18 week course: Jan 3rd - May 9th
Saturdays 11:15a.m - 12:15pm *Fully Booked*
Extra Session: 10am -11am *Fully Booked*

Beautiful community, if you or anyone you know could benefit from this course please do let me know. Please do share it with anyone you know who could benefit and would like to join me for 18 weeks of studying and practicing how yoga can help those of us with chronic conditions to live with greater ease.

About the Course

A free to access 18 week course specifically designed for anyone experiencing one or more of the following challenges, which of course are often inter-related:-
Chronic stress, chronic pain, fibromyalgia, ME, or anxiety.
You do not need a diagnosis of any of these challenges in order to be welcomed onto the course. If you have a different long term condition and would like to discuss suitability please get in touch. When you register Emma will email you to confirm the course suitability for you.

This course is focused on relaxing the body and mind and befriending the body.

Emma has a great deal of experience of working with people with long term and complex conditions. This course will support you in relaxing the body through yogic breathing, postural techniques, self-massage and gentle rhythmic movements that everyone is able to do in your own way. These techniques help to switch nervous system dominance from sympathetic (fight/flight) to parasympathetic (rest/digest) to allow muscles to relax, the breath to deepen, and digestive system to work effectively. From there we can start to engage in movements that feel safe.

The course is structured as follows:-
Weeks 1 to 6: - Yoga for the nervous system: Movements, breathing and meditation techniques to dial down the nervous system.
Weeks 7-12:- 8 Limbed Yoga Beginners Course: Standing postures explored slowly and with the breath to allow muscular and mental tension to ease, so we can find space and strength in the body.
Weeks 13-18:- Yoga: Building on the first 12 weeks, everybody now gets to explore the practice with the personal one to one guidance of the teacher/. This enables everybody to work at a pace and depth that feels good to them on a particular day and empowers you to practice at home too.

Class Times: 60minutes
If you have any questions about the course please email Emma
[email protected]

Why the Course is Free to Access

This course value is £325 but is made available as free to access thanks to our amazing community of yoga students, massage clients and Soundbath meditators who sustain this space and make it possible for us to offer this space, the heating and lighting of the space, our yoga hammocks and our equipment for free. It is also supported by the National Lottery Community Fund who pay for the teaching hours.
We are very grateful to our community here and the National Lottery for funding this course and to all who buy Lottery tickets for making this possible.

'Satya’ the second of the 5 Yamas of the 8 limbs of Yoga - because yoga is about truth and not performance.

In Sanskrit ‘Sat’ means “that which exists, that which is.” 

Satya, is seeing and communicating things as they actually are in that moment, not as we wish them to be…and as it follows ahimsa ( nonviolence) it asks us to be truthful without harm. 

Discerning the Truth

In our asana (our physical practice) Satya asks us to approach asana practice as if we are coming to the mat for the first time, every time. Listen to body, resist moving in a habitual way and tune into what is happening in the body in that moment. This allows us to find something different every time. We might move further, we might move less deeply…it’s not the performance that matters, it’s the honesty of it that arises from moment to moment enquiry.

If we are in an asana shape without steady body, breath and mind we need to change something in body, breath or mind or all 3…recognising and responding to this is Satya and it helps us to practice this in daily life. 

Conditioned Mind

Meeting the present moment truth on and off the mat can be challenging because we perceive life through a conditioned mind-set: our thoughts, beliefs, and past experiences create stories that affect everything we see, so we all experience events in different ways. We make predictions based on our stories and this can cause suffering. 

What we experience as truth one day may not be the same truth we live the next. Practicing Satya requires staying open to truth in the present moment, as it reveals itself. 

We are different every day, depending on how we slept, emotional life and general energy levels. By honouring this in our asana practice and life, we are honouring Satya, our own deep initiative truth.

By tuning into Satya on our mats we can build the skill of bringing the enquiry into truth into our daily lives, recognising when we are thinking, acting and speaking from a place that doesn’t reflect truth.

Tricky Asana and Satya

Every asana we practice, from standing still at the top of our mat, through binds, shoulder balances and arm balances - these are all an opportunity for Satya - to meet the present moment exactly as it is, as we are - with enquiry. An opportunity to see the truth of mind, breath and body and to meet all of that in a way that is steady....just as in life, in every interaction with each being and each happening. 

Here's the quick list, scroll down for explanations...

