The Guy On The Train

Dear Yogis

By far the most important thing we do in yoga class is the breathing. “Breathing defines our experience of Yoga”, says phenomenal yoga teacher Andy Gill. See the attachment for his observations on how the breath reveals the yogi’s state of mind, not the postures.

This email is inspired by a thirty-something guy on the train that I couldn’t help watching. His breathing was noticeably fast. He was a bit overweight and slumping in his seat.  (Actually, so was everyone else!) He had no abdominal breathing, his chest was heaving and collar bones lifting with his shallow breaths. Shoulder/clavicle breathing is a sign that primary breathing muscles are in trouble. Raising the shoulders or arms to help breathe happens when the diaphragm has no room to move due to belly fat or poor posture and the elasticity of the lungs and chest wall is lost. Lifting the shoulders and collar bones is a compensation.

Poor lung function is the absolute opposite of what yoga is about. There is also a Hindu belief that is worth carrying around with us: that we are born with a predetermined amount of breaths and you can lengthen your life with breath control. It’s a great belief, telling us that our job in life is to make good use of our allotted breaths; make them long and lasting and not to spend time in stressful, short-breath situations. Above all, it tells us that the breath is in charge which is obvious but too easily forgotten.

Kapsali Yoga Retreat

Summer Solstice, the peak of the year, has come and gone. It always comes too soon! If you haven’t already arranged a holiday or retreat, consider coming to Kythera with me for some Greek sun and Kythera warmth. Kytheran people have an easy and genuine friendliness towards visitors that you will struggle to find elsewhere in the world. I’m teaching the first week’s retreat and Lisa Maarit Lischak is joining me for the second week. Have a look at the details of both retreats here.

Home Studio

Yesterday’s International Yoga Day started with new yogis in a corporate class and, to make the day complete, I had the privilege of introducing a new yogi to Ashtanga in my little Home Studio. It couldn’t be better. There are plenty of places left next week. You can see what’s available here. (I update this before posting this email.)  You can book here.

Training

This Saturday and Sunday, 8:30 to 4:30, I will be doing a weekend at Indaba with Gregor Maehle. The workshops are named ‘Integrating the eight limbs into a cohesive whole’ - how asana prepares you for pranayama, which prepares you for meditation. Gregor Maehle has studied Iyengar and Ashtanga in India, lived as a recluse, and studied anatomy, Sanskrit, yogic scripture, and philosophy. Come with me!

Andy Gill is responding to popular demand and holding another Ashtanga Yoga and Ayurveda workshop with Justin Robertshaw tomorrow. The last time was Easter 2017 and it was fascinating and I can’t recommend it highly enough. You can e-mail Andy to book at andy@andygill.yoga. 

Yoga in the news

Al Jazeera has a lovely picture story, ‘Thousands celebrate International Day of Yoga’, showing the massive, humungous crowds in India celebrating International Yoga Day.

The Telegraph has; ‘Bend it like Ryan Giggs: how athletes fell in love with yoga’. It says that Giggs added “another 10 years” onto his career with yoga practice. “Yoga was first about injury prevention, but later it became about recovery,” he said. “The day after a match, the adrenalin would still be in my body. But the following day, when I got out of bed, everything would hurt, so I would do yoga then.””

The Independent has the best article of all: ‘How a yoga holiday in Kent could help refugees’. Let’s go!

Ayurvedic Treatment for Sciatica

Dear Yogis

I had the most enlightening conversation about sciatica this week with an Eden Fitness yogi, Reena. Her husband suffered with sciatica and one summer they found themselves an Ayurvedic Clinic in India where he had seven Ayurvedic massage treatments plus recommended herbs. He hasn’t suffered since. As part of her own Holistic and Spiritual Growth she went from being a dentist to studying Ayurvedic healing, Reiki and Energy Field Transformation and Spiritual Development. She very generously gave advice, which I attach. The truncated version is this:

To treat Sciatica, she says, you can do this yourself. Sciatica is crying out for lubrication internally and externally. With cold pressed Organic Sesame Oil, do this:

1. Take a warm teaspoon of sesame oil (heat over a gentle flame in a small saucepan or tablespoon) in the morning and at night. Wash it down with a herbal tea, no caffeine. 

2. Apply warm oil to the affected area(s). First of all circle your oil into the skin in an anticlockwise direction. That releases toxins. Then circle in a clockwise direction. That’s for nourishing and rejuvenation.

