Charity Yoga Class: Accumulating And Transferring Merit

Dear Yogis

I want you to come to my charity yoga class next Sunday, 15th, at Decathlon Ealing so here’s how I’ll try persuade you – with the Buddhist theory of ‘transferring merit’. It’s central to Buddhist practice to be in the service of others by giving food (dana) keeping precepts (like the yoga precepts of Yamas and Niyamas), and through the practice of meditation, which is what yoga practice is. All this good work and moral endeavour is believed to accumulate merit. Buddhists love the idea of undertaking meritorious deeds and then accumulating and transferring merit. You do that by wishing for someone else to benefit from your good work.

Nice, eh! It’s a nice way to live; to always have giving and meditation as a regular occurrence in your diary. With that in mind, can I have your old, unwanted yoga mat?! It’s to send to an organisation called CESRT – the Chios Eastern Shore Response Team - a charity that receives refugees who land on the island of Chios after a precarious boat crossing from Turkey. After yogi friend Kay volunteered there and held a yoga class there, we decided to collect unwanted, donated yoga mats to send to them. We also need to raise the money for postage, hence the class.

The date of this class is highly significant. It's the birthday of legendary yoga teacher, Derek Ireland: Brighton-born, world traveller, charismatic teacher, yoga trailblazer who transplanted the practice of Ashtanga Yoga from India to Europe. December 15th would have been his 70th birthday and it is being celebrated in many parts of the world with fundraising yoga classes in his honour.

Decathlon in Ealing Broadway Shopping Centre will be hosting us. Decathlon has a great space upstairs; anyone can come, beginners, middle, advanced and people who want some yoga fun. Bring children and make a small donation for them on the day – I have charity buckets! Otherwise, you can sign up here on my website. Click the 'Book Now' button. Here’s the Facebook Event page. Please can you share it?

Training

Gorgeous Charlie Merton has a workshop coming up in Ealing on Friday 20th, Winter Solstice Yin Yoga + Gong Experience. If you’re looking for a Christmas present for a yogi, this is not a bad idea, even though it’s pre-Christmas. There’s an early bird price until December 13th. It’s my present to myself! Come with me!

Home Studio

We were flying on Wednesday evening with a workshop on Crow posture! If you have a posture request, I can be your DJ. There’s plenty of room next week. See attached for class availability. For those of you who have been coming for a while, please write a small review.

Christmas Presents

So, what suggestions so far? There’s the Foxhills Golf Course, Chertsey, one-day-and-one-night yoga retreat mentioned last week on Sunday 19 January, Warm Up For Winter with a 10% discount code – YOGARETREATTS. There’s Stephen Cope’s wonderful book The Great Work Of Your Life and Decathlon yoga mats. I’ll think of new ones for next week.Yoga in the News

The Telegraph has: How Hotpod became Europe's biggest yoga brand, and why top athletes love it. 'From the outside, the pod looks like an adult’s bouncy castle'... it is in fact 'Europe’s largest yoga brand; the second-largest in the world'. ‘The England rugby team have been Hotpodding for years – they took a pod to the World Cup in Japan, and captain Owen Farrell even has his own’. Hotpod yoga is good for midlifers and ‘those who practised hot yoga had a greater reduction in body fat percentage’

Business Insider has: I did yoga every day for a month, and I've never gotten so many compliments on my skin and posture. ‘Since I’d received so many comments on my complexion, I did some digging and found out that “yoga glow” is a real thing. Yoga can increase the blood flow to your face and contribute to less inflammation, meaning that it can help your skin appear more glowy and less bloated or puffy than usual.’

Ashtanga Is Not For Everyone

Dear Yogis 

During our magical Kythera retreat this year, my guru Valentina dropped the bombshell that the physical practice of Ashtanga is not for everyone. Well, I have to admit, I never suggested Ashtanga to my mother! My teacher David Swenson, a famous Ashtangi, says that it is our duty to teach anyone and everyone that comes to our classes and, if they have restrictions or disabilities, find a way to modify the Ashtanga practice to include them. His teacher, Pattabhi Jois, would say that yoga is not for lazy people; everyone else can try.

