Yogic cheating and enlightenment

Dear Yogis.

More fun with belts this week (!) but yogis can be concerned, when I offer alternatives and blocks and belts, if a ‘proper’ yogi would do it like this or if it’s cheating. May I generalise and say that people generally don’t know how fantastic they are! You already know how much you improve with every class and you can feel the body responding. Where’s the cheating in that? Also, think about what we are doing when we ‘practice’ yoga: breathing, dristi (gaze point), and postures, all with the hope and intention of stilling the fluctuations of the mind. Ashtanga yoga has ‘eight limbs’ which include Dharana (concentration), Dhyana (meditation) and enlightenment... which doesn’t care if we’ve used a belt or not! 

Also, I get asked about yoga music often. Given that Christmas is coming, a really nice present is the CD I play in my Home Studio all the time: Kino MacGregor, ‘The Mantra Collection’. She has the most beautiful temple-like voice. 

Home Studio

Given the usual rush of New Year resolutions that take people to the gym, running clubs and Military Fitness groups, I will reintroduce the early Monday class from 6.00-7.00pm. If there is demand, I can also introduce an earlier class on Thursdays. Let me know what would suit you. There are plenty of places left in my Home Studio classes next week. Book a place!  

Hit & Run

It’s been a year since I was knocked off my bike in Shepherds Bush. It’s been a year since I was surrounded by massive Shepherds Bush-ian kindness while traffic had to creep around me sharing one lane. A year since the driver drove around me and apparently barely missed my feet. I spent weeks really loving having feet. The settlement agreement has just come through bringing up memories... mostly of the lovely people who came to cover me with their jackets, hold my hand and stay with me till the ambulance came. I’ll never forget their love and care. 

Writing from the Heart

I’ve been watching my dying Uncle Bill over the last few months and often found myself reflecting on his best qualities and, by extension, the best qualities we should practice in preparation for the end; kindness and manners; generosity and appreciation of others; helping whenever opportunity arises. Even when there was barely any life left in him, he rustled up a smile and a ‘thank you’. A nurse asked (insensitively) why he never married. He answered that ‘when they dropped a bomb on our house and killed 6 people, all I wanted to do after that was put a roof over people’s heads’. He showed that the qualities you have at the end are the qualities you practice all your life.  

New Year Resolutions

Sort it out now. Don’t wait for midnight on the 31st... plan something interesting.

Second Series? Third? Fourth? More?

Dear Yogis.

I get the loveliest feedback to my Friday emails. Thank you very, very much.

I have a question... Did you know that many of my group classes are based in some way on the Ashtanga ‘Primary Series’? There’s a second and an unreachable third... all the way up to totally impossible, don’t-even-think-about-it sixth. Last week I taught Second Series from the chart of prescribed postures in many group classes and it seems to be going down well; just the change some people needed. Take a look at the chart and I’m sure you’ll recognise a few of the postures. 

Home Studio

In yesterday’s class we all tied ourselves up in knots with yoga belts. I attach a picture I found on Google but I must ask your permission to take a photo next time. You don’t need the blocks. There are plenty of places left in my Home Studio classes next week. Book a place!  

Yoga in the News

The Guardian tells us that: ‘Yoga joins Unesco world heritage list’. India’s soft diplomacy with yoga as its main weapon continues. If the article last week about manning the barricades gave you pause for thought, here is the answer. The Indian Foreign Ministry said this would help India to: ‘which would enable it to 'potentially foment a dialogue of ideas of peace and tolerance with other countries' and play a leading role in the global dialogue of inter-cultural relations’.

Favourite Vegan Jokes

If you didn’t know, I’m the total cliché of a vegan yoga teacher. I’m attaching my favourite vegan joke of the moment.

Teach Because You Love It

Dear Yogis.

I spent last weekend training with my guru, David Swenson, my Ashtanga teacher. Next year I might have to insist that you come with me, especially if you’re considering taking a yoga retreat or teacher training. Guru Swenson was asked what he would say to an aspiring yoga teacher:

• Teach because you love it.

• Teach when you have students.

• Don't teach to make money. 

• One person is a class. Give your heart and energy and passion for yoga to that student.

• The people who are good teachers would have been good teachers despite their training or where they qualified.

• Teach with sincerity, integrity, and respect the (Ashtanga) system.

• The duty of a teacher is to facilitate and inspire.  

Home Studio

I love to hear: ‘I couldn’t touch my toes when I started coming to yoga’. Yup, I relate to that! I love seeing postures going from absolutely impossible to merely difficult to doable to easy. I love seeing backache or sciatica ease. I find it so exciting to teach you. There are a couple of places left next week. Book a place!