3. You can apply warm oil in this way before a bath or shower or sauna or steam. Leave for a minimum of 20 minutes in between application and shower.

4. You can apply warm oil to a painful area before yoga class but wear clothes that you don’t mind getting oil on, obviously!

5. Ever heard of oil pulling? Give this a go. Take a small amount of warm sesame oil and place it in your mouth. Swish for 30 seconds, hold for 30 seconds and repeat. Spit out the oil (do not swallow and rinse mouth thoroughly after. Use your normal toothbrush to go ahead and give teeth and gums a good clean and massage.

You need to combine this treatment with elimination of accumulated toxins and bringing pacification and balance back into the bodily systems… with diet and Sun Salutations! See attachment for that advice. And if you want a consultation, get in touch with Reena via Livelaughlovemuch@outlook.com

Kapsali Yoga Retreat

A couple of places have come up on the second retreat with me and Lisa Maarit Lischak. Her spectacular afternoon workshops, where everyone achieves something amazing, are the reason people keep coming back. Have a look at the details here.  (Just a word about travelling to Kythera: you may require a night in Athens. Please don’t use booking sites to buy your flights; please go directly to the airline. You can check out Aegean and Sky Express for flights to and from the island.) And if you’re interested in the first retreat – Ashtanga in the morning, Yin in the evening and holiday in-between – click here for details.

Home Studio

It’s International Yoga Day on Thursday 21st, the day of the summer solstice. Have a great day; 17 hours of sunlight! If you want a yoga class at work to celebrate, let me know. We will, of course, celebrate in my little home studio in the evening’s class. There are places left. You can see what’s available here. (I update this before posting this email.)  You can book here.

Training

On June 23rd and 24th I will be doing a weekend at Indaba with Gregor Maehle who will teach pranayama, meditation and the Yoga Sutras. Come with me.

Continuing the subject of Ayruveda, there will be another Ashtanga Yoga and Ayurveda workshop with Andy Gill and Justin Robertshaw on Saturday 30th June. I went to the last one and loved, loved, loved it. You can e-mail Andy to book at andy@andygill.yoga. If, on the other hand, you’re interested in Chakras, James French will be at Triyoga on the 30th with his fantastic and eye-opening Chakra Workshop. I loved, loved, loved this one too.

Yoga in the news

The Guardian has an article about Dog Yoga and it’s quite a good read. Journalist Rhik Samadder says: “in every other yoga class I feel awkward, Lycra-lumpy, alienated by some Blake Lively-alike telling me I am more than enough. The involvement of dogs changes everything. It’s impossible to feel self-conscious in the presence of a boston terrier curious as to why you are trying to turn into a bridge. Dogs puncture the absurdity of all human behaviours.”

The Fitness Goddess and the Yoga Guru

Dear Yogis

My weekend of yoga in Kythera with Kristina Karitinou Ireland was, as I hoped, drinking from the cup of a ‘senior teacher’. She talked a lot about her late husband, Derek Ireland, who, with Radha Warrell were the first teachers to bring Ashtanga yoga out of India and into Europe. She filled in some unexpected history of Ashtanga once it left India.

She said that Derek Ireland changed the way Europeans viewed yoga – the only thing they could compare yogis to in the 1970s were the Hare Krishnas. Yoga had to be translated from the Indian Mysore method which, she says, was only for senior students who already knew what they were doing. In a class, teacher Pattabhi Jois would only say: ‘Ekum (one) inhale. Dwe (two) exhale…’ That’s it! The student had to know exactly what to do. Derek’s contribution was to add more instruction, adjustment and variation.

One day Derek was watching fitness goddess Jane Fonda and her TV workout because he was curious to see how she taught. He saw how much instruction she gave about the postures and introduced that teaching method into Ashtanga classes. So, when we enter a posture and during our five breaths in a posture we receive a lot of information, unlike the Mysore method. In Downward Facing Dog, for example, we might hear:  ‘Encourage the heels down, lift kneecaps and quads, pull the navel in….’ This is because Jane Fonda (now 80!), with her big hair and 80s tights and leotard and ankle warmers, inspired Derek Ireland with the effectiveness of her instruction.

