Like Nina Simone, I'm feelin good!

Dear Yogis,

Like Nina Simone, I'm feelin good. Greetings from Kapsali, Kythera. I’m writing this by the side of the sea, listening to the easy roll of the waves on the shore.

Two massive treats came out of this visit. Kapsali is a seaside village that just keeps on giving. First of all, Porto Delfino, the hotel we base our yoga retreat in, has a Hammam and treatment rooms so I started off my stay with a Hot Stones treatment. It’s amazing! Massaging isn’t done with the hands – it’s done with the hot stones. I can’t tell you how much the back appreciates this after the journey here.

Then the Hammam treatment. It takes roughly 80 minutes, the first 20 of which is steaming (cooking). It’s a long time but heaven awaits. After that there’s scrubbing, soaping, soap bubbles, cooling cold water and oiling and you can’t imagine that joy of the experience.

The Kythera Dive Centre is right under our nose in Kapsali. No car needed, no travel arrangements, no fuss! I did a dive for complete beginners. The water was warm and the whole experience was easy, gentle and relaxed. That was a really good use of €60. See pictures attached. George also says that if you want to a PADI qualification with him, it’s €500 for training and extra dives.

Finally, back in Blighty, The Yoga Show is the this coming weekend, October 13th, 14th and 15th. I've got tickets just for the weekend and I've paid for a workshop with David Sye and a menopause thing which is the last workshop on Sunday.

Anyone fancy coming?

Classes

Right! I’ve added classes. This Thursday, the 12th, I have a 7.00pm Stretchy class to make up, a little, for all the missed classes. I’ve added a regular Saturday morning Ashtanga class, 8.30am, which is longer to include more of the Primary Series. Here’s a round-up of classes this week: Thursday 12 = stretchy class at 7.00pm, Friday morning = Ashtanga at 8.30am and Saturday morning = Ashtanga at 8.30am – 10.00. You can book here. All classes last one hour apart from Saturday

Yoga In The News

The SCMP has: Police called to UK ‘mass killing’ only to find yoga class meditating on floor. ‘Yoga instructor Millie Laws told the BBC that she was teaching seven students at Seascape Cafe on Wednesday evening. Laws noticed two people with dogs looking through the cafe’s windows but didn’t think too much about it at first. “I didn’t know until after we left that these people phoned in saying that there was a mass murderer; they were wearing a robe, and they were walking over all of the people, and it looked like some kind of ritual, and that the people on the floor were actually dead,” Laws said.’

The Guardian has: ‘It improves everything’: 17 reasons to love yoga – even if you are sceptical. ‘As Ku Redler explains: “You have fascia, you have ligaments, you have feelings, you have emotions, you have thoughts, you have joints – there is a cognitive and emotional element to the way your body feels, even if you’re not interested in it.” If we accept that the body is not a machine, and that mind and body are never separate, it starts to make sense that you may feel distress in your muscles, not your mind. As Blackaby writes: “Patterns of distress are always expressed through tightening and holding.”’