Valentina says very definitely that Ashtanga is not for everybody. It is an advanced practice and some people should be in a gentler class for a much more subtle practice. It made me think that Ashtangis spend years, decades, revisiting the same postures for a truer practice. Ashtanga is not like other studies; we don’t ‘qualify’ in the first weeks, months and years... or ever! But people are impatient, want to be advanced and want to join the connoisseurs’ club. It’s not at all like that but the gym doesn’t warn you that there will be highs and lows, many frustrations, you’ll be a ‘beginner’ for much longer than you might have expected, and then there’s the unexpected journey of the soul!

It doesn’t have to be Ashtanga! There are plenty of other reasons to practice (and teach) yoga...

Training

I’ve signed up for two days’ training with Ourmala to learn how to teach yoga to refugees (written about in the Evening Standard here.). The training is about significantly improving mental and physical health, reducing loneliness and enabling people to feel safer, more confident and take part in life more. Come with me! The training is held in Richmond on January 16th and 17th.  “You don’t need to be a yoga teacher or even a yoga practitioner to attend.”

And all of this is inspired by my yogi friend who taught refugees in Chios, Greece, recently. Put 11.00am on Sunday December 15th in your diary. We’re teaching a charity yoga class to raise money to send yoga mats to the organisation my friend volunteered with, Chios Eastern Shore ResponseTeam. Decathlon, Ealing, has kindly donated our venue for the class. You can sign up here by clicking the Book Now button. Open to all. Bring children! You can make a little donation on the day for little ones! We want to collect your unwanted yoga mats to send to the organisation. Monday raised is for shipping costs and any left-over, to donate to their work.

Home Studio

Plenty of room next week apart from Wednesday’s class which is the popular evening. The Thursday 6.00 class is popular too, for people who want to come straight from work . See attached for class availability. For those of you who have been coming for a while, please write a small review.

Christmas Presents

What about a day yoga retreat? I spent a Sunday recently on a press trip at Foxhills golf course for a one day yoga retreat. The next one is on Sunday 19 January, Warm Up For Winter, for £190 and I have a discount code - YOGARETREATTS - for a 10% discount

• 9am-9.30am – Arrival/welcome

• 9.30am-11am – Morning yoga practice (dynamic)

• 11.30am-12.30pm – Nutrition talk

• 12.30-2pm – Lunch/explore the resort

• 2.30pm-4pm – Afternoon practice (restorative)

• 4pm-8pm – Use of the spa facilities

• Cost of dinner not included in the package

• Overnight stay

• Check out 11 am

The Address is Stonehill Rd, Ottershaw, Lyne, Chertsey KT16 0EL. It’s a really nice experience!

Yoga in the News

The Evening Standard has:  2 energising morning yoga sequences to wake you up for the day.  It’s a nice little example for absolute, total beginners. The sequences couldn’t be shorter.

Here's a good question from the HuffPost: What's The Difference Between A Cheap Yoga Mat And An Expensive One? Read about mats that have cult following, mats that knees love, sticky or slippy, thinner or cushioned, eco-friendly or landfill planet-killers.

Teaching Yoga To Refugees

Dear Yogis 

A dear yogi friend recently volunteered on the Greek Island of Chios to help with the refugees that land on their flimsy craft with their worthless life jackets and drenched clothes. After a couple of weeks my friend was asked to teach a beginners’ yoga class. Here’s what she said:

Oh my goodness I was so concerned beforehand and it went really well! We started by going through the language I was going to use with help of the Language Centre - body parts, stretch, extend, etc. I planned an animal theme to the class, found pictures of the different animals, projected them onto a white board and then I demonstrated the poses. I got 8 guys - no women unfortunately.