Kapsali Yoga Retreat

It’s all coming together after my weekend visit to Kythera. I’m attaching a couple of photos taken at Porto Delfino where we will be staying to inspire you to join us. The first is a view taken while I was doing my morning practice, watching  the fishing boats returning one by one surrounded by a dance of hopeful and happy seagulls.  The second is a view from the restaurant at breakfast. Ahhhhhh! Click here for details.

Devon Retreat

If you’d prefer a staycation (!) then I’m teaching on the October 12th-15th Happiness Retreat run by Deborah Smith, International Positive Psychologist and Mindfulness Expert. The Complete Wellbeing Retreat; Happiness workshops, Yoga and Mindfulness sessions will be held in a villa on the River Dart in South Devon.

Home Studio

Our yoga room is repainted and refreshed and waiting to welcome you. You can see what’s available here. (I update this before posting this email.)  You can book here.

Training

Valentina Candiani’s newly graduated Yoga Teachers will be teaching their first community class as part of their practical exam this weekend. It’s FREE to attend! Tomorrow, Saturday, there are 2 spaces left in the 10.00-11.00 class. On Sunday there are 3 spaces left in the 10.00-11.00 class. See you there. If you practice at Eden Fitness you’ll recognise one of our number. Also if you’re coming from New Energy Yoga, Winchester, you will see one of your yogis. To reserve a space write to valcandiani@hotmail.com.

Yoga in the news

Talking of Jane Fonda, The Telegraph tells us: ‘Channel 5 revived TV keep-fit with a live yoga class – so I tried it at home’. Tom Ough is the writer and victim. He says: ‘I struggled to get a sense of where each of my ungainly limbs should be’. ‘I tottered through the eagle pose…  and collapsed out of an attempted headstand’. ‘I strove through to the end, only occasionally thinking that TV exercise classes feature more than once in George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984’.

Woman’s Health this week will tell you:; ‘The Best Yoga Pose For You, Based On Your Zodiac Sign’. Mine turns out to be Boat Pose. Oh joy!

This is interesting. The Times tells of KPMG’s strategy for supporting their workforce: ‘Salvation for a stressed-out auditor: compulsory yoga’. ‘In the UK its auditors are facing an investigation by the Financial Reporting Council into their work for Carillion in the years before the outsourcing company’s collapse…’ and therefore need yoga? I love yoga but it isn’t a plaster and the wound isn’t a graze!

Menuhin, Musicians and Yoga

Dear Yogis

Greetings from Kapsali, Kythera. I find myself on the international yoga teaching circuit! I arrived in lovely Kythera yesterday and taught Yin yoga to some players of Chris Shurety’s Allcomer’s Orchestra who are performing tomorrow. They sound superb. Musicians are interesting to teach. Their bodies adopt a certain position, probably asymmetrical, around their instrument and, inevitably, aches, pains and strains result. I remember David Williams (yoga royalty!) talking about teaching Pavaroti’s orchestra and deciding not to teacher Shoulder Stand to the flute player, who had held his shoulders and arms in a fixed position for decades, for fear or finishing his career.

Yoga and musicians are perfect for each other; appreciation of the rhythm of the breath is crucial to both. But backs are rounding, shoulders are fixed, the upper body is working and the lower body isn’t. Sound familiar?  It’s very similar to workplace keyboard warriors.

Yehudi Menuhin and BKS Iyengar (more royalty) had a friendship of many years. Menuhin said of his Iyengar yoga practice that he got: ‘less tension, more effective application of energy, the breaking down of resistance in every joint, the coordination of all motions into one motion, and…the profound truth that strength comes not from strength but from subtle comprehension of process, of proportion and balance.’ (Couldn’t this describe yoga for any profession?) He also said: ‘behind all violin technique exercises and hours of practice, the main goal is improved awareness, and that is the very goal of Yoga practice’. Amen!

Kapsali Yoga Retreat

I wish I could show you Kapsali. Those who have been here know this; you feel immediately lighter here. You breathe. The shoulders come down. The heart opens. All thoughts of rushing or stressing are vanquished. You tread your path in life easily... it’s a simple path; a sea-kissed, bay-side road, trodden languidly to the tick-tock of flip flops. On our retreats we frame the idyllic day with yoga. Ahhhhhh! Click here for details.

Devon Retreat

If a day of flights to Greece doesn’t float your boat then don’t forget the October 12th-15th Happiness Retreat. I’ll be teaching Ashtanga in the morning and Yin in the afternoon on the Complete Wellbeing Retreat; Happiness workshops, Yoga and Mindfulness sessions. It will be held in an 18th Century Palladian Villa and is run by Deborah Smith, International Positive Psychologist and Mindfulness Expert. 