• Improves flexibility and balance
• Stress relief
• Improves mental health
• Strength training
• Reduce anxiety
• Improve quality of life
• Boost immunity
• Improve heart function
• Improve sleep
• Increase self esteem
• Promote better posture
• Manage burnout

Most people know that yoga improves flexibility, strength, and body awareness and that it relieves stress and anxiety.

Let’s look at 12 of the many benefits of yoga in greater depth.

1. Yoga improves flexibility and balance

A key part of yoga involves enabling you to move further and more steadily. This is different from a simplistic view of improving flexibility. Yes, we are increasing the elastin in the body so that we can stretch further, but we are also reducing the over-reactivity of the nervous system that stops a body from moving to its potential - the less we move the less we become able to move, the converse is also true. When our range of motion decreases aches and pains creep in - which reduces our enjoyment of life.

But, there's more to it than that. When we practice a yoga that requires to hold a posture we are also increasing our steadiness, our strength. We are literally building muscle mass and bone density, these two are key indicators of health and of course being able to lift and move things makes life easier. It's also known that feeling physically strong helps us to feel emotionally and mentally strong.

2. Yoga helps with stress relief

A regular yoga practice helps you to manage your stress levels and improve your overall quality of life. A yoga practice that feels rhythmic soothes the nervous system, letting the body-mind know that we are safe, which of course reduces our stress levels.

Practicing in a group as we do in a class brings in a sense of social belonging, which also signals to the body-mind system that we are safe. The non-movement elements of yoga - meditation, breath work, chanting and  soundbaths, have also been shown to significantly reduce tension and relieve stress. Meditation helps us to connect with what we are grateful for and to watch our thoughts instead of becoming identified with them. Chanting helps to slow down the breath and out thoughts and releases feelgood hormones. Breathwork literally changes the chemical makeup of the body, helping to body to clear our excess stress hormones and signalling to tight muscles that they can relax. Soundbaths slow down the brainwaves, heartrate and breath - signalling to the muscles that they can relax, signalling to the brain that it can let go of trying to seek out threats and be at peace.

3. Yoga improves mental health

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is thought to be one of the most common mental health disorders in the world.

A 2017 meta-analysis of 23 intervention looking at the effects of yoga-based treatments on depressive symptoms overwhelmingly concluded that yoga can now be considered an effective alternative treatment for MDD.

Both movement-based yoga therapies and breathing-based practices have been shown to significantly improve depressive symptoms.

4. Yoga increases your strength

If you choose a yoga class that is strong (such as Ashtanga, Aerial or Mindful Flow) you will build strength in upper and lower body and deep core. It has been shown that when we feel strong in our body we feel more able to cope with challenges in life, which makes sense because the body-mind are so linked so a mind that senses that the body is capable of handling threats won't worry quite so much.

5. Yoga may reduce anxiety

Numerous studies suggest that yoga asana may beTrusted Source effective as an alternative treatment for anxiety disorders, though several of the researchers suggest that further research is still needed to confirm this.

Yoga nidra, which is a body scan meditation, has been shown to reduce symptomsTrusted Source of anxiety.

6. Yoga can improve quality of life

There are several factors that can affect quality of life (QOL), such as relationships, learning opportunities, health, and material comforts.

For decades, researchersTrusted Source have viewed QOL as an important predictor of people’s longevity and likelihood of improvement when treated for a chronic illness or injury.

A 2019 meta-analysis shows promising potential for yoga to improve QOL in people with chronic pain.

If you experience chronic pain, consider speaking with a healthcare professional about lifestyle measures that may help. They may be able to suggest an individualized yoga routine that could help you manage symptoms.

7. Yoga can boost immunity

Chronic stress can negatively affect your immune system. When your immunity is compromised, you’re more susceptible to illness. However, yoga is considered a scientifically backed alternative treatment for stress.

The research is still evolving, but some studies have found a distinct link between practicing yoga (especially consistently over the long term) and better immune system functioning.

This is due in part to how yoga fights inflammation and in part to the enhancement of cell-mediated immunity.

8. Yoga can improve cardiovascular functioning

Pranayama, often referred to as “yogic breathing,” is an important and beneficial aspect of yoga.

In 2019, the Journal of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine published a review of 1,400 studies looking at the overall effects of pranayama. One key takeaway was that yogic breathing can improve the functioning of several systems in the body.

Specifically, the research summarized that the cardiovascular system benefited hugely from controlling the pace of breathing. This research indicates that yogic breathing may influence the function of the heart, brain, and lungs.