Eden Fitness, New Class

The two Friday morning classes last week, the first with 15 yogis and the second with 20, worked like a charm. Introducing the earlier class has eased the numbers perfectly. Don’t forget the midweek class, Wednesday at 2.30-3.30, too.

Yoga in the News

This writer saw that I’ve turned off the news, lost interest in protest and made yoga my life. I’ve been spotted. “Time to roll up the yoga mats and man the barricades” by Brigid Delaney was in the Guardian this week.

Book Review

I can't help it... I'm attaching an extract from the delightful Running with the Mind of Meditation by Sakyong Mipham 

Under The Mat

Dear Yogis.

Today (November 18th) is the exciting day that the back-to-back classes start at Eden Fitness. It might be time to invest in a mat topper to put over the gym mat which are rarely cleaned and, in any case, weren’t intended for yoga! The last time I wrote about mats was in August, but that was about normal mats. Mat toppers (I think they are generally known as 'travel mats') are thin and light so easy to travel with and, in a gym, will give you a grip that the gym mat wasn’t designed for.

Yoga Mats

Here are a few suggestions. My first mat topper was the Lulu Lemon Un Mat (1.5mm thick ) which is super thin and  inspired many people who come to my classes to get their own. There is grip on one side and a smooth side for practicing jump-throughs. I’ll bring one to class if you want to have a go. Let me know.

The provided mats at the Yoga Show this year were so extraordinarily slippy and anti-practice that I was forced to by a mat. The cheapest I could find was the prAna Mat (1.5mm thick - probably last season’s design on sale) and it wasn’t bad as well as being a jolly design. In the wide-leg forward fold, though, I felt the dreaded slip. Try it if you come to my Home Studio.

Also at the Yoga Show also, the Milochie Mat (3mm thick) really caught my eye. It’s just so lovely, made from rubber, ethically sourced and is foldable. (I have folded my Lulu Lemon mat but a crease is left.) It’s not as thin, but the blue one that caught my eye has a pattern that promises to help with alignment – that pesky 45 degree-angle foot in the standing poses. I spoke at length with the designer who is the daughter of a yoga teacher. She says she would like to offer my readers an exclusive discount code offering 20% off any product across our entire range valid until 31st December. She says: ‘Please use code: goodtimesyoga’. It might make a nice present now that we’re entering the season of presents.

Please send me a review of your mat if you think yours is the best. Look here at the Yoga Studio for a 20% discount.

Training

I will be spending most of this weekend in workshops with David Swenson, my Ashtanga teacher and guru. He's a wonderful teacher who makes clear again and again that yoga is not for an elite club of athletes and that it is our responsibility as yoga teachers to teach anyone of any ability or disability. ‘It is our duty as teachers to figure out how anyone interested can participate’. I agree with this wholeheartedly. See if you can get a place.

Home Studio

Most classes are booked next week but there are spaces left. Quite unlike the summer when the classes are pretty Bikram, now the heater is on and the blind hides the rain outside. I have all kinds of mats for you to try here and plenty of time and equipment to help you achieve those illusive postures.

Enjoy your weekend.

Living with the Mind of Meditation

Dear Yogis,

One of the privileges of being a yoga teacher is seeing the herculean effort some people put into turning up to class. Honestly, I was never so brave as some of you. People come to my class after bereavement or with PTSD or depression or anxiety or panic attacks. I admire you so utterly.  I’ve been thinking about some of you because an esteemed yogi student gave me a present of a book that I treasure more and more with every page: Running with the Mind of Meditation by Sakyong Mipham. Here’s an example of a quote but there are so many delightful thoughts that almost any page offers something for me to pass on to you.

“Imagine that your mind is like your hand, holding a dumbbell. That dumbbell is all your issues and concerns. Being present in meditation is like putting the dumbbell down. Immediately there is less stress in the body and mind.”

Home Studio

Book a place! I watched a class leaving here one evening this week, walking off together into the cold night and smiling and chatting, and I felt overwhelmingly lucky. You’re all such fun to teach – especially when teaching core work. Please remember that groaning is an indication of an exhalation. Take a bit of time to inhale as well  However, groaning, I’m sure, is a sign of ‘being present’ which is very yogic!

New Class

The number of yogis coming to the Friday morning class at Eden Fitness has been growing and growing. Finally, 35 people in the groaning studio last week spurred Eden into Action and we have a new class starting from next Friday (18th November) at 8.30am-9.30am. The regular class at 9.30am to 10.30am remains the same. Back-to-back means a swift turn-over time.

Stay present!