Home Studio

There are no classes this Monday. Back on track on Tuesday. To come to my Home Studio you can see what’s available here. (I update this before posting this email.)  You can book here. Please don’t forget to let me know if you are observing Ramadan and need a calmer practice.

Training

I meant to mention last week… while I’m away try other teachers in the area. Cath Barnes-Holt is an Iyengar teacher at Triyoga Ealing and also teaches in West Ealing and Northfields. Ladan Soltani has classes in Ealing Town Hall and West Ealing. And what about Free Yoga? Lululemon in Westfield, Shepherds Bush, has free yoga every Sunday at 10.00. You can see their events on here.

Props

Tiger in Ealing Broadway have yoga belts for £4. They are excellent belts with non-slip buckles. These are the ones I use in my Home Studio.

Yoga in the news

Exciting news according to Biz Asia: ‘Swami Ramdev set for International Yoga Day in UK’. He’ll be in London, Coventry and Glasgow.

The Times last weekend gave us ‘Why real men should do yoga’. The grammar of the first article is petrifying. Scroll down to the third article on the same page: “It’s as good as weight training.” Peta Bee on how yoga transforms the male body. She quotes: yoga ‘helps you regenerate muscle cell quickly by releasing muscle tension, an essential step in the muscle-growing process. This decreases muscle recovery time and helps you get back to your workouts sooner’.  Also, muscles that are more mobile and flexible reduce ‘tension caused by pulling the attached ligaments and tendons. Not only does this bring immediate relief from daily aches and strains, it reduces the risk of common soft-tissue sports injuries’. Nuff said!

The First Lady Of Yoga, Indra Devi

Dear Yogis

We hear so much about the original yoga teachers of our time, Pattabhi Jois, BKS Iyengar, infamous Bikram Choudhury and Sivananda. In this male world, very little attention is given to Indra Devi who was a fellow student of Jois and Iyengar under the strict, famously unforgiving teachings of Krishnamacharya.

At first Krishnamacharya refused to teach Devi on the grounds she was a woman and a Westerner.   This is how Kino MacGregor describes their teacher-student relationship: He “set up numerous tests for her… assuming she would fail. First, he asked her to eat only root vegetables for months. Next, he asked her to sit outside his gate for two hours each morning from 4-6 AM and then go home with or without teaching”. That was in the 1930s. She was an actress and a socialite and this is not the kind of treatment she would have been used to! She overcame all obstacles and ended up teaching in China, India, Mexico, Russia, the US and Argentina and her first book was of the yoga that came directly from Krishnamacharya. She is the First Lady of Yoga, despite the relative silence that surrounds her name.

The only hoops we have to jump through are of our own making. Perhaps it would be easier if a teacher set up ghastly tasks. Here’s a lovely quote from Devi: "You give love and light to everybody - those who love you, those who harm you, those whom you know, those whom you don't know. It makes no difference. You just give light and love."

Kapsali Yoga Retreat

I’ll be in Kapsali next weekend, my favourite part of the world. I’ll be teaching the Allcomers String Orchestra and sorting out some September Retreat details. There are still places if you’re interested in coming. Next week’s Friday Yoga Email might be late! I’ll be practicing Ashtanga with Kristina Karitinou from Friday morning.

Home Studio

I was incredibly happy to see yogis in the studio that I haven’t seen in years. New yogis and past yogis come along perhaps for the physical practice and perhaps for the mental respite. Guess what! You get both!  To come to my Home Studio you can see what’s available here. (I update this before posting this email.)  You can book here. Next week I will have two classes on Bank Holiday Monday  and two on Tuesday but none on Wednesday and Thursday. Please don’t forget to let me know if you are observing Ramadan and need a calmer practice.

Training

While I’m away try other teachers in the area. Cath Barnes-Holt is an Iyengar teacher at Triyoga Ealing and also teaches in West Ealing and Northfields.  Ladan Soltani has classes in Ealing Town Hall and West Ealing.

Yoga in the news

This article in The Guardian by Zoe Williams started with: ‘More things than I realised have their roots in yoga, because yoga is at the root of all things’ and ended with: ‘In a situation where you have to choose, always prioritise a straight back over straight hamstrings’. That’s pretty much all you need to know!