Then we went outside and more joined. I got a nice playlist and we did a flow. I got to a point where I thought they might have had enough but they wanted more so I improvised! One much older guy who walks with a crutch even joined in. They could nearly all do crow!

I ended with a long Savasana to a lovely track and talked them through a relaxation. They reckon I should train to be a teacher.

My friend and I have hatched a plan: to put on a fundraising class to send yoga mats to Chios. Ealing’s newly opened Decathlon has already agreed to host the class on Sunday December 15th, time TBA. We would need to collect donated mats and collect money to pay the postage. It would be a donation class, suggested donation £10. More details anon.

This date coincides nicely with an event of Kristina Karitinou Ireland – a Celebration of Derek´s Ireland’s life. He would have been 70 and Kristina has asked us to celebrate his life, his enduring example and inspiration on December 15th. Derek raised the level of teaching yoga and made the practice more accessible and widespread. What could be more of an example of this accessibility than teaching refugees to lift their spirits?

Home Studio

There’s a lot of space next week. Come for a stretch on Mondays and Tuesdays and give evening Ashtanga a go on Wednesdays and Thursdays. We can make it a Yin Ashtanga class (!) if the day has taken your energy! Book early. See attached for class availability. For those of you who have been coming for a while, please write a small review.

Training

I’m teaching Ashtanga at Virgin Chelsea tomorrow morning (Saturday 23rd) at 10.30-11.30, covering for Mark Colleano. Come along if you’re a member of Virgin.

By the way, my guru David Swenson is in the country at the moment and teaching in Triyoga Camden. Take a look at his workshops. He’s an incredibly inspirational teacher.

Yoga in the News

The Guardian has: He got away with it': how the founder of Bikram yoga built an empire on abuse. Netflix released a new documentary about Bikram which ‘ visually synthesizes decades of archival footage with first-person testimony and filmed court depositions into a devastating portrait of an abusive narcissist protected from consequences by his own inflated cult of personality, wealth and professional power within the niche world of hot yoga.’

Chiang Rai Times has: How Can Yoga and Meditation Change Your Brain? Paragraphs on how meditation changes the attention span, reduces anxiety, increases information processing, reduces pain signals, increases brain folds, and boosts the volume of grey matter.

You Will Know Your Path

Dear Yogis 

It’s the season of mists and mellowness and I find myself making a decision this week that I really didn’t want to or expect to make. A summer of dreaming came to an end and I let go. Endings are really beginnings and I found great support in a book I only mentioned a couple of weeks ago, Stephen Cope’s The Great Work Of Your Life. This next passage is about making a decision to leap forward and even though I didn’t in this instance, I know my real leap forward and a more vivid dream is coming:

“Concerning all acts of initiative, and creation, there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself then providence moves in too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favour all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man would have dreamt would come his way. I have learned a deep respect for one of Goethe’s concepts: “Whatever you do, or dream you can do, Begin It, Boldness has genius, power and magic in it’”.

Cope’s book is about finding your calling which will literally call you and pull you. For me, the pull wasn't strong and summer's dream wasn't right.  Cope says: “When difficulties arise, see them as your dharma. Your dharma is the work that is called forth from you at this moment. And like everything in this impermanent world, the work of the moment can change on a dime”.

Home Studio

I have to say, when I moved back home to Ealing and started my little studio, providence moved in too. It’s my favourite thing, my lucky space, it’s where the nicest people in Ealing gather and it has joy in its fabric. Many people have commented that they feel a special vibe in the studio. Of course, it’s what they bring!  Come and see! The added Ashtanga class on Thursday at 6.00pm was full so I’ll keep it on the timetable. See attached for class availability.

Christmas Presents

Stephen Cope’s book is perfect, I think, for a teenager taking a great step forward to A Levels or university and anyone who likes a contemplative read.. If you have contemplated buying a yoga mat for someone, I have two Decathlon mats in my studio for you to try. Their top-of-the-range one is £39.99 and lovely and grippy, 4mm in thickness, quite narrow and liked in my small sample group. Some don’t like the texture, though. The next one, £29.99, is smooth, thinner (3mm), wider, nice and grippy and nicely designed, with inspiring writing down the middle. They have a thicker one like this which is 5mm for £39.99. When I think of other suggestions I’ll let you know.