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9. Yoga can help improve sleep

Yoga practitioners know that they sleep so much better after practicing yoga. When measuring sleep, researchers look at a person’s ability to fall and stay asleep. Many science studies have shown that yoga improves both how quickly people fall asleep and how deeply they stay asleep. This is partly due to the after-effects of movement and the mental calming and stress relief provided by yoga specifically.

10. Yoga can improve self-esteem

Yoga focuses on how wonderful our bodies and minds are and practicing speaking kindly to and about ourselves. As we start to find each element of yoga easier our self esteem builds. Several recent studies show positive resultsTrusted Source when using yoga to improve self-esteem and perceived body image.

There has also been promising evidence that yoga may helpTrusted Source with the accompanying symptoms of obsession, anxiety, and depression in patients with anorexia nervosa.

11. Yoga improves posture

More and more of our time is spent sat in chairs, hunched over screens and this is resulting in increased pain. Yoga postures include positions that counteract these hunched positions, helping to release muscles that have been tightly held and feel stuck.

In addition a 2020 review of 34 research studiesTrusted Source found that yoga improved brain functioning in the areas responsible for interoception (recognising the sensations within your body) and posture, so that those who practice yoga are less likely to hold their body in unhelpful patterns.

12. Yoga can help with burnout

Burnout - excessive exhaustion that affects one’s health — is at an all-time high and yoga can help here too. A 2021 studyTrusted Source that examined burnout among hospice workers during the COVID-19 pandemic concluded that yoga-based meditation interventions significantly reduced the effects of burnout by improving interoceptive (body) awareness.

This is the ability to notice internal signals and respond appropriately — meaning yoga may help people become more in tune with, and even more likely to listen to, their body’s signals.

Yoga Works!

Yoga works - it supports our physical, mental and emotional wellbeing and improves our relationships with all beings we come into contact with. In short, it helps us to live with greater ease and joy, so choose a yoga class, get yourself a membership and join us.

 I focus so much on harnessing an even, steady breath in our yoga practice, because steady breath makes you stronger, calmer, patient, wiser and better able to cope with challenges in daily life, because when we practice maintaining a steady, even breath throughout our yoga practice a few times per week, we become able to maintain that steadiness throughout our days- even during the challenging moments, and that's crucial because

•  Steady, even breath signals safety to the body-mind system
•  A safe feeling body-mind can let go of tension
•  A safe feeling body-mind has lower blood pressure
•  A safe feeling body-mind sleeps better and digests better
•  A safe feeling body-mind thinks clearly, has hope and feels confident
•  A safe feeling body-mind is present, rather than in the past or future 
•  A safe feeling body-mind chooses thoughts, words and actions from a place of curiosity, love and connection rather than from judgement and fear 

Ashtanga yoga is a breath-based movement practice. The shape isn't really the thing, the shapes have benefits for our musculoskeletal system and our organs, but to truly experience the life-changing benefits of the practice we need to unify steady breath and movement.

In Ashtanga Yoga our breath has several aspects:-

• We breathe in and out through the nose directing the breath high in the nasaal cavity and to the open back of the throat, giving us the quiet meditative ujjayi sound.
• We try to maintain a steady even rhythm of breath throughout the practice. The inhales and exhales stay the same duration as each other throughout the practice.
• Each movement starts with the breath, we start an inhale or exhale and then we start to move.
• Each movement is the duration of the breath. In practice this means that we must quicken or slow down our speed of movement throughout the practice so that we end each movement at the same time as the breath action. This is most easily experienced in Trini and Pancha in the sun salutations where we must slow the movement right down so that we aren't hanging still while we continue the inhalation. 

Unifying body
When we breathe the body responds in many ways, we can feel the body rise on the inhale and descend on the exhale. We might feel our ribs expand on the inhale and contract on the exhale. Our chest diaphragm and our pelvic floor rise and fall with the breath and we might feel this in the belly and pelvic floor.

In Ashtanga yoga when we move more of the body with the breath, for the duration of the breath, we are expanding this response of the body to the breath to the whole of our body. Our limbs and spine are also expanded and contracted with the breath. This helps to bring our whole body together, to truly unify it. 

This unifying of the whole body to the breath helps us to feel centred and calm. It brings a grace to our movements and a sense of meditative flow to the body & mind.

The respiratory benefits
Many of us have become habitual fast and shallow breathers. Sitting hunched for long periods and experiencing chronic stress shortens our breath and focuses it high in our chest, which weakens some respiratory muscles and overworks others.