The Metro tells us that ‘Dog yoga classes are coming to London and you don’t even need a dog’. ‘If you’re bringing your own hound, just make sure they’re social, vaccinated neutered and insured’.

Dedicate Your Practice To God

Dear Yogis

I have often been in a class where and the teacher has invited me to dedicate my practice to God. But how do we open ourselves up to that invitation it if not brought up with the idea of a god? Kino Macgregor said that she ‘made her peace with the word ‘God’ when she realised that is was ‘way more efficient’ to use one word instead of alternative flowery language: ‘Today I’m going to surrender to the shimmering oneness that pervades all things in the notion of universal love’, or: ‘Today I surrender to God’. She realised that the word ‘God’ is dramatically more efficient.

If you can get your head around the idea of dedicating or offering your practice, you’ll shift away from thinking about what your practice can do for you. The practice of offering is called ‘ishvara pranidhana’. It translates as surrender to the supreme. In reality it translates as letting go of the ego and the smallness and petty issues that can pervade our lives.

Kino Update

Talking of Kino, here’s an update on Kino MacGregor’s workshop on the theme of Vairagya. She said: “The biggest thing that gets in the way of us experiencing the immutable truth of the spirit is the notion of desire. In Sanskrit this is called Viragya. It’s like the English word ‘rage’ – like a raging torrent, not just anger but desire, a powerful flow, a power that runs through you”.

I had so many responses including this from a wonderful yogi who I know through my Home Studio. She said: ‘I am a student Sanskrit ( and a native speaker of a few related Indian languages) so I thought I should share with you that the meaning of “vairagya” is not desire, but almost the exact opposite of it - a freedom or detachment from desire or from “maya”. You are right in saying that maya gets in the way of a deeper spiritual yoga practise, so the idea is that we ought to get ourselves into a state of vairagya to begin to experience our true essence - both on and off the mat’.

I looked back on my notes. Yes, Kino said that too! I think she was talking with such high energy and excitement that the ideas were tumbling out in haste. I wrote to her. I’ll let you know what she says.

Kapsali Yoga Retreat

Thank you to the Yogis who have paid in full. Here’s a gentle reminder to others to suggest an instalment plan. There are places still on the first retreat. These are the costs: Single £700; Shared Double £650 (Each); Shared Apartment £680 (Each). The deposit is £200. Please come!

Home Studio

Ramadan has started. If you want to still practice yoga, come to the low-key Monday and Tuesday classes. (If you still want to do Ashtanga classes there’s no problem but just take it easy – Child’s Pose instead of Downward Facing Dog, for example). Here is the Wall Yoga pdf so you can have a gentle stretch at home. In any class just let the teacher know that you want to conserve energy due to Ramadan. To come to my Home Studio you can see what’s available here. (I update this before posting this email.) You can book here.

Yoga in the news

The Metro tells us that ‘Yoga has lost its zen thanks to show-off influencers and novelty studios’. The writer feels that the West has ruined yoga with our ’amateur acrobats masquerading as yogis’. The writer reminisces that: ‘When I started practising years ago, it was in a dingy university hall with crap mats and bad balance… And while there was no chance we’d ever get into a headstand, it was a pretty honest attempt to find mental and physical clarity’. Yuck! (PS. ‘Zen’ is there if you’re looking for it. If you want a physical workout, that’s what you’ll find. No judgment necessary.)

Vairagya, Not Viagra!

Dear Yogis

I spent the bank holiday weekend, all of it, in workshops with Kino MacGregor. There are many famous teachers with finely honed teaching skills but my heart opens wide as the world to Kino’s teaching and humour and cartoon-like noises and the easy, smiley way her philosophy tumbles out. By the end of the weekend I was so full of big loving feelings that I promised I would go and study with her in Miami! (Help!)

On the first day she talked about the Sanskrit word Vairagya. (I know! It sounds a bit like Viagra!) It means desire; powerful, raging desire. In yoga practice, the biggest thing that gets in the way of us experiencing the spiritual practice of yoga is desire; we want more difficult postures, deeper backbends, more flexible hips, longer hamstrings. But this is like obsessing with the finger that is pointing to the moon instead of looking at the glory of the moon. Kino says; ‘All the poses and the body itself is the finger pointing to the moon of the deep spiritual realisation that yoga practice promises.’