Yoga in the News

The Sydney Morning Herald has:  As Insta posers get injured, have we finally reached 'peak yoga'? Interesting ending... “After all, people are injuring themselves generally trying to get the perfect Instagram shot and I've heard of plenty of other fitness professionals snapping tendons and generally hurting themselves as they try to out-do one-another for social media.”

The New York Times has: How Did I Get That Yoga Story? You Really Had to Be There. This is about ‘adjustments’ in yoga classes and how teachers intervene, hands on, in a student’s practice, to bring out the best posture. Take a look at the video in the article and... try to pick your jaw off the floor.

Rolfing For A Wonky Body

Dear Yogis 

I have a therapy to recommend to you: Rolfing. I first heard it recommended by David Williams - he who is credited with introducing Ashtanga to America in the 70s. Dr Ida Rolf Invented the therapy, a ten-step system to manipulate soft tissue and correct structural imbalances... and I have so many!

My friend and Eden Fitness Ashtanga teacher Alain Zakeossian is a certified ‘Rolfer’, and so my learning curve came from his expertise. My right shoulder rolls forward, possibly due to many years of violin playing and my left is bigger, possibly due to bowing. My torso turns slightly to the right which is why I look odd in shoulder stand! My arms were held like semi-circles beside my torso, like an puny body builder! My insteps are unequal and right leg turns out from the hip. That’s the short list!

I found this interesting, about breathing: if the torso is hyper extended, like a ballet dancer with a pronounced lifted chest, you’ll never take a full exhalation. The opposite is the case with people who are hunched forward with a squashed chest; they’ll never achieve a full inhalation.

The treatment itself is really such a new experience. A few times on the treatment table I felt so deeply relaxed it was like being awake and asleep at the same time. It’s more of a learning experience than any massage or visit to the physio. It’s empowering. Take a look at Alain’s website: rolfinginlondon.com.  Ida Rolf said: "This is the gospel of Rolfing: When the body gets working appropriately, the force of gravity can flow through. Then, spontaneously, the body heals itself."

Home Studio

Next Thursday I’m reintroducing the 6.00 Ashtanga-based classes. I’ll add it to the timetable till the end of November and see what the demand is. There’s a few spaces left in the usual classes next week and all but one of the new Thursday class to fill up. See attached for class availability.

Training

Yoga Evolved in Lambeth has a whole day of yoga in a nightclub tomorrow, from 10.30-19.00 for £30. It’s a Yoga and Fitness Festival. The day includes: QiGong, an Inversion Workshop, Power Yoga, and Gin Yin.

Yoga in the News

Reuters has:  Warrior pose: Sierra Leone's soldiers heal trauma with yoga. “Yoga is not about the past, but about living in the present moment,” Musa said. “You have to leave everything on the mat. Ebola, the war, all those things have passed, and through yoga we are learning to let them go.”

I can’t tell you how many people sent me this from the BBC: Yoga teachers 'risking serious hip problems'. Mr Matthews, a specialist hip and knee physiotherapist and member of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapists, says he sees four to five yoga teachers a month.

The Telegraph has: Yoga has become dangerously competitive – the very thing it shouldn’t be. I like the way this starts: ‘I had been going to yoga classes for over 10 years before I did my first headstand. It took me a further five until I am where I am today; completely at home balancing with my feet directly above my head.’

Our Blueprint For Health and Fulfillment

Dear Yogis

Last weekend I went to the most entertaining all-day lecture with Dr N G Kostopoulos and Vaidya A Barot on the Principles of Ayurveda. Laughter flowed freely. They also give their knowledge freely but ask that we, in payment, “leave 1% of yourself for others. Open your heart by giving to others”. 