By engaging in ujjayi breathing for our entire class we are undoing these imbalances and rebuilding the ability to breathe slowly and deeply. By also opening and folding the body with the assistance of the limbs and spine in response to the breath we are assisting this ability to breathe more fully by releasing constricted muscles and strengthening weak ones.

Asana benefits
Focusing on maintaining a steady even breath and posture helps us to maintain a steady and safe yoga asana practice. If the breath becomes jagged or short or we are wobbling we know we've gone too far and need to pull back. This is also a great check for our ego!

We also use the breath to help us to find space in the body, by directing the breath to parts of the body that we are trying to release we can find more depth in an asana, we are able to use the breath to release the parts of the body that we are habitually hold more tightly. 

Amplifying the effects of the breath - the nervous system & mind
The body and mind are a feedback loop. When we move the body in response to a steady even slow breath we are amplifying the effects of that steady even breath. 

Steady movement and breath benefits the mind in a few ways. On the mat focusing on steady breath and body helps us to stay focused on the moment and not on the Citta Vriti, the thoughts that clutter the mind. This calming of the mind is the main focus of yoga and we can take this off the mat into our daily lives. 

There is a feedback loop from body to mind, when the breath and body are steady and calm the brain receives signals of safety and calm and the mind becomes less jumpy, the mind follows the steadiness of the breath and body. Many students who experience ADHD and anxiety tell me that they find their mind clears during their Ashtanga practice. I find that even if I am thinking through life stuff while practicing (confession - I do this sometimes) the steadiness of the breath brings a clarity and calm to those thought processes so that I can find resolve, which is why I sometimes use the practice this way.

The second way that the steady unified movement of breath and body benefits the mind is that the breath and body are always in the present moment, if we are focused on feeling the breath and body we are in the present moment. Many thoughts that bring us distress or discomfort are about the future, past or what someone else is thinking - none of this is present reality. By cultivating the skill to be in the moment with our breath and body we can start to learn to bring ourselves back to the present moment and reality. 

Digestion, sleep and pain management 
I'm especially passionate about this as I lived with painful IBS for years which massively restricted my diet before committing to an Ashtanga yoga practice; the steady rhythmic squeezing actions of the Ashtanga practice combined with the ujjayi breath has cured me of IBS. Many of you know that my Popsie lived with severe chronic pain and that I have endometriosis, ujjayi breathing brought both of us relief. It didn't get rid of our pain, but dialed it down.

The Vagus nerve runs through the throat and vocal cords to the heart, lungs and digestive organs. It's a part of our parasympathetic nervous system which is the rest and digest function of the body. Ujjayi breathing is picked up by the vagus nerve which recognises the cues of safety and sends that information to the brain and other parts of the body. This can relax a body holding onto wakefulness, release muscles contracted in response to pain or fear, smooth the action of our digestive muscles, increase gut peristalsis and help us to feel safe.

For me ujjayi breathing helps me to not layer suffering onto the suffering of pain and that can make all the difference. 

Feeling safe and connected
In a led Ashtanga Yoga class we are breathing and moving together in synchronicity and our nervous systems love this! Compared with other mammals, humans are pretty slow and weak, we are vulnerable on our own, but when we cooperate we are pretty amazing - our nervous systems know this. So, when we are moving and breathing in synchronicity with others we feel safe which is crucial to our mental and physical health - which is after all one interconnected system.

So, that's the tip of the iceberg as to why we focus on the breath in Ashtanga Yoga.

One of the beautiful things about yoga is that we consider the body (and indeed body-mind and environment) as one wonderous integrated system. This is different from the way we are often encouraged to think of the body, mind and environment. In the western world we often think of the mind as one thing, the world as another, the body as another, and parts of the body as individualised.

The early yogis understood, through paying attention, that the body is integrated and now modern science has caught up with this and is increasingly interested in the fascial system.

In yoga when we are in a posture the focus is never on just one joint, muscle or bone. We are feeling into the whole body. A forward fold expands the whole back body; a back bend opens the whole front body; in both we consider where we are rooting and where we are expanding.

When practicing and teaching yoga I like to think of the whole tissue field which is fluid yet as strong as steel mm for mm and to move and to be still with awareness of this.

If you come to my classes you will know that I am passionate about bringing the whole of your body with you - and synchronising that with the breath. If you raise an arm overhead you could just feel the arm lift, or the action of the shoulder, or expand that to feeling the sides of the waist extending which is the psoas structure lengthening. Raising an arm overhead with this psoas connection can help relieve lower back pain! What we do in one part of the body affects the rest, almost like a spider's web. Practicing with this awareness helps us to find more space in the body which can help us enjoy more physical, mental and emotional benefit from our yoga practice.

