Healing the Sister Wound
The sister wound lives in all of us. It stems from the patriarchal fear that our feminine power when combined undermined the patriarchal need for power and control. And so, instead of honouring our ability to connect and promote harmony, the system turned us against each other.
Boosting our Solar Plexus (warrior) energy
The Solar Plexus relates to our self-esteem, our willpower, our sense of personal power or warrior energy. This chakra causes us to address questions around our association with the word power - do we feel powerful or weak? Domineering or submissive? Aggressive or passive? And do we know that there’s a middle ground where our own personal empowerment doesn’t need to mean the diminishment of someone else's…
Yoga & Depression
There’s always some study or other about the benefits of yoga and how it can improve mindset, reduce stress and depression, and help you to live a more joyful life. This post is NOT a study or collection of citations, this is my personal experience of the yoga practice and how it has changed my life for the better…
Study thy self, discover the divine
As I always say in class, yoga is not just what we do on the mat. One of the tools that has been most beneficial to me in my daily life is Svadhaya ~ or self-study.
Over the last decade or so, I’ve been delving in to the world of astrology, psychology and more recently human design as a way to understand myself a little bit more and to help me to grow.
Just like the moon, we have our own cycles
Ah nature. Whether it’s the tides of the ocean, the seasons, moon cycles or our own menstrual cycle, nature teaches us so much about the phases we go through, of ebbing and flowing, socialising and withdrawing, confidence and self-criticism, especially as women.
Yoga & The Elements
Earth, Air, Water and Fire: Do you know your dominant element?
We all have all of the elements within us, but there will be one (or for some two) that appear as the most dominant for you personally and which drive your thoughts, actions, relationships and motivations. Read on to discover more…
Yoga for Beginners - Part 2: How can yoga help to cultivate a healthy mindset?
The practice of yoga brings us back into our PNS, rest and digest, stay and play mode. On a physical level, our heart rate slows, our breath deepens and blood flow can more easily reach our reproductive organs. On a mental and psychological level, we feel at ease. It is from this place of restful awareness that we notice our behaviours, our thoughts, our instinctive reactions.
Balancing our Yin & Yang
They say that the yoga mat is a mirror that reflects back to us who we really are. I am someone who likes to move, to achieve, to push forwards, and so this is (was) reflected back to me in my practice.
The braver I get, the luckier I am
Do you know the first time I went solo travelling I was just 21 years old. I'd never left home for longer than a few weeks at a time (for Uni) and back then, whenever I had a bad day I'd simply call up my dad and he'd drive up to Leeds to collect me.
Making the choice to do something I dreamed of but which scared the hell out of me wasn't lucky, it took courage.
Yoga & Astrology
Yoga & Astrology are two modalities that have had a huge impact on my life. Although they stem from different lineages, for me, they are inexplicably linked. Both teach us to turn inwards, to understand ourselves and to explore meaning, developing awareness of our habits, our tendencies, our natures. They’re both about bringing all of the parts of ourselves to the surface; to accept, to love and to eventually bring them into a place of balance so that we can find peace and then extend that peace outwards.
Yoga for Beginners - Part 1: Benefits of the practice
For me, the practice of yoga has been the only form of movement that I’ve committed to consistently over a 10-year period mainly for the benefits it gives me off the mat.
Flowing with the cycles of the Moon
In our yoga practice we’re taught to pay attention to our physical, emotional and energetic bodies - we connect to our breath, the sensations and the energy we’re feeling that day.