Dr Kostopoulos began by telling us that Ayurveda is very specific, nothing is vague. It is 10 times more precise than modern medicine which is too general. Ayurveda gives us easy access to information about ourselves, both physical and mental. Ayurveda views us in terms of our physical energies, Vata, Pitta and Kapha. These are our ‘doshas’, our blueprint for health and fulfillment, telling us about our type, our leaning, our disposition and vulnerabilities. When these energies are out of balance, certain diseases can be explained.

To illustrate Vata, Pitta and Kapha he used animal examples. Look at the monkey, he said to illustrate Vata - which derives from the elements of Space and Air and translates as “wind”. The monkey has a lot of kinetic energy, a lot of Vata, moving erratically, constantly and aimlessly. Vata is prominent in his brain and in his genetics. Survival comes from moving fast to escape predators. They eat banana, a settling, Kapha food. They can’t eat more Vata foods, not chillies! They would be flying! This is how nature works.

Vata people can’t make up their minds about doing this or that, preferring to go here or there. If you have a lot of vata kinetic energy your body will be a little thinner, fast moving, and your ideas will be fast moving as well. Enthusiastic but you can also lose your enthusiasm easily. You go for something but you can also withdraw from something as well.

Pitta derives from the elements of Fire and Water and Dr Kostopolous illustrated this dosha with Tiger energy. This is a Pitta animal, representing aggression, concentration and combustion. They have penetrating eyes, very careful movements and they hunt and kill for food. (The monkey doesn’t have to hunt, bananas don’t run away! This food needs a totally different mind-set to the food-hunting tiger). The tiger is total Pitta. They have so much Pitta, they can consume raw meat. Pita people are precise and have an intense, sharp, fiery nature. They know exactly what they want. They know exactly when the need to eat and when they are hungry they get irritated.

Kapha derives from the Sanskrit word ‘shlish’ meaning ‘that which holds things together’. This type is about strong structure. Look at the elephant which is very strong, smooth, deliberate movements, plenty of reserves of energy, stoic. He can survive; he is difficult to attack. Kapha people are patient, grounded, heavier... they love to eat.  They should do more dynamic yoga. They love Savasana, sleep, not exercising, community and family.

We are all slightly different, different percentages of these three qualities which is why modern medicine loses its grip because it needs the average person to have effect on the biggest percentage of the population. Yoga and Ayurveda are targeted processes to bring an imbalanced state back to balance.  You can google quizzes to check your dosha type. At the very least this can give you clues about what foods to avoid and what type of exercise to do.

Home Studio

November is here but we can still heat up the studio with our energy. There’s plenty of room in class next week. See attached for class availability.

Training

Tonight, I’ll be at Triyoga from Charlie Merton’s gong bath workshop: 20 minutes of working with mantra, 20 minutes of breath and mudra, 40-45 minutes postures and 40 minutes of gong bath. It’s at 19:45 - 21:45. Come with me!

Yoga in the News

Kent Online Iswar Sharma from Sevenoaks wins Euro yoga gold. ‘Ten-year-old Ishwar Sharma from Sevenoaks travelled to Bordeaux to represent the UK in the European Yoga Championship - and came home with a gold medal in the Boys 9-11 category!’  

The Hindustan Times has: Mudra an obscene gesture? UK court dismisses complaint. ‘A British court has dismissed a case against an Indian-origin woman whose daily Yoga practice by a beach near her house in Sussex infuriated a neighbour-couple, who believed her hand ‘Mudra’ to be an obscene gesture aimed at them and complained to the police.’  

Glamour UK has: Your ultimate guide to chakras and how to optimise your daily performance with them. It’s a nice little article. The writer says: ‘Each chakra also concerns itself with more direct emotional and physical symptoms, so along with the colours I want to teach you how to use these powerful energy centres to benefit your daily life’.

The Great Work Of Your Life

Dear Yogis

I have another book review for you. A dear yogi friend gave me ’The Great Work Of Your Life by Stephen Cope for my birthday. I’ve mentioned Cope before and his previous book, Yoga and the Quest for the True Self.