Physio or Yoga?

Dear Yogis,

I sometimes get questions about very, very specific injuries and conditions such as yoga for post meniscus surgery or rotator cuff injury. Other questions that crop up are to do with the upper hamstring insertion pain or many and various back pains. Please see a physio and follow their advice. There’s nothing like their expert analysis. They’ve studied hard for exactly your visit! If you want a recommendation, I have a suggestion of a physio in Ladbroke Grove. I couldn't have healed properly after being knocked off my bike with just yoga - much as I love yoga and it's wondrous benefits. After seeing a physio, a yoga teacher can step in with suggestions that will support the physio advice.

Home Studio

Something really nice is happening in my small yoga studio. People are coming along with family members and friends. I have to admit that I don’t like to go to a yoga studio on my own. Why would i?! I like to share yoga and have fun with a friend. This seems to be happening naturally in my Home Studio. Long-timers know each other anyway and newcomers are quickly made to feel like regulars. Book a place! 

Please don’t forget to give me as much notice as you can if you can’t make it to class. Your confirmation email gives you the option of cancelling and the class will show up on the website for someone else to book.

Yoga in the News

Mick Jagger is in the news for being and Aerial Yoga practitioner. All the articles are so badly written, though, that I can’t include them! This is more interesting... and baffling. There are almost 20,000 unemployed yoga teachers in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand who have a long-standing ‘demand for jobs in state owned schools’. According to this article, ‘In the past, these agitated teachers have held many protests, rallies and demonstrations besides burning effigies of the government officials/ministers and threatening self-immolation.’ Gosh!

Clocks Backbend

Dear Yogis,

Clocks go back this weekend in the UK. Enjoy the coming descent into the darkness of winter, our major celebration in the depths of the winter with lights, food and presents, and our climb back up into the Spring light accompanied by snowdrops, crocuses and daffodils...  It’s a metaphor! Even in the darkest times there can be family, friends, support and celebration. And the lighter, warmer days are coming. Once the sun is on our faces again, we forget how cold the winter was!

Home Studio

My lucky little home studio had the pleasure of full classes this week and wonderful yogis who bring their best to the class. Out of the blue yesterday a film crew and presenter from SAT-7 TV turned up in need of a backdrop for their filming! (It’s a Christian TV network for the Middle East and North Africa.) This is the first time my little studio has been used like this. (I must do some advertising around Ealing studios!) SAT-7 needed to film a piece about posture in early pregnancy. Apparently the programme will be aired in Iran in five months’ time! 

Come to class! Don’t delay in booking your place. Now that the evenings are darker, the classes seem to be in big demand. The regulars have booked and a few spots remain. Shoes Off And Game On!

Yoga in the News

What’s going on? The Radio 4 Today Programme is talking about yoga... The Times and The Guardian too. It’s all about establishing National Occupational Standards for Yoga. It involves money, politics, history and control. It’s pretty hilarious. (If you want to listen to the Radio 4 piece, wind forward to 8.49. I have to admit, it’s a bit like listening to paint dry.) 

In Our Yoga Community

Raakhee has sent up a business and life coaching agency called Backbone Thinking. She believes that many of us trudge along without knowing our true purpose and what really motivates us. That was me! I definitely know people who need help to balance the demands of work, the need to earn and the absolute necessity of saving their health and well-being. (You know who you are!) Raakhee is offering a free half hour consultation so if you are interested please visit www.backbonethinking.co.uk or call her on 07834374089

Training

Well, I’ve mentioned David Sye and his Tequila Yoga a few times!  I did his workshop at the Yoga Show and after laughing and grinning with every tooth the whole way through, I decided on following his teacher training programme, if he will have me. He interviews all applicants. If you’re interested in joining me, let me know. 

Light Bulb Moments

Dear Yogis,

This morning I taught a class of 32 people in a studio that is used to taking 20-or-so. I’m always struck on a Friday morning by the sheer positivity of the class and the levels of effort. It starts my weekend in a way I am very attached to! I was struck this week when a couple of yogis said that they hadn’t realised how they had been getting a posture ‘wrong’... ‘all this time!’. Please don’t be harsh on yourselves. Teachers have many different ways and styles of teaching so inevitably some postures will come along under certain tuition which work. A slightly different instruction won't suit you. We’re all developing and refining. There are lots of light bulb moments on the way.

Home Studio

Plenty of spaces next week. The regulars have booked their spots and there’s room for more. I had a joyous week this week of welcoming a lot of newcomers to my little studio. I also had the pleasure of being a student in the class of Nina who was practicing her final teacher training assessment routine. I absolutely loved being a student for a whole hour in a small studio with an up-and-coming teacher. I attended her assessment (Friday 21st) with two other Home Studio Yogis and I couldn’t have been more proud. Of course, she passed!

