#WHAT'SYOURWHY?

SO WHAT'S YOGA LOCAL'S WHY?

Unless all of us help improve wellbeing for all of us we are in trouble. Why? Because all of our wellbeing, relies on everyone’s wellbeing. Read that again! Yes you heard right. Your wellbeing relies on everyone else’s wellbeing.

Let me explain how I got to this truth and why it’s so important to what Yoga Local is about. It first dawned on me that my life was unsustainable and unhealthy when… yep… I became unhealthy. (Everything’s a lesson – thanks Universe). My story was work-related stress. Both my mind and body were in constant states of high alert, agitation, worry. The continuous effects of this were anxiety, depression and chronic back pain. And this drip-drip shift into total imbalance would eventually come to seep into my performance in everything – my life at home, at work and at play. I was not nice to be around and inspiring no one! (My wellbeing was affecting everyone else's wellbeing... badly).

FROM THE ARCHIVES

This was taken from a blog I wrote in August 2014. It made me chuckle about the plans I made just a year ago (a pandemic not being something that made the list) .... Enjoy! When you’re going through a rough time, you don’t see the blessing in that – it’s disguised right?

You don’t know that your world going up in flames, could be the start of something amazing. When I sowed my first seeds of intention right here on this blog, knowing only scraps of stuff I’d read from Deepak’s books, I had no idea how my fledgling desires would begin to hatch. Or in truth, if they would. I was in a scary place of constriction, fear and anxiety.

Yet thankfully I was still connected enough to some other place deep inside me that was gently guiding me to my next step (having first, of course, taken steps to grab my ego self by the neck just long enough to silence the deafening and limiting stories it kept telling me).

Anyway, nothing else (to me) can really explain how I’m sitting here now six months since my last post having: Made not one, but two trips to the sweet spot – the Chopra Center in California. Signed up to the Teacher’s Path on the Chopra Center Perfect Health Program Committed to being a conscious eater and vegetarian Committed to a twice daily meditation practice Committed to an Ayurvedic lifestyle Committed to a daily yoga practice

It’s been a roller coaster of a ride, which I will ask you to jump on board at the point where I’ve returned from Seduction of Spirit and discovered that there is no such thing as coincidence.

... to read the rest of this blog visit the blog section of the Yoga Local website... https://www.yogalocal.co.uk/the-granderplan/

YOUR MONTH AND ME

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Who are you when nobody’s watching? Are you true to that person? Are you showing up each day with your family, your friends your peers and colleagues with authenticity? What I’ve noticed as I’ve got longer in the tooth and more aware through practicing yoga and meditating is just how much of my ‘Self’ or what I though was my ‘Self’ is actually … well not ME! Part of the journey to finding wholeness (union or yoga) can involve a whole heap of curiosity as to what actually makes you… you! We are often carrying the baggage of our culture, society’s expectations, and everyone else’s wants and needs that maybe we got a whole lot disconnected from our own truth. Our need to be liked, to be loved, to be accepted may often override our own instincts and inner wisdom. We get lost and we forget who we really are. Yoga is our way back. And this month, we’ve been checking in with the promises we make to ourselves to stay committed to what matters to us. To create the inner fire, will and intention to follow our own hearts and live the life we truly want to live. To achieve the things that matter most to us and ultimately create happiness and fulfilment. Our focus was on the solar plexus and the job of stabilising the core. Finding integration on a physical level as a metaphor for doing the necessary inner work that will help us all #keepourpromises to our Self.

Continued from front page..... It took me hitting the floor to start to find the way back up (sometimes life has to empty you out to fill you back up again) and on the way I eventually got to the lesson that I’m bringing to you guys today...

Yes.. here it is again. Unless all of us help improve wellbeing for all of us we are in trouble. Why? Because all of our wellbeing, relies on everyone’s wellbeing.

The Covid-19 crisis is proving that point me thinks! Globally we are in the grip of a wellbeing challenge that impacts all our ways of life and our levels of happiness. Which aside from the virus itself is also worrying because according to Gallup, which monitors social community, physical and financial wellbeing, if you have a happy friend, your happiness goes up by 15%. (And I figure the reverse must therefore be true too!)

