People begin yoga for all sorts of reasons. Lots of them are about feeling better in our bodies. Wanting to feel less stiff, or to have better balance perhaps. Sometimes people come to relieve stress and anxiety or to help improve sleep quality. Usually too, there is some sort of perception that yoga is the same as going to the gym to workout. Except once you start yoga you realise that this is a false perception. We might start yoga because of a physical ailment or impedime

It's the beginning of the new term and after a break from classes, I'm excited to get back on the mat with you all. I have been spending a lot of time at home working on jobs I've had on my list for a while. It's really satisfying to finally tick some things off. They were mostly boring business admin and life admin jobs, cleaning out the office cupboards and rearranging things, building furniture and dusting and cleaning. And then there was the fun stuff of working on new o

"The broken world waits in darkness for the light that is you." LR Knost Last week's email talked about how important it is to integrate all parts of ourselves even the difficult emotions we hide from. It was a reminder of how difficult it is to sit in the discomfort of an emotion we would prefer to push away, disown or cover up. The irony is that once we make space for the discomfort of the emotion, once we can love it back into wholeness, its grip on us loosens and the fe

Over the weekend I began an energy healing course with Charlie Goldsmith. Apart from being an amazing healing experience, it's been a powerful reminder of how when we seperate parts of ourselves that we don't like, often with the desire that they will no longer cause us pain or suffering, they gain more control over us and usually in an unconscious way. For example, if you were told you were dumb as a child by someone important to you, it might have hurt so much that you deci

There are many ways we trip ourselves up when it comes to a regular practice and the biggest one I see is people making the excuse that they lack discipline.What I've come to realise is that discipline is a muscle you build, not something you're born with. So, if getting to a yoga class regularly has been tough for you lately or if you're trying to build a regular practice at home, changing these three things will make a big difference.Because consistency is where the real ch

Have you ever noticed that the habits we humans create in our lives get more stuck and entrenched as we age. It brings to mind a vinyl record. The more times we play the same song over and over, the deeper the groove in the vinyl gets. And the more entrenched our habits, the harder they can be to change. We have to really challenge ourselves to set up new pathways in our brain, for a new habit to stick. James Clear suggests starting very small and piggy-backing the new habi

" Play -- doing things just because they're fun and not because they'll help achieve a goal -- is vital to human development. " Brene` Brown To live a wholehearted life, play is so important, as Brene` Brown would remind us. Sometimes we want to just do something for fun! Not because it helps us achieve a goal, or gain recognition, or develop a skill. Just for the simple delight it brings. This is what feeds our soul. Iyengar yoga can sometimes feel very demanding. It asks a

If you take some time to examine your days, to see where you focus your time and attention, you'll pretty quickly be able to see what you value. For example, I spend a lot of time in my veggie garden, it's my happy place. You'll find me out there with a cup of tea after I meditate and before I practice yoga most mornings checking for changes, observing, harvesting, pulling a weed or two. Honouring the cycles of the seasons. The harvest is usually turned into something simple

The etymological root of the word kind traces back to kin or family, as in humankind or mankind. It's about recognising the person opposite you as one of your own. They in turn recognise you the same way. This reminds me of the westernised translation of Namaste, ‘The divine in me honours the divine in you.’ When we look at it through this lens, we see that a simple act of kindness is a statement about belonging. In being kind we attest to our belonging to each other. This i

"When you speak, your body listens." One of the most impactful things that our yoga and meditation practice can do, is show us insight into the mental programming that goes on under the surface of our days. We think a huge number of thoughts day, but the majority of these are based on our old programming. They are conditioned beliefs that we believe will keep us safe and that our ego believes will benefit us by keeping us in what is familiar. We think them without any questio

This time of year is always a great time to re-engage with a beginner's mindset. Here's 3 reasons why; When you're a beginner at something, everything is brand new. There's lots of excitement and energy. When we approach our practice as a checklist or as if there is nothing to learn it can get dull and uninspiring very quick. When you are a beginner, there are no rules. Our minds aren't fixed on things having to be done a particular way. This keeps us open to new discoverie

"Wherever you go, there you are." We have to get comfortable in our own skin, comfortable in our own minds otherwise we are controlled by the wild horse that is our thinking, sensing body. It's an uncomfortable truth but when we understand this quote it can serve as a huge driver of change. We believe that our happiness is dependant on conditions being met. When we meet the love of our life, when lose the weight, or when we land the dream job we think we will feel better. Whe

I love this Leonard Cohen lyric so much. This week when I came across it, I had such a visceral response. It got me thinking about how much we lose when we get stuck in perfection. How much opportunity for growth and sharing and experience and life and joy. It 's sad really that we give up so much unwittingly because we are scared we might fail. But it also occurred to me that in yoga when we think that our aim is trying for a perfect pose we lose the very essence of yoga. I

I've been in a world of feeling over the weekend at the Yoga Intensive with my teacher in Melbourne. We worked a lot on integrating the arms and shoulders back into the spine, we investigated feelings like cohesion and adhesion in the postures and we did ALOT of backbends! There's a misperception that yoga is all about feeling good and that you should look good doing it. The truth is yoga helps us to feel better and by that I mean it opens us up to explore feeling in the body

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Do you ever find yourself resenting something even as you're doing it? Take washing the dishes as an example. My teenage son loves to tell me how much he HATES washing up.