If you get lost in the Instagram hype of worshiping the body and physical accomplishments then you will always feel ‘less than’. This is something that every yogi has to contend with. Desire left unchecked leads to accumulation of things, not only amassing poses but pursuing the perfect job, perfect relationship, perfect poses, perfect house…When we have all the things we desire, will it be enough? The basis of all desire is the feeling of not being good enough; the feeling of ‘if only I had that, I’d be better’.

Yoga practice encourages you to relocate your sense of self-worth in the eternal and beautiful spark of your spirit (which in Sanskrit is called Purusha) that lives in all of us. OK. How do we do that? Vairagya is the active practice of letting go of the results of our actions. In class, the paradigm shift is when you replace desire with listening and try to experience the pose to see what happens rather than projecting what you want to happen. As soon as you hear the voice in your head saying that it wants the posture to be deeper, the hips to be more open, the hamstrings to be more flexible, THAT is your yoga, THAT is where you begin to practice.  The paradigm shifts to listening and mindfulness. Listening implies that we are open to change by what we hear and what we experience. Listening allows you to be vulnerable to yourself and to be compassionate to vulnerability in others. We have a responsibility to listen and to respond and to change.

That’s a lot to take in, eh!

Kapsali Yoga Retreat.

The first retreat arrives with the new moon, the Harvest Moon, on September 9th. The second retreat leaves just before its fullest glory on September 24th. I have never seen such a huge and shiny moon but that’s probably because of the setting, over Kapsali bay in a wondrous galaxy of stars. It adds to the enchanting spirit of Kapsali, the reason I am drawn there and the magic of teaching yoga there. Please come!

Home Studio

It’s always fulfilling to teach people who are new to yoga. It’s just lovely to introduce people to Ashtanga and see the spark light up in them. Thank you for making the studio such a blessed space. If you haven’t come already, come and have a go! See what’s available here. (I update this before posting this email.) You can book here.

Training

To regroup after the weekend you really can’t do better that Yin Yoga with Ruth Voon at Triyoga Ealing. It’s at 6.15 on a Sunday evening and is just the stretch you need to round off your Sunday to dive into Monday.

Yoga in the news

BBC News tells Asks: Can prison yoga help tackle reoffending?  The first prisoner says that yoga makes her feel free, gives her hope and takes away her stress! Just like civvy street, then!

The Business Insider tells us that: Doctors are warning people not to wear Lululemon-like clothing during MRIs. This is worth knowing!  Athletic clothing manufacturers weave small threads of silver into their clothing to prevent smells from sweat during exercise. Metal heats up in MRI machines and people have experienced low to moderate burning. (Check out silver nanoparticles.)

The Evening standard tells us: This is the difference between Bikram, Vinyasa, Rocket, and Power yoga — and how to know which one is right for you. (That’s helpful – especially since I saw a class called ‘Space and Flow’ and had to ask my teacher what it meant). The evening standard helpfully covers the established types.

Light the Corners of my Mind

Dear Yogis

I practiced Ashtanga the other day with a mind resolutely opposed to any stilling. It became fascinating to see how one immaterial thought careered into another and another and another like a mad Bond car chase in tiny Italian streets. Watching the breath never had a chance; I was barely in the room. And yet, by the end of the class, I still felt better and a tiny bit closer to enlightenment, and incredibly grateful for the practice and the teacher. In Savasana the mind finally parked up and turned the engine off. Practicing a Loving Kindness meditation naturally suggested itself. You could do this in Savasana.

First of all, say to yourself: ‘May I be well and happy. May no harm come to me. May I have courage to face life’s fairness and unfairness alike. And may I have a peaceful heart.’ Then bring to mind someone you love and repeat the whole thing: ‘May you be well and happy…’. Then bring to mind someone you don’t really know – perhaps a neighbour you only see in passing, the newsagent, perhaps the person you buy your train ticket from, and repeat. Then bring to mind someone who is difficult in your life and repeat with a sincere heart: ‘May you be well and happy…’ Finally, you can widen the wishes: ‘May all beings be well and happy…

Yoga Retreat

There are still two places left on my September 9th-16th retreat. You’re very welcome to come but take a look at the flights – you need to spend a night in Athens. It’s straight through on the way out on Sunday 9th. There’s a 06.45 flight from Heathrow to Athens that hooks up with a 17.55 Aegean flight from Athens to Kythera. On the Sunday 16th return you could have the Aegean 19.05 - 19.45 to Athens and spend the night there till Monday or get the Saturday flight at the same time and fly back to London on Sunday. It’s well worth it! Come! (If you’re interested in driving over the Peloponnese and taking the ferry, let me know.)