OM Yoga Show

The Yoga Show starts today. It lasts three days. I’ll be there from Friday afternoon for David Sye’s workshop and, if there’s one thing to tempt you, it’s David Sye. Over the weekend I’ll be taking part in ‘Yogangster’ by Benjamin Sears and Goldie, Mythical Soulful Vinyasa with Tanja Mickwitz and Sweet Funk and Flow with Kathy Ran. Marcus Veda, too, if there are tickets left – he’s the one for the Rocket yogis.

Come and see what it’s like.

Yoga in the News

I thought this was funny... a matt for $1,000! And, if you’re interested in actual yoga, here’s an article about yoga in prisons.

Everyday Magic

Dear Yogis,

I was born at 6.40 in the morning of October 10th... but, in truth, we get the chance to be reborn every waking day. We can make resolutions and, if we fail, we get another chance tomorrow – very yogic. Time is a loving parent: always forgives, always moves forward, never looks back, and gives endless new chances whatever our faults. Birthdays are a time to remember that. I felt like magic all the way through Monday and tried to hold on to that sense of feeling special and feeling like the present day is ‘my day’. I recommend this approach! There’s a wonderful positivity you get – like a new love affair.

Home Studio

Plenty of spaces next week. The 6.00 class on a Monday doesn’t seem to have many takers so I have taken it off the timetable for now. I’ll put it back if there is demand. On the other hand, I have had the pleasure of welcoming many new yogis to my studio all motivated with different reasons, from different professions and looking to achieve different things. I’m excited by every new yogi that comes along. (I was very upset to hear that a celebrated yoga teacher from one of the big studios said teaching beginners is boring. Believe me, there is not ever a time that teaching yoga is boring. Not ever.) 

OM Yoga Show

The Yoga Show starts next Friday. It’s such fun. Even if you go for just one day to nose around, there are so many ‘free open classes’ and you can try-out styles and teachers you wouldn’t ordinarily come across. You can buy new gear and turn up to class in yoga fashion! It’s cool and un-cool at the same time!

Yoga Podcast

Here’s my favourite yoga broadcaster Lucas Rockwood talking about how to develop a home practice. Hilariously, he says that on some days you’ll have to call in late to work to get your practice in. Hmmmm! Danny Paradise says that yoga will make you unemployable! Hmmmm!

In Other News

The public ballot entry system for the 2017 Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100 is now open. I have my place.

Happiness is Right at your Heels - Bertolt Brecht

Dear Yogis,

I absolutely love the interest you take in yoga, especially in the email responses I get to this Friday Yoga Email. Last week I was asked about Downward Facing Dog and how to get the heels touching the floor. Great question! I made a little film in my Home Studio about it. (It’s on YouTube and here on this website on the a Yoga Practice page). Let me know if there is a posture that you want me to unpick.

Home Studio

It was a bit of a wash-out this week as I had to cancel the classes on Monday and Tuesday. As a result, I’ve added a class tonight at 7.30 in case any of you want to catch up. If you haven’t been before, come and unwind to finish your week and recharge to start your weekend.

Teacher Training

“If you want to know a thing, read that.

If you want to understand a thing, study that. 

And if you want to master a thing, teach that.” 

- Yogi Bhajan

My teacher, Valentina Candiani, is offering her autumn teacher training course beginning Friday 14th October. It lasts for 9 long weekends meaning that the first class of the weekend is on Friday evenings. Details on her website. I have seen various students I teach go through teacher training and I still think Valentina offers the best and most supportive course.

I’ve just had my sixth anniversary of starting to train to be a personal trainer with the YMCA. I absolutely loved every second but fate picked me up, shook me down and swapped me over to yoga teacher training. As a result, I have spent my 40s happier than I ever was or could be in the world of office work.

Yoga in the News

The Londonist is apparently on a mission to explore London’s alternative yoga scene and here is their latest article. It’s hilarious!  It includes ‘Loaded Yoga’, ‘HIIT Yoga’, ‘Disco Yoga’, and ‘Hip Hop yoga’.

Yoga West

Tomorrow at 8.30-9.45 I’ll be teaching at our very own yoga-studio-in-the-west. It’s an Ashtanga yoga class. The address is: 33-34 Westpoint, Warple Way, London W3 0RG. Here’s a map. It’s a very nice space to practice in with floor-to-ceiling windows and endless energy in the room. You can also bring a friend for free if you have bought a class pass.