This book helps us understand the Bhagavad Gita, that cornerstone of yoga literature. Also called ‘The Song of God’, it teaches how to access the true self (God realisation) with the practice of Yoga. Cope says: ‘Yoga tradition is almost entirely concerned – obsessed, really – with the problem of living a fulfilled life. The yoga tradition is a virtual catalogue of the various methods human beings have discovered over the past 3,000 years to function on all cylinders’.

If you’ve ever wondered about the ability of yoga to pull you over to a better version of yourself, to a feeling of authenticity, here’s why: ‘The yoga tradition is very, very interested in the idea of an inner possibility harboured within every human soul’. Alternatively, we are blinded by the ‘false self’ – a collection of ideas about who we should be’. ‘Our capacity to see the world clearly is thwarted’ when those ideas are so strong that they override who we actually are. (Yoga’s theory of Koshas repeats the same idea.)

This is a lovely book about naming your inner gift and tapping into its power. Cope says that it’s better to fail in the pursuit of our own calling than live the fake life of the false self. That brings “extreme spiritual peril” says Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita. If you bring forth what is within you it will save you. If you do not, it will destroy you.

Home Studio

All kinds of alternatives were found this week to incorporate the usual sprinkling of twinge-prone backs, problematic hips, giddying dizziness, killjoy cramp; anxiety and all its attendants. There’s plenty of room in class next week. And if you come for a private class, perhaps you’ll have time for coffee after in the Grove’s Greek inspired coffee shop. See attached for class availability.

Training

For tomorrow I’ve booked to attend The Practice Of Yoga + Meditation According To The Principles Of Ayurveda. It’s at Triyoga Camden, 8.00 – 17.30, and it’s totally free. The schedule is: 08:00–09:00 Talk on ayurveda, yoga and Pranayama; 09:00–10:00 Practice of yoga and pranayama (by Dr N G Kostopoulos); 10:00–11:00 Discussion and practice of pranayama and meditation (Vaidya A Barot); 14:30–17.30 Lecture on ayurveda, yoga and meditation. It’s free! Come with me!

Yoga in the News

The Times has an advertorial telling us: How to be more flexible as you get older. The average drop in flexibility of hip and shoulder joints means they can move about six degrees less in any direction each decade from a person’s mid-fifties. “Lack of flexibility affects posture and the way we move, which can then affect breathing and digestion”.

The Tablet has: Bishop bans yoga for being 'unchristian'. ‘The Bishop also referred to a homily given by Pope Francis in 2015 in which he said: “Practices like yoga are not capable of opening our hearts up to God.” The Pope continued: “You can take a million courses in spirituality, a million courses in yoga, Zen and all these things but all of this will never be able to give you freedom.”’

Have a Zen weekend.

Om Yoga Show 2019

Dear Yogis

The trees are in their autumn beauty. Thank the various and many gods for the Om Yoga Show, marking October twilight, the end of the summer, and giving us inspiration to keep up an energetic and varied yoga practice into winter weather. It’s a weekend of yoga chaos, hullabaloo and overmuchness at Alexander Palace. It’s celebratory and I’m going with my usual addict’s helplessness.

I’m assisting Marcus Veda in his Saturday 2:00 - 3:30 workshop The Divine Spine: A Rocket Yoga Workshop. Marcus promises to give you ‘all the vitalising backbends of Ashtanga’s second series’ as well as inversions and arm-balances.

I have my eye on Claire Missinghams's The All New You in which she promises an inspirational lecture, asana, Kriyas and meditations to give and internal upgrade to the nervous system. That’s on Saturday at 10.30-12.00 for £18.

On Saturday at 16.30-17.30 Emily Brett who is the founder of Ourmala is teaching Slow Flow. Ourmala is all about teaching refugees, suicide awareness, yoga for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, for people who have survived war, torture, trafficking, slavery and persecution. I have to be in her class!