This tissue field approach contrasts with how most people in the west think of the body, which is as a skeleton and then of muscles over that skeleton, with some ligaments wrapping around joints. If something hurts we point directly to that place and think that this spot is the problem. In yoga, however we consider the body as a whole and science is catching up with this.

Over the past 10 years there has been growing understanding of the body as a fascial system. Fascia is a sheath of connective tissue that surrounds and is within every part of your body. It provides support to your muscles, tendons, ligaments, tissues, organs, nerves, joints and bones. Fascia surrounds all of the cells, nerves, joints, tendons, and ligaments in your body. When fascia is healthy, it’s flexible and stretches with you. When your fascia tightens up, it can restrict movement and cause painful health conditions.

In massage we often find that pain in one area can be tracked to and eased by massaging another area. Pain in the neck can often be released through hand massage, pain in the leg can often be tracked to and eased by massage of the glutes, pain in the lower back can often be tracked and relieved by massage of the feet.

As a yoga teacher I always look at the whole of a person when deciding how to assist someone to feel better or to benefit more from a posture.

I wish for you an appreciation of your whole tissue field, love Emma x

'Soft and strong like water' I often use this phrase when teaching. This is the quality we are seeking to embody when practicing Ashtanga Yoga, soft and strong - like water. The balance between ease and effort, rooted yet expansive, or in Patanjali's words: 'Sthira sukham asanam' (a steady, comfortable posture).

We are seeking strength without rigidity. We are seeking to move with fluidity and expansiveness without losing our strength. We are seeking to move in a way that tells the body-mind we are safe, strong, capable and don't need to close in and defend ourselves.

What we do in body gets reflected in breath and mind, so a steady and expansive body leads to steady and expansive breath and steady expansive mind. When we feel physically rooted we feel capable and focused, but we don't want to be stuck; to feel safe we must also feel open, to have a sense of freedom; and so we balance this rootedness with expansion. We firm up our foundation, be that the feet, hands or bottom; and we expand through heart, crown of head and spine.

When on the mat we are practicing at life, so finding this 'soft and strong' quality on the mat helps us to find the same quality in life. Strong, yet relaxed, flexible yet grounded, centred yet open. This is a feeling the body-mind associates with safety and when we feel safe we can feel well. The more often we embody this spirit the more the body-mind system learns that we are strong and safe, that we can be open.

When we feel safe we can sleep well, eat well, our digestion can be regular. When we feel safe we can act from love and curiosity, instead of fear and suspicion. We are curious as to motives, we are open to the perspectives of others, we are curious about our own assumptions and patterns.

Soft and strong, like water - also alludes to the fact that water can erode rock, through steady, consistent action over a long period of time. This consistency is something that we are invited to bring to our yoga practice in order for it truly support us to live with greater joy and ease.

When we practice our yoga consistently over a long period of time, our body-mind system benefits and this ripples out to our relationships. Making an appointment with yourself to practice yoga at the schedule that suits your life, is making an appointment to support your body-mind and relationships - it's showing up for yourself and for all beings you come into contact with.

May you be soft and strong, like water beautiful beings.

Emma x

So, you've decided to join a Yoga studio but now are presented with options you didn't event know existed? No worries, here's a guide to help you choose the style of yoga that's right for you.

But first you might be wondering why there are so many styles of yoga in studios and why we don't just call it all 'yoga'.

There are many styles of yoga because there are many types of human with their various preferences. Some people want a super soft, slow and gentle style, some want lots of flow, some like a physical challenge...there's a yoga style for every body and mind.

Mandala is a traditional yoga studio, our yoga styles honour their traditions, so we don't have 'yoga for sport' (all yoga is for people who do sport) or 'yoga for relaxation' (all yoga is relaxing, but some people find lots of movement relaxing and some people find stillness relaxing), we give you the facts and let you choose what's best for you, and if you want advice then just pop me a message or give me a ring.

Aerial Yoga: A slow and strong style

This style of yoga uses a hammock and has gorgeous playlists!

Expect slow flowing movements that help you to build strength, flexibility and balance. The slower paced flow helps you to connect with your body, to learn where to engage and where to soften, helping you to release from unhelpful movement patterns and to really engage your core!

