Yoga Christmas Presents

Dear Yogis

It’s time to think about Christmas Presents. There is usually a funny top you can get someone. Here’s a Namasleigh T-Shirt! Here’s a Namasleigh sweater and lots of other top ideas there. For Christmas leggings there are lots of ideas here. I might have to succumb to that website. 

Back when we were in Kapsali on retreat I made a mental note to tell you how important a heavy mat is for outdoor practice! A light breeze turns a light travel mat into a flag. I have four sturdy mats in my home studio for sale at £55 - the LOVE MAT by Lāal. They’re similar to the Liforme mat but half the price! On the other hand, if you do want a beautiful mat topper, Destination Karma’s mats feature inspiring scenes from Bali, The Greek Islands, and Cornwall and other gorgeous places. The company also donates a percentage of profits to charities from those countries. You can also design your own.

Home Studio

If you want to try the Destination Karma mat, let me know and you can use it here. I have a beautiful one that reminds me of Kythera. Some classes next week are filling up fast but Tuesday 6.00 and Wednesday 8.00 are crying out for yogis as people start going away or skipping yoga for office parties! Can you imagine! You can see whats available on my website.

Training

I’m half way through Aerial Yoga teacher training and I have to recommend that you have a go; you will find that it compliments mat yoga and works muscles that you can’t possibly use on the mat. If you don’t know what aerial yoga looks like, there’s a ‘hammock’ from the ceiling, pegged to the ceiling at a little more than shoulder distance apart and the material falling down to your hip level. First of all, there’s a lot of joy in the practice, from floating in the hammock, from giving your weight to the hammock and moving with speed and grace and lightness. Everyone can achieve inversions. It’s a democratic practice; there’s no drama, no-one has to move their mat to the wall, everyone can do a handstand and get the benefits of lengthening the spine.

Valentina’s last class of the year is on Saturday 22nd. I’ll be there to do my assisting session which is part of the course. Come along. Book here.

Yoga in the news

Today is the centenary of BKS Iyengar’s birth, 14 December 1918. Newsd celebrates the day with: BKS Iyengar: The Father of Modern Yoga and says ‘we bring to you some lesser known facts about the yoga guru’. The paper claims this: ‘he taught an 85 year old Queen Elizabeth to stand on her head’.

This article from Deccan Herald has pictures of mass yoga sessions celebrating his anniversary and a couple of interesting details about the great teacher: “After suffering a spine dislocation in a scooter accident, he began the usage of props to help disabled people practice yoga”