On Saturday in the Soul Food Kitchen at 16.00-16.30 is chef Edward Daniel teaching How to Ferment and Create Great Bacteria For The Gut - How to make Sauerkraut, Kombucha, Water Kefir and nut cheeses. It's Free!

As usual I have to beg you to come to David Sye's How To Get High On Your Own Supply. It's on Sunday at 14.00-15.00, £15. David Sye is someone you should know. He teaches joy in the most challenging of places. (I’ve written about him before: for example in 2017, and 2018.)

Home Studio

It’s a bit booked up next week. See attached for class availability. There are some spaces left. Come if you possibly can.

Training

On Friday 1st November, 19:45 - 21:45, Charlie Merton is teaching her beautiful Friday evening workshop, A Complete Practice: body, breath, mind + mantra with gong bath: 20 minutes working with mantra, 20 minutes of breath and mudra, 40-45 minutes physical asana practice and 40 minutes of sound meditation with gongs and other instruments.

Yoga in the News

The Guardian has: Swami Shivapremananda obituary – the monk credited with spreading the teachings of Sivananda yoga throughout the world.

The Jerusalem Post has: Yoga and the Jews. “But is it Kosher?” A yoga teacher comments: “The strongest therapeutic elements of yoga get us out of our own minds, or those looping stories that we repeat in our heads. And one of the great parts of Sukkot is this approach of, ‘You did all your work and you did all this reflecting. Now quiet the mind and get out of your story and be in this moment.’

This is great! Lifehacker Australia has: How To Start Practicing Yoga With Your Kids. The article is an excellent resource for people who want a list of books and ideas to teach their children yoga.

Yoga Hullabaloo

Dear Yogis

The trees are in their autumn beauty. Thank the various and many gods for the Om Yoga Show, marking October twilight, the end of the summer, and giving us inspiration to keep up an energetic and varied yoga practice into winter weather. It’s a weekend of yoga chaos, hullabaloo and overmuchness at Alexander Palace. It’s celebratory and I’m going with my usual addict’s helplessness.

I’m assisting Marcus Veda in his Saturday 2:00 - 3:30 workshop The Divine Spine: A Rocket Yoga Workshop. Marcus promises to give you ‘all the vitalising backbends of Ashtanga’s second series’ as well as inversions and arm-balances.

I have my eye on Claire Missinghams's The All New You in which she promises an inspirational lecture, asana, Kriyas and meditations to give and internal upgrade to the nervous system. That’s on Saturday at 10.30-12.00 for £18.

On Saturday at 16.30-17.30 Emily Brett who is the founder of Ourmala is teaching Slow Flow. Ourmala is all about teaching refugees, suicide awareness, yoga for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, for people who have survived war, torture, trafficking, slavery and persecution. I have to be in her class!

On Saturday in the Soul Food Kitchen at 16.00-16.30 is chef Edward Daniel teaching How to Ferment and Create Great Bacteria For The Gut - How to make Sauerkraut, Kombucha, Water Kefir and nut cheeses. It's Free!

As usual I have to beg you to come to David Sye's How To Get High On Your Own Supply. It's on Sunday at 14.00-15.00, £15. David Sye is someone you should know. He teaches joy in the most challenging of places. (I’ve written about him before: for example in 2017, and 2018.)

Home Studio

It’s a bit booked up next week. See attached for class availability. There are some spaces left so come if you possibly can. My lucky Home Studio isn’t the only exciting thing happening in The Grove! A Greek inspired coffee shop opened this week. The coffee is, I think, the best I’ve tasted – very smooth and rich. Let’s go there!

Training

On Friday 1st November, 19:45 - 21:45, Charlie Merton is teaching her beautiful Friday evening gong bath workshop: 20 minutes of working with mantra, 20 minutes of breath and mudra, 40-45 minutes postures and, what we’re all there for, 40 minutes of sound meditation with gongs and other instruments.

