A regular Pilates practice may help with physical fitness and body contouring, both flattening the abs and toning the whole body – a sure-fire motivational factor to attend class for many. However, there is a much, much bigger picture at play. I believe we are in the midst of extremely exciting times for mind-body movement.
Every time I deliver a yoga teacher training course, students are surprised at how much MORE there is to the practice of yoga. They experience how much yoga can enhance our quality of lives on a day-to-day basis – physically, mentally, energetically, emotionally and spiritually. Hence the increasingly popular phrase ‘transformational yoga’. It can help us to make decisions; it influences the way we communicate; the words we choose; how we may respond to ‘difficult’ e-mails, people and situations; the food we eat; how we spend our time; the way we choose to think and feel; and ultimately, how we […]
“Where awareness goes, energy flows.“ During a practical class, one of the students on our 200hr yoga teacher training course shared that she saw an image of her chakras and the related colours on the wall opposite her! It was during bow pose (Dhanurasana), a deep heart opener*. “Was that my chakras opening up?” she asked. I gave this some consideration. We had practiced some supine hands-free alternate nostril breathing at the start of the class, progressing to breathing up and down the left and right sides of the body, then bringing our awareness into the central energy channel with […]
“You can only heal others when you yourself have TRULY healed.“ I have been feeling a draw to run yoga and wellbeing retreats for many years. Last year I ran my first 2 successful retreats and witnessed some profound shifts amongst the participants who joined. At the end of my last retreat, I understood for the first time what it truly meant to hold space, to shine your light and to share your vibrational frequency with others. During the closing circle, I led with a spontaneous short chakra meditation that I hadn’t planned. The words ‘came to me’ as I […]
Meditation and pranayama are powerful tools for reducing stress, improving mental clarity, and increasing overall well-being. But you don’t need to be able to access advanced postures to reap the benefits! During the recent history of yoga workshop I delivered, I shared that there are 84 yoga Asana (postures) identifed in the Hatha Yoga Pradapika. In a series of workshops, Yoga Master Marcel Andres Hopegen stated that, of these, 4 were considered the most significant: Siddhasana – Accomplished pose Padmasana – Lotus pose Bhadrasana – Gracious / Butterfly / Auspicious Simhasana – Lion’s breath Of these, he deemed Siddhasana as […]
An authentic yoga retreat calls for some kind of withdrawal; from our hectic, busy, day to day life; from thoughts which tend to come from our subconscious conditioning and habits; and from fulfilling the expectations of our ‘human self’ and others. A retreat is a place where we can slow down, turn within, reflect on how we are living our lives, and whether we wish to make changes to improve our balance, emotions, health, wealth, rel.ationships, and life purpose – in relation with our ‘true self’. The Cambridge dictionary defines retreat as ‘to go away from a place or person in order […]
I completed my initial training in pre and post-natal exercise during my personal training diploma a few years before I became pregnant with my first daughter, some 22 years ago. Yet, even with all the knowledge I had, the specialist workshops and classes I gave and research I had done around the subject; when I reflect now, there were times when I didn’t listen to the deeper needs of my own physical, mental, emotional and spiritual self. I did all the ‘right’ things in terms of what I ate, I stopped drinking, I didn’t smoke, I exercised regularly and within […]
A regular Pilates practice may help with physical fitness and body contouring, both flattening the abs and toning the whole body – a sure-fire motivational factor to attend class for many. However, there is a much, much bigger picture at play. I believe we are in the midst of extremely exciting times for mind-body movement.
Every time I deliver a yoga teacher training course, students are surprised at how much MORE there is to the practice of yoga. They experience how much yoga can enhance our quality of lives on a day-to-day basis – physically, mentally, energetically, emotionally and spiritually. Hence the increasingly popular phrase ‘transformational yoga’. It can help us to make decisions; it influences the way we communicate; the words we choose; how we may respond to ‘difficult’ e-mails, people and situations; the food we eat; how we spend our time; the way we choose to think and feel; and ultimately, how we […]
“Where awareness goes, energy flows.“ During a practical class, one of the students on our 200hr yoga teacher training course shared that she saw an image of her chakras and the related colours on the wall opposite her! It was during bow pose (Dhanurasana), a deep heart opener*. “Was that my chakras opening up?” she asked. I gave this some consideration. We had practiced some supine hands-free alternate nostril breathing at the start of the class, progressing to breathing up and down the left and right sides of the body, then bringing our awareness into the central energy channel with […]
“You can only heal others when you yourself have TRULY healed.“ I have been feeling a draw to run yoga and wellbeing retreats for many years. Last year I ran my first 2 successful retreats and witnessed some profound shifts amongst the participants who joined. At the end of my last retreat, I understood for the first time what it truly meant to hold space, to shine your light and to share your vibrational frequency with others. During the closing circle, I led with a spontaneous short chakra meditation that I hadn’t planned. The words ‘came to me’ as I […]
Meditation and pranayama are powerful tools for reducing stress, improving mental clarity, and increasing overall well-being. But you don’t need to be able to access advanced postures to reap the benefits! During the recent history of yoga workshop I delivered, I shared that there are 84 yoga Asana (postures) identifed in the Hatha Yoga Pradapika. In a series of workshops, Yoga Master Marcel Andres Hopegen stated that, of these, 4 were considered the most significant: Siddhasana – Accomplished pose Padmasana – Lotus pose Bhadrasana – Gracious / Butterfly / Auspicious Simhasana – Lion’s breath Of these, he deemed Siddhasana as […]
An authentic yoga retreat calls for some kind of withdrawal; from our hectic, busy, day to day life; from thoughts which tend to come from our subconscious conditioning and habits; and from fulfilling the expectations of our ‘human self’ and others. A retreat is a place where we can slow down, turn within, reflect on how we are living our lives, and whether we wish to make changes to improve our balance, emotions, health, wealth, rel.ationships, and life purpose – in relation with our ‘true self’. The Cambridge dictionary defines retreat as ‘to go away from a place or person in order […]
I completed my initial training in pre and post-natal exercise during my personal training diploma a few years before I became pregnant with my first daughter, some 22 years ago. Yet, even with all the knowledge I had, the specialist workshops and classes I gave and research I had done around the subject; when I reflect now, there were times when I didn’t listen to the deeper needs of my own physical, mental, emotional and spiritual self. I did all the ‘right’ things in terms of what I ate, I stopped drinking, I didn’t smoke, I exercised regularly and within […]
