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 […]

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.

Exploring my potential

Yogis insist that each person has a unique vocation, almost an internal fingerprint. Like a gift, a path, a duty, a possibility or a potential. As Krishna says in his teaching to Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita ‘you cannot be anyone you want to be’. Just as we cannot change our fingerprint we cannot choose our gifts. This is dharma. Our unique individual path that we must discover. Then I just had to learn to be honest with myself as I explored my potential & discovered what my personal dharma may be.

yoga helps you cope with the unexpected problems we face everyday

So I would recommend not relying on running continually in the red. However those times when sufficient sleep, regular meals and plenty of social time with friends and family are not feasible there are alternatives. Instead to know that maintaining a regular yoga practice will give you more efficiency and more longevity in your coping skills, as well as your day-to-day life, than you could ever have imagined. So now I can look forward to a smoothly running studio and a fantastic new kitchen knowing I can cope serenely with any small glips that do arise on route.

which yoga class or practice should I choose?

I’m continually having to remind myself there is a life outside yoga, that the present is as important as the future, & that moving outside my comfort zone is often what I need to do even if it may not be what I want to do! Without change how are we to discover new paths or find more doors to open. If we continue to follow our initial tendencies, be it for a yoga practice we think we prefer, a food choice or how we spend our evenings, how can we expect to grow, to nurture our soul with variety & expand our mind with new experiences.