We start with a relaxation sitting in the hammocks to help us to let go of the day and then we use the hammocks in yoga postures to build strength, flexibility and balance. These classes include the option to go upside down in the hammocks which is great for our spine and shoulders. We end with a 5 minute relaxation in the hammocks.

Ashtanga Yoga: A strong & energetic style

A strong and sweaty practice to help you build strength, flexibility, balance and cardiovascular fitness as well as a cultivation of focus, curiosity, deep awareness and control of the nervous system.

Ashtanga is the most energetic and challenging form of yoga and the teacher physically assists you to help you to get the most from your practice.

Every posture is held for 5 breaths and every movement between postures is for one breath. This focus on the breath builds cardiovascular health as well as reducing stress by balancing the nervous system.

Expect standing postures, followed by seated and supine (laying down) postures and a short relaxation at the end of class.

Chair Yoga: An accessible yoga class

A yoga practice that is chair-based with exercises for every part of your body in every class. You can stay seated throughout or also use the chair for support in postures that build strength and balance.

Hatha Yoga: A soft & slow style with 20-30minute relaxation

A gentle, slow class focused on relaxation and flexibility with postures held for several minutes. This class is all about releasing tension from body and mind.

The postures are simple (no pretzel work here!) and mainly seated and laying down using props for extra comfort and held for slightly longer than in a regular class, to encourage release.

There's also breath work to calm the mind and induce a relaxed state and the class ends with a lovely 20-30 minute guided relaxation meditation.

Vinyasa Yoga: An energetic style with short relaxation

More energetic than Hatha and less energetic than Ashtanga and designed to build flexibility, balance and strength. In Vinyasa yoga you will be led through a different flowing sequence of poses every week.

Postures include standing, seated and laying down and there's a short relaxation at the end of the class.

Yin Yoga: A soft & slow style with 15minute relaxation

A simple, gentle and soothing class to help soften your body and relax your mind.

Yin yoga includes very simple to understand postures helps for several minutes. Most of the postures are seated and lying down and they are focused on helping you to become more mobile and flexible. The simplicity and slow pace of the practice suits those who find slowing down helps to release mental and emotional tension.

So many humans are disconnected from their body.

In yoga we are completely focused IN the body, so we can move as a unified whole and feel what the body is trying to tell us. The body is wired to survive, we ignore it at our peril.

In yoga we don’t do things to the body, we BE embodied, we become the body.

This level of embodiment is rare; we think or allow our attention to be drawn to scenery when we walk, run or cycle. We might stretch while listening to the radio; or watch TV on a treadmill.

Yoga pulls our attention into the body completely. Challenging yoga postures are challenging to make us pay closer attention, but this attention can be achieved by simply standing evenly on both feet, or swaying back & forth mindfully in the aerial yoga hammocks…it’s not the form, it’s the attention to the body exploring how to make the form right for us.

If we are not in our bodies we are disassociated from our our instincts, feelings and physical and emotional needs, because these are signalled through the body.

The most direct way of knowing we are stressed is through the body, the most direct way to experience letting go is through the body. It’s difficult to focus if our body aches. When we are disembodied we notice our needs too late, or we misread our needs.

The goal of a physical yoga practice is to live in our body, so that we can care for the needs of body & mind and so that we can have positive relationships with self and others.

When we become embodied we learn to live guided by the wisdom of the body. The body wants us to survive and thrive - if only we can listen to and understand it’s signals.

Listen to what the body needs, decide what to do about it, act, notice again - that’s physical yoga

Do you skip your yoga when you feel tired, stressed, tearful etc?

If so, can I persuade you to rethink that?

Whenever a student at the start of class has said to me “I feel awful and I wasn’t going to come”

At the end of class they've looked transformed, positive, restored and told me “I feel so much better”

That’s the awesomeness of yoga

Nobody ever regrets coming to yoga, it makes you feel better because yoga:

Eases out the muscular tension of stress

Balances heart and breathing rate disrupted by stress

Balances the digestive system disrupted by stress

Gives you energy - because of the above - depleted by stress

Calms the mind, giving it something else to do instead of ruminating

Gives a sense of safety, predictability & control, which helps us feel safe

Connects us with other humans, which helps us feel safe

Is a simple thing you can gift yourself to care for your body, mind & spirit. We can’t cope with stress while neglecting these.

We’ve all been through hard times, in order to get through them we need to make sure our bodies are strong and not tensed up. We need to make sure all the above is true. It will be a lot harder to cope with what life throws at us if we don’t care for ourselves.

As Jois said “Do your practice, all is coming