3 questions to ask yourself?

Do you love yourself?
Is it normal to dislike and/ or be dissatisfied with yourself. How sad is that?
What could you do if you weren’t worried about what was wrong with you? Could you make a difference to your life? Or somebody elses’ with that time?
This blog article isn’t the easiest I have written for it forces me to be honest with myself and to question some of the ‘healthy’ lifestyles and advice given by many in my industry. I want to write about body image. How many of us are in a place of negative body image,….how we often think how nice it would be when we are that bit slimmer/ further on in a yoga posture, more flexible, stronger, more toned.

is it the season to rest, recuperate & enjoy all aspects of your yoga practice

Recognising that sometimes we need some down time and that is actually good for us. So enjoy this time for what it is, an annual time to reflect and to notice. To notice that when our bodies naturally slow in the darker evenings that this is fine. That we can enjoy gentler physical exercise or a change of activity rather than pushing onward with the same routine. Also recognise that just as a rest day is important in any training regime, so is relaxation time in general. Savasana, the relaxation at the end of a yoga class, is often considered the most important part. The time when your body accepts and acknowledges the benefits of the physical practice. This is an important lesson too about the seasons, maybe the winter is our natural savasana. The time when bodies need to relax a little, get more rest and recuperation ready for the longer warmer days ahead.

Finding time & space to relax with yoga

Getting outside our ordinary everyday routine is wonderful for showing us things we need to change! as well as those things we need to appreciate! I have certainly noticed a few of both in this holiday. I have a life at home where, although I am busy, it is doing things that make me happy! I get to share my passion with wonderful people, to open my heart and my world to new experiences daily. I do however see many of these wonderful people stressed and worried as they have many demands made of them every day. Hence the new relaxation on YouTube using a metronome that can be used to bring a sense of focus and inner quiet to your day. Using an app…easily available for free on the iPhone…please let this bring some space to your holiday time that is just about you.
So my enthusiasm is really fired up for establishing more of these opportunities for others. More yoga holidays and lifestyle retreats. More different experiences where people can find space for themselves. Time for yoga (well obviously!!) but also combined with other opportunities. Maybe walking, maybe nutritional advice or therapy. Maybe weight loss and fitness retreats, maybe yoga retreats which also include hypnotherapy and motivational sessions. Holidays which are opportunities to discover the inner you. The peaceful light part of you that is intuitive. The part that tells you the answers you’ve been looking for, rather than the answers you hear from the external world. Retreats that allow you to notice the inner quiet, and find the peace that seeps through every part of you when you spend time there.

Yoga and holidays

ding time where you are constantly amongst noise, at the pull of social expectation and in constant company may be what happens to a lot of us through the holiday season. I am loving being around people, secure that it is only for a finite time. The more time I spend with others, the more I realise that the regular retreat from this reality of constant social interaction is something I need for my inner Me to be peaceful and happy. It makes me realise that my life choices are right for me, that I enjoy the peace of solitude, the quiet of being alone and the indulgence of managing my own time. It often takes a change of scenery to appreciate what you already have. I am trying to let it remind me of how lucky I am to have usually get time, opportunity and awareness of the alternative in my usual life. This time where I am outside of my normal reality has given me a different viewpoint. Somewhere amongst the busy social time I have heard my inner voice guiding me toward decisions I think I needed to be outside of my usual life to hear. Our inner voice can be quiet, we may try to over ride it with logic or obscuring it with fear. However when we do listen to it we realise it is often just reminding us what we already knew in our heart.

intimacy

So somehow, by being less intimate with the world..by keeping up our barriers and not allowing people to ‘into me see’ then we encourage ourselves to be judged on our inperfections rather than our perfection. For by allowing intimacy, by allowing others to connect with our energy, our inner perfection and love, we are actually reducing our vulnerability!!! Isn’t being human a weird learning curve..that often that which scares us the most is what we need to do in order not to be fearful!!
“The release from fear is what finally precipitates the full flowering of love. In this state you will love what you see in others, and others will love you for having been seen. This is the softened perception of the world that yoga promotes.” Eric Shiffmann