Home Studio

There are 12 places booked and 12 available next week. The 6.00 classes on Tuesday and Thursday could do with a bit of your affection! No classes on Bank Holiday Monday as I’ll be training. See what’s available here. (I update this before posting this email.) You can book here. You can also see my Eden Fitness classes and the dates that I cover at Yoga West further down on the same page.

Training

It’s Kino MacGregor this weekend for her three-day Ashtanga immersion on May 5th-7th . There’s plenty to choose from if you want to come for just one workshop – backbends, handstands, twists and arm balances! After that, don’t forget AliceLovesYoga, May 12th with her team of Reiki healers! Tickets here.  Or you can fly with me to Kythera for the Ashtanga Workshop on Kythera with Kristina Karitinou. Way into the future in June I have booked a weekend at Indaba with Gregor Maehle who will teach ‘how asana prepares you for pranayama, which prepares you for meditation, with the Yoga Sutra explaining how all are connected’. That sounds right up my street.

Yoga in the news

The Metro tells us that: Lululemon and Psycle London are offering free yoga classes for Londoners. These are free yoga sessions in Covent Garden over the next couple of months from 8.15am and they started yesterday! Book Here.

The Voice Online tells us that the Balance Festival Announces 2018 Line-Up. It’s at the Truman Brewery May 11-13 2018. Take a look at this to get a flavour: ‘On Saturday, workout with Cat Meffan and Michael James Wong for a girls vs. boys kick ass yoga’. You’ve been warned!

The Telegraph covers ructions at the British Wheel of Yoga, the qualifications governing body: Yoga wars as heads of British ruling body quit in protest of 'interfering trustees'. The Guardian in 2016 has the background: Disharmony in British yoga community over moves to regulate teachers.

On The Pull In Yoga

Dear Yogis

The shoulder workshop last weekend with Andy Gill shone a light on some incredibly obvious points but things I had never really considered. He said that many people come to yoga not as athletes or gymnasts but from sedentary lives. We come with muscle imbalance, tightness and weakness already in place. On top of this, we immediately rely on the shoulders to carry body weight in Downward Facing Dog, Chaturanga and arm balances. The shoulder structure is designed for incredible mobility, not enormous weight-bearing.

Some of you find Chaturanga totally elusive but it’s not really shoulder design at fault. Here’s why… we’re not working our muscles groups equally in our yoga practice. There’s plenty of push effort but no pull activity, like rowing or pull-ups, so perhaps we’re in the habit of only using half the muscles available to us. By chance, I found this piece about ‘Yoga’s Missing Nutrients’ and advising us to get a pull-up bar! Even just hanging is recommended. The upside-down rowing is doable – just about! (I just did four and a half (!) and you can probably hear my thumping, jumping heart!). The grip action will also strengthen wrists. And here’s a lovely demonstration from Yoga Journal on ‘Cross-training for Chaturanga’!  

Yoga Retreat

There are four full months to go before the need to pack starts nudging our consciousness. Please include your mat, a cork block and a yoga belt. I notice that Decathlon has some good prices. I’ll write to everyone this weekend to make sure you have your tickets and travel plans. And I’ll send out some information about Kapsali village where we will stay: about the people we will meet, alternative activities, tavernas and bars and, to top it all, a picture of the gorgeous infinity pool in our hotel! There’s two places left on my September 9th-16th retreat. You’re very welcome to come.

Home Studio

My lucky Home Studio welcomed more new yogis, more joy and laughter and some really lovely yoga practices. There are plenty of spaces next week. (There doesn’t seem to be any demand for the 6.00 Tuesday class so I might cancel it if no one needs it). See what’s available here. (I update this before posting this email.) You can book here.

Training

May is a packed month for training. Join me on one or all of these. Kino MacGregor is doing a three-day Ashtanga immersion on May 5th-7th at Seymour Leisure Centre – a big venue to pack the numbers in. I have also signed up for AliceLovesYoga  on May 12th. She will teach Yoga with a small team of Reiki healers! Tickets here. At the end of May I’m flying out to Greece for the Ashtanga Workshop on Kythera with Kristina Karitinou. Please come!

