Happy Diwali! Happy Halloween. Happy November!
/Dear Yogis,
Happy Diwali! Happy Halloween. Happy November! That must mean the OM Yoga Show at Alexandra Palace has come and gone. It marks the end of October and the time of year when the clocks go back and we begin the descent into the darkness of winter.
The 2024 Yoga Show was combined with the Mind Body Soul Show. There were lots of psychics and mind readers, invitations to develop your psychic ability, to rage release, to unlock your heart and heal your inner child. On the yoga side of the hall I watched a teacher give an introduction to Ashtanga that belonged to yesteryear; all serious, nothing encouraging, all daunting, nothing welcoming. It broke my heart.
It’s really lucky to be familiar with Ashtanga. Its template lets you understand your body and how to treat and repair it. To encourage non-Ashtangies, I’ve introduced a new Wednesday 7.00pm class. It’s a midway class; half way through the week and half way between stretch classes and Ashtanga classes. Sun Salutations will be included but not in the usual way which is usually all packed right at the beginning of the session. I’ll mix them with warm-up stretches. I’ll include knee strengthening and the best of the stretches for backs and shoulders.
Classes
So, if you want a bit more than the Monday and Tuesday classes and a bit less than Ashtanga, try the new Wednesday class. Bookings and enquiries have already started.
Also, I had to cancel today’s class (Saturday 2nd November) so I have a one-off Sunday class next week (10th) as next Saturday is mostly booked up.
Monday and Tuesday = Stretchy class at 7.00pm – this is the popular one
Wednesday = Sun Salutations, Strengthen & Stretch at 7.00pm – this is the new one
Friday morning = Ashtanga at 8.30-9.30am – this is the one that pushes you
Saturday morning = Ashtanga at 8.30 – 10.00am – this is the longer one
One-off Sunday morning = Ashtanga at 8.30 – 10.00am You can book here.
Yoga in The News
The Guardian has: ‘She joined the dark side’: the strange story of the Elizabeth Holmes of yoga. She looked for answers outside the old religions and found them in Kundalini... Kundalini was popularised in America by Harbhajan Singh Khalsa, a customs inspector at the Delhi airport who, having got a woman pregnant, fled India for the US in the late 1960s. In classic American fashion, he had a blank canvas on which to reinvent himself and make his fortune. Styling himself as Yogi Bhajan, he claimed that kundalini was an ancient form of yoga long kept secret; in reality he made it up himself.
The Times has: Sadie Frost: How I keep fit and healthy in midlife. ” How do I feel better? My first port of call is yoga. It’s how I reconnect with myself. I’ve been practising it since I was 15. I suffered from bronchiectasis, an asthma-like condition that affects the lungs and causes shortness of breath. Being unable to breathe properly gave me anxiety, so my mother recommended I try yoga.”
The Guardian has: Yoga and Ayurveda: King Charles and Camilla’s secret stop in India at plush wellness retreat. (If you saw the Ch4 Dispatches about King Charles and Prince William’s property empires, this is interesting.) The entire resort was closed for the three days of Charles and Camilla’s visit, with no outsiders allowed in. The couple were put up in the £1,000-a-night presidential suite.
