This is one of my favourite poses. It can be a very calming pose, and with the head resting on something, can help a busy head start to quieten down. For me the intention behind it is to rest, to turn inwards, to quieten the mind and body, and to gently lengthen the spine in … Continue reading Relax into balasana child’s pose
The winter solstice is a time, in the northern hemisphere, when nature sends us signs to rest and metaphorically hibernate. Yet we often do the opposite in December: rushing around buying lots of things, stocking up on food because the shops are closed for one or two days, travelling here and there despite the bad … Continue reading Light and trataka at the winter solstice
Going on a day, weekend, week or longer retreat can be really beneficial. Depending on the retreat chosen you might have a digital detox, be outdoors on adventures, learning to meditate, deepening your yoga practice, eating home-cooked healthy food, making new friends, spending time alone ... the list could go on. But in the last … Continue reading How to create your own retreat at home
As stress awareness month comes to a close in the UK, this blog post looks at one type of thing which can cause us stress: irritation. We all have things which irritate us. And different people will be irritated by different things. I don't mean things like a skin allergy, but things like: littermissing socksbus … Continue reading What to do if you’re irritated, including when meditating
Whilst we were chatting before one of my evening yoga classes, someone asked me what sort of yoga I did at home. My answer was: it varies. I think it's important not to get fixed to a routine that doesn't take into account how your body or mind are on that particular day, or what … Continue reading A yoga practice that changes with you
Recently I've been spending 5-10 minutes a day re-reading my old yoga and meditation diaries and notebooks. These are filled with my scribbles from workshops and retreats from the last 20+ years. Some things made sense at the time but are now a bit of a riddle! One note which was easy to understand was … Continue reading G.I.N for meditation and yoga focus
January can be a tough month to set yourself big resolutations on health, life and work. The cold winter days short on daylight (in the northern hemisphere) don't encourage lots of outdoor exercise; there may have been over-eating over the festive period; regular schedules for yoga or other movement classes will have been disrupted; there's … Continue reading How to get back into the rhythm of exercise
With the winter solstice (northern hemisphere) only just gone, our bodies and brain seek out ways to recharge, restore, relax, and generally hibernate. Even though doing a bit less at this time of year is good, our bodies need some movement. So my new free fireside videos will enable you to do some short yoga … Continue reading Gentle fireside yoga videos
I can be a bit of a hoarder and have several boxes of things in my attic which I haven't looked at for years. Do I need them? Probably not. But I'm also a bit of a procrastinator so haven't got round to sorting through them and deciding what to keep, donate, recycle, or sadly … Continue reading Letting things go
At this time of year (autumn sliding into winter in the northern hemisphere), we start to feel like hibernating, keeping warm and cosy, and not doing so much. Time to recharge the batteries. It's partly good to do that, but also we don't want to not do any movement. It's important to keep mobile, keep … Continue reading New fireside yoga videos for winter
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