect and an outer aspect. In Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, the classic text which sets out this system of the 8 limbs (similar to 8 stages or steps) of yoga, the outer…
Read MoreManaging Anxiety and Self Doubt with Yoga
I was a teacher in comprehensive schools for many years, and before that a dancer -both jobs that caused me a lot of angst and a sense of never being good enough. Then I became…
Read MoreSama Vritti breathing in yoga
There are so many yoga blogs about new year’s intentions that I am not going to add to those this year, but would like to talk about how yoga can help us to provide a…
Read MoreThe psoas muscle in Yoga
This month I have been focussing on the psoas muscle in all of my classes, but what is this muscle? In actual fact the psoas works so closely with another muscle, the iliacus that they…
Read MoreThe spaces between the breaths in yoga
For a while now in my yoga practice I have been working on a sense of “allowing” when I practice asana – this sense of using my physical practice as an exploration of where movement…
Read MoreBinding in yoga poses – explore your own alignment
Binding in yoga can be an interesting way to explore taking an asana practice to a next level. A bind can deepen the pose and its effects, particularly in twists. Postures in which binds are…
Read MoreSatya – Practicing yoga with honesty
Satya is the second of the Yamas from Patanjalis’s yoga sutras and translates as truthfulness or honesty. I have been exploring how we can bring Satya onto our yoga mats as well as into our…
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Beginner’s Mind
As we continue to move through January I have been trying to take an approach of “beginners’ mind to my yoga practice and off the mat. In busy lives it can be so easy to…
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Why I practice and teach Yin yoga
I practice yin yoga as a way to ease into the deep connective tissues of my body, particularly the hips and shoulders. As a dancer, yoga teacher and person who spends a lot of time driving,…
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Vinyasa – Slowing the Flow
I generally use my yoga practice as a balance to other forms of exercise, such as in my work in dance, cycling or going to the gym. Although I do like a strong, sometimes fiery flow,…
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Svadhyaya – Self Study
Svadhyaya is the fourth Niyama or observance of Patanjali’s eight limbed path of yoga and offer practical ways of living a happier, healthier life. Svadhyaya can be translated as spiritual learning or exploration through study…
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