Yoga in the news

Business.com has this great article: ‘Yoga in the Workplace: More Than a Wellness Fad’. Absolutely! The writer is a corporate lawyer who says ‘Beyond the physical benefits, we've witnessed a change in the day-to-day interactions around our offices. Collaboration has increased as listening skills and emotional intelligence play a more significant role. Company events often focus around fitness and competition rather than food. Employees are happier, office morale is consistently positive and retention rates have grown’.

The Telegraph gives us: ‘HIIT x Yoga: the rise of the mash-up fitness class’. The mash up combines yoga with Spinning or with High Intensity Interval Training. “Many people don’t want to sacrifice a ‘workout’ for a yoga class but the mash-up option offers a balance between functional strength and mobility and flexibility." Good Grief!

Why Does Yoga Work?

Dear Yogis

Last week, I wrote about Eddie Stern and the vargus nerve. He started his lecture by asking ‘Why does yoga work?’ Having established the significance of the parasympathetic nervous system and the vargus nerve, he then wanted to know: ‘how do we make the vargus nerve stronger and reap more benefits from yoga practice for a wider assortment of conditions? Here comes the science bit. Concentrate, as Jennifer Anniston used to say!

Four things improve Vagus nerve tone. The first is breathing consciously which changes the PH level of the blood and balances the parasympathetic (PSNS) and sympathetic (SNS) nervous systems. If we live life on the acceleration pedal, SNS overload, the system reorganises to a new reality of overstimulation with a higher heart rate and higher blood pressure. Conscious breathing, lengthening the exhale, breathing with sound (Sound of the Sea breathing) and breathing with vocalisation (like Om-ing) hacks into the nervous system and presses on the brake pedal.

Number two is chanting and singing. The vagus nerve is connected to the vocal cords and the muscles at the back of the throat and so is toned by chanting. Number three is posture practice. This is because of Baroreceptors which are all over the body sensing blood flow and blood pressure and sending messages back to the brain to make adjustments. Yoga postures, by making us concentrate and use strength while consciously breathing and slowing down the heart rate, bring balance to this monitoring system.

The last thing which tones the vagus nerve, I like this one, is behaviour. Things that negatively affect vagus nerve tone and heart rate variability are; anger, irritation, judgment, criticism, stress, overwork. The opposite, things like gratitude, compassion, love and positive thinking, have been shown to tone the vagus nerve and improve heart rate variability.

Do Yoga!

Yoga Retreat

There’s two places left on my September 9th-16th retreat. You’re very welcome to come. By the way, if you play a stringed instrument and you’re more interested in an orchestra retreat than yoga retreat, check out Strings In Greece. There are places left for this year’s trip, Friday 25th May to Sunday 3rd June. I’m going along to teach some Yin Yoga. I started visiting Kythera in 2004 when Chris Shurety started his musical retreats using Kapsali’s Amphitheatre. Eventually, inevitably, I spotted someone with a yoga mat and so finally, predictably, I started my yoga retreats there.

Home Studio

It’s getting hot in my little studio; the fan is on setting 2 and the window flung open! I have added a 6.00 class on Tuesday and taken off the 6.00 Thursday class until the demand returns. See what’s available here. (I update this every Friday before posting this email.) You can book here.

Training

Andy Gill is running a workshop on Pain-Free Shoulders in your Yoga Practice. It’s tomorrow, Saturday 21st from 14:00 to 16:30 at Globe House, London, SE1 3JW. It’s £25. He will be teaching shoulder anatomy, ‘de-bunking yoga myths on what constitutes healthy movement for shoulders’, how to stay injury free and shoulder rehabilitation practices. I’m definitely going to this! My shoulder hurts! To book this workshop contact Andy at andy@andygill.yoga or 07913-615984

Yoga in the news

The Telegraph asked this week if Yoga improves your skiing. The journalist goes skiing with a snowboard champion who is also an Ashtanga ‘master’, Emilien Badoux, who aims to bring this feeling of calmness to all his yogis and skiers.

This piece from Health 24 tells us of medical research into four chronic conditions: 4 ways yoga can improve chronic health conditions. This is what Eddie Stern was saying – treat the underlying condition which is apparent in the nervous system.

The Evening Standard tells us, in London Marathon week, ‘Why you should take up yoga if you want to be a better runner’.