Yoga in the News

The Guardian has: Swami Shivapremananda obituary – the monk credited with spreading the teachings of Sivananda yoga throughout the world.

The Jerusalem Post has: Yoga and the Jews. “But is it Kosher?” A yoga teacher comments: “The strongest therapeutic elements of yoga get us out of our own minds, or those looping stories that we repeat in our heads. And one of the great parts of Sukkot is this approach of, ‘You did all your work and you did all this reflecting. Now quiet the mind and get out of your story and be in this moment.’

This is great! Lifehacker Australia has: How To Start Practicing Yoga With Your Kids. The article is an excellent resource for people who want a list of books and ideas to teach their children yoga.

Yoga is Everyday Mental Health Awareness Day

Dear Yogis

Yesterday was Mental Health Awareness Day and companies have been taking advantage all week to get employees involved. Companies that offer yoga at work are doing such a positive and worthwhile thing! One person told me of their day-long stress, things hadn’t gone right, deadlines missed and a sense of disappointment infused the end of the day with that tight feeling in the stomach and throat. That’s not great to take home! Along comes yoga on its white horse to rescue the situation!

Yoga is really a fancy way of meditating. The crucial thing is the breath awareness. Postures come and go and try to teach us about ourselves, mainly that we can’t keep the mind in one place! Kristina Karitinou Ireland says: ‘There’s a playfulness to the practice: the mind goes; you bring it back to the breath, in one second it's gone again. That is the nature of things. You don't have to feel guilty or bad or critical.

It’s through the practice that we re-educate ourselves: good postures give you a good feeling; postures that give you fear teach you that you can overcome difficulties; strength postures teach you that your strength is there to build.  When you achieve difficult postures, it’s not that the ego has to go crazy; you create what Kristina calls ‘reference points’ and you remember what it's like to be in a good situation and overcome restrictions. That gives you mental strength. That’s the feeling that you take off the mat to energise and benefit your day and benefit the people around you. That’s the beauty of yoga.

Retreat

If you’re interested in a retreat with emphasis on Meditation, check out Deborah Smith’s Grow Your Own Happiness retreat. (See flyer). Her brilliant book of the same name has had a load of media coverage. (Here’s my blog from her last  retreat.)

If you’d like to come to Kythera with me next year, please let me have your preference for May or September. So far, four people say September... so it looks like September at the moment! And like a sign from the heavens, a Greek inspired coffee shop will be opening up in The Grove next week. Let’s have a coffee there!

Home Studio

I’m lucky enough to find people come to yoga class with their conditions, illnesses, recovery processes and aches and pains. It’s humbling and a privilege to teach. Yoga boasts that it is for every condition and I’m interested to hear people report their feelings of how yoga has helped with various problems. This week classes had people getting over cancer, a broken back from a car accident, Parkinson’s and  high blood pressure. Hopefully we can lessen some symptoms and some prescription charges! See attached for class availability. There are plenty of spaces left on Monday and Tuesday in the stretchy classes.

Training

On Friday 1st November, 19:45 - 21:45, Charlie Merton is teaching her beautiful Friday evening workshop, A Complete Practice: body, breath, mind + mantra with gong bath: 20 minutes working with mantra, 20 minutes of breath and mudra, 40-45 minutes physical asana practice and 40 minutes of sound meditation with gongs and other instruments.

Have a look at the attachment for some of the Triyoga workshops coming up. I haven’t looked at other studios yet... Also, the Om Yoga Show is next weekend, the 18th, 19th & 20th.

Yoga in the News

Financial Times has: ‘Do mindfulness activities really work?’ FT colleague Claire Barron leads the in-house meditation and yoga classes. She says corporate mindfulness can lead to happier staff. “They’re less stressed, they become more innovative in their thinking, creative, productive.”

India’s Times Now has: Benefits of Viparita Karani yoga asana: What happens when you put your legs up on the wall? ‘This yoga posture is considered as one of the most calming and nourishing poses for the mind and the body.’ I’m a fan of this posture.