health check in with yoga in Cheshire

   It’s been a lovely month of ‘false spring’ with the warmer temperatures making it easier to get outside tidying the garden after Winter & making plans for the sunnier months. I’ve not only been doing this with my garden but also my own mental & physical health. Personally I like to do an annual MOT, some stuff involving professionals […]

yoga in cheshire; learns to move on with a smile

the wonderful energy of those students at our first Yogathon, in my little studio, flowing through what was for me, a physical representation of everything I had dreamed of. A place where we support each other to be able to achieve more than we can alone. A place of friendships and fun as well a yoga studio. A place where dreams do and did come true!

Lets make sure that this feeling does not change when we relocate back to less permanent premises. Just because we no longer have a place that is just for yoga, doesn’t mean that the glue that holds the community together is any less strong. I want to take all I have learnt into the year ahead, maintaining the good things and moving on from the negatives. I wish for a community that practices together & supports each other. A place where we will maintain the wonderful energy able to bring tears to my eyes.

Building a Yoga toolbox for treating yourself with TLC

why do I want to call the yoga I teach YogaTLC. It’s yoga where we treat ourselves well. We don’t push ourselves into contortionist shapes but we use the physical asana (postures) to heal not harm. We aim to move out of our comfort zones but not be competitive. We are honest with ourselves and kind to ourselves. We provide our body with the nutrition we need, mentally, physically and emotionally only ingesting that which does us good.
I want yogaTLC to give us a toolbox from which we can take the things that allow us to heal

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.

Be the change you want to see in the world

I haven’t got it perfect by a long shot, and still need reminding that decisions have to sit comfortably in my heart space or they probably aren’t aligning with my path & won’t make me happy. That immediate gratification may not be worth the longer term stress . It is sometimes harder work to take the right path, but obstacles can be a challenge or encourage flexibility.

time is precious

Time is our most precious gift yet the one we tend to take for granted. It was my birthday this week and a few good friends gifted me their time. The day started with me laughing out loud as I continually discovered small notes in every nook and cupboard wishing me well…small deeds done with love and good will which really touched me. Later the day I was reminded that many hands make light work when friends visited to help with some DIY….even more so when I got to do the light work and they did the heavy stuff!! Not only did the wall they took down let in more light to my garden, but they brought a lightness to my day and a brightness to my smile!
Every day I am grateful to have the opportunity to live, learn & practice my yoga both on and off the mat. These days I am loving having more time to do it and less stress about how quickly it happens and I’m enjoying the greater awareness that yoga brings to my life. Both internal and externally appreciating the world through clearer vision.
As Patanjali’s yoga sutra 1.3 tada drashtuh svarupe avasthanam explains so much better in discussing how when the clouds are removed it can be seen that the sun was always there, merely hidden by the clouds of our minds!!