But not only that…. If you have a happy friend that has a happy friend it goes up another 15% If you have a happy friend that has a happy friend that you don’t know, your happiness continues to go up. And, by the way, this doesn’t stop believe it or not! It goes on and on and on… every happy friend who has a happy friend, who has a happy friend… means more happiness for you! https://news.gallup.com/poll/266057/gallup-global-happiness-center.aspx

So yes… individually and collectively we thrive if we are ALL healthy and happy. And that’s why this sits behind one of the big ‘whys?’ of Yoga Local (our purpose, my purpose.) And what needs to drive everything we do here. To encourage and hold space for every individual who wants to take better care of themself and be happier with the purpose of increasing wider community, world and environmental wellbeing.

It’s my view that achieving wellness and finding true happiness, within the limits of modern-day living has got to be our collective challenge. Want to help improve the lives of everyone by being a force for good for yourself? Hope you feel inspired to… J X

THE WRITING'S ON THE WALL

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Ashtanga Vinyasa flow is set sequence of asanas (postures) that are followed in a sequential order to promote a process of detoxifying the body, removing stiffness, toning and gaining strength whilst synchronously detoxifying/cleansing the mind, with result being the ability to focus the mind, allowing access, to become the observer of the patterns of our emotional and psychological self.

Ashtanga vinyasa yoga is not a physical exercise it is a practice that is aimed at transforming preconditioned patterns of thought and behaviour to free the mind. This taster session will introduce you to these teachings through asanas (postures), breath practise and promoting the engagement of dristi (looking place) to enable the focus to remain inward. Each session will start with a focus on the breath and warm up before moving through the half primary series (standing, seated and finishing sequence) and then end with a relaxation

Key Poses:All Asana categories including standing balances and inversions, developing inhalation and exhalation.

Mood: An opportunity to experience the counted method to flow in and out of asanas maintaining a steady breath and achieving a steady mind.

Pick this class if

• You have begun to commit to a daily practice of Asana (Poses), Pranayama (Breathwork) and Meditation. Yoga experience is helpful but modifications will be available.

• You want to learn about the basic techniques and principles of Ashtanga Yoga, a series of classical poses linked by vinyasa (movement between yoga poses), coordinating breath with movement.

• You enjoy a dynamic practice

• You are open to discover the potential to detoxify and strengthen while encouraging flexibility and bringing balance to the mind and body.

Newsflash! The next Ashtanga Course starts on September 6! Have you booked?

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If you haven’t already noticed, a balanced daily yoga practice is one way to get your glow on – improved circulation, more efficient transfer of body wastes, increased muscle tone, better breathing – check, check, check, check! You are lit up from the inside out!

Add meditation and you are on your way to experience ageless vitality and health. Now that’s truly beautiful right? But that’s not the whole story to inner wellbeing. There’s more. Hear me out. You know I’m super passionate about yoga and meditation but my personal ‘why’ is because they provided a system to get well after a pretty long period of not feeling well…. at all! And, more importantly, to stay that way – as much as possible.

These tools, which come under the umbrella of an ancient system of healing called Ayurveda, helped me figure out how I was navigating my way through life and gave me space to take a long compassionate look at choices…

A) I had already made

B) I was currently choosing

C) I could be choosing but wasn’t.

I became more aware of how all that adds up over time, moment by moment into what my experience of life was, is like now and how my body looked and felt as a result. It sucks to admit it (especially if you are not happy with yourself in some way) but you are the consequences of all the choices you have made in your life! Truth.

But before that takes you down … here’s the aha. The aha of knowing that you could be choosing better and therefore feeling better and living better. That you can also take responsibility for your choices and turn the ship around, in any moment. So what’s that got to do with great skin and that much coveted yoga glow?

In Ayurveda skin is considered a manifestation of inner health. It is our LARGEST organ and what we apply on it is absorbed to a far greater extent that most of us realised.Skincare is therefore a tool to balance your body and achieve healthy and beautiful skin. I came across Tropic as a skincare brand about two years ago.

I fell in love with the vision of its founder Susie Ma who has a passion for creating skincare recipes that feed the skin with nourishing and most importantly healthy, sustainably sourced, cruelty free, fresh natural ingredients. The results of using these products is not just great youthful skin, it’s also possible to reduce your body’s toxic burden… in just days of use. And that… is what I call a much better, healthier, happier choice… don’t you agree? If you want a skin care regime that abolishes make up and dirt, balances your skin, and cares for your skin, this is it.

if you don’t believe me… take a look at the app Think Dirty which will show you just how FREE of nasties Tropic products are. https://www.thinkdirtyapp.com

And remember, if you’re lashing any product on your skin without being conscious of the ingredients in them, you are potentially burdening your body with toxicity with every application.

