7 reasons to avoid saying ‘the full expression of a pose’: 🌟There is no such thing if we all acknowledge the irrefutable fact that our skeletons alone are completely unique as well as the rest of individual anatomy. 🌟It breeds a culture of hierarchy, those who ‘can and those who ‘can’t’. 🌟Perfection dosn’t exist –…
The more physically dramatic the practice the more outward it takes you.The more subtle the practice the more it draws you inwards. This interiorisation is yoga. Choose any practice that clears the path inwards and repeat it. Again and again. The more we can practice this the easier it becomes to drop into tranquility within…
Your yoga practice is a personal journey inwards, an interiorization. One concept connected to that is the inward turning of the mind and senses, pratyahara. It is often misunderstood as pushing away experiences and shutting the world out, forcing yourself into avoidance and isolation, believing this is true withdrawal. Kaya Mindlin poses a beautiful question…
Does bull**** really baffle brains? Well, yes, it can. We can all apply this to our workplace and people we encounter but in yoga and the fitness world there are a lot of self styled experts to avoid and a red flag is often dealing in absolutes not possibilities. For example ‘doing *this fixes xyz’…
Triangle pose I always teach with ‘lightness and lift’ cues rather than sink down, dump down and reach ideas, thinking about up rather than down but for as many different ways to approach the shape there are different ideas around its symbolism too. There is the tale of Parvati inspired by her reflection to adopt…
Hear me out. Has consent clouded our reasons for adjustments in yoga? Of course personal choice, agency and respect are important, as are the deeper elements of trauma, triggering and the freeze/fawn response- but what about the really, really simple and most obvious reason? Is there merit to weight loading a body that neither you,…
Here is a great pocket sized handy yoga class planning hack and yoga teacher tip: MY ADDITION SUBTRACTION METHOD We often feel we need to be endlessly creative in our class planning but sometimes life takes over or we are just generally tanking too much time into planning. * This tip isnt for sustainable planning…
It’s quite easy to make someone physically exhausted. It’s not impossible to set difficult physical feats or challenges. Indeed these have an important place in health & movement but in YOGA there is a warped message in making a class physically tough then offering relaxation or savasana as a reward for our exertion. Its stealth…
I can promise you that the toes are not the goal. I can confirm that there are multiple directions of travel, not just down. I can guarantee that there are good things to discover with lightness and lift, not just depth and down. It can be a beautiful approach for both the body and mind…
Desire Paths Whilst walking the British coast & countryside with my little Flossie, I notice two main types of path: a bridleway/trail and a desire path. The first path has been deliberately made and often laid with the clear intention of getting you from A to B. Not only is it intended to make the…