As you can see, Tropic, is working hard to provide a skincare solution that is uncompromising on health… which is why I was happy to become an ambassador for the brand and have items on display in the studio for you to take home and try.

And in September we are going one better than that… and inviting you to take part in our Skincare Discovery Workshop here at the Yoga Local at Nene Court, Wellingborough.

Come and join myself and Tropic expert Sam Cunningham and learn how to upgrade your skin care regime with a complete daily Tropic diet that uses 100% naturally derived ingredients.

Here’s what your Skincare Discovery session includes:

A complete Skincare Discovery Kit worth the £28 ticket price on its own and includes everything in the pic above.

A pamper session with expert tuition on how to use the products every day for maximum benefits. Access to expert knowledge of individual Tropic products, the ingredients and their effects. Personal skin care advice and a take home Tropic product prescription. Meditation and relaxation session. After Class Tea, Coffee and Refreshments. We have just 7 places available (and two are already gone) so please book now.

https://goteamup.com/p/2620513-yogalocal/courses/49282/

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A few things I've learned from my #keepingyourpromises challenge this month which involved inversions!

1. It feels really good to stay consistent and show up - it wasn't always easy and there were days when i felt too tired or just couldn't be bothered, but I still kept my promise and always felt good once I'd done it!

2. To make this a habit, I found it useful to attach it to something I already did each day. I'd practice my inversions after my morning yoga practice or after my daily workout so I knew I was warmed up and I had no excuses! On days I didn't do this, it was hard to motivate myself to do the work!

3. I'd developed such a fear with my headstands that I was convinced my body just couldn't do them! Doing them everyday has really helped me manage my fear and remind myself it's all in my head and my body is so capable of doing them!

4. Another habit forming thing I found helpful was documenting and sharing my progress. This kept me accountable as I actually had people ask me where my handstand video was if I was a little late in sharing it!

I may not be able to do a handstand without the support of my bolster / wall and I certainly haven't mastered forearm stand, but the poses aren't really the true goal.

Having the discipline to show up, to learn from our time on the mat and take on our practice with an open heart and mind are positive qualities in themselves and can help us commit to the promises we make and this, in turn, can help us edge closer to where we want to be.

What else have we got planned for you in September? Two courses! That’s what.

Our BEGIN course, has moved to Wednesday evening and restarts on Wednesday September 9 at 5:15pm.

This is an introductory course for new or returning students who want to get back to basics and build a solid yoga foundation that’s rooted in the 8 Limbs of Yoga.

This four-week progressive course walks you through everything from alignment, awareness, posture, and breathing techniques to following cues and using props. Follow the link to book your place!

https://goteamup.com/p/2620513-yogalocal/courses/48796/

PLUS. Kat – our official Ashtanga trained teacher is back and ready to guide you through the Half Primary Series over a 6- week period from Sunday September 6.

Ashtanga yoga is not JUST a physical practice it is a yoga tradition that is aimed

at transforming preconditioned patterns of thought and behaviour to free the mind.

This course will introduce you to these teachings through asanas (postures), breath practise and promoting the engagement of dristi (looking place) to enable the focus to remain inward. It's disciplined and it's challenging but you'll love it.

Each session is an hour and a half and you get recordings of your class thrown in… book today before it goes away.

https://goteamup.com/p/2620513-yogalocal/courses/47490/

It’s been an odd month, I never normally comment b y P a uon l Wthe a rpolitics n e r but everywhere I look, the ‘eat out to help out’ is being rammed down my throat… that should be a good thing surely? BUT it’s not. Let me explain.

You see the eat out choice for vegetarians is better that it has ever been with some fabulous creative cooking and inventive recipes and not a lentil loaf in sight! And that my friends is the problem. Because we live in a world of trial by Trip Advisor, many restaurants are sticking to the safe ground, not daring to be bold or different. Many are using limited staff because furlough is still dominating the headlines. So with that planted (plant geddit?) in your head, imagine the scenario as the table server comes to take the order.

Me: Have you got any vegan dishes (full menu still shows on website) Staff: Oh, sorry, we only have vegetarian.

Now this isn’t me kicking off, simply pointing out that there is still a long way to go before the world can accept veganism as an acceptable form of meal planning. The choice is much better in supermarkets, but like anything that is seen as a fad, the prices are hiked to a level just above ridiculous.

This weeks new find: Ginsters VEGAN pastie… bloody tasty.

Join me next time on this rocky road I now call veganisn’t