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"As trees move with the wind, your mind moves with your breath"
BKS Iyengar Let's breathe How many times have you found yourself holding your breath when you didn't mean to? When we are tense, concentrating or upset, it is super common to hold our breath. When we do this, we put our nervous system into a state of alert ready to respond to something unknown, create physical tensions and add to the turbulence in our minds. It is a very common habit and pattern in day to day life, and in our yoga practice, and one well worth working on to improve. Shifting this pattern can be a revelation. To discover a new, healthier, more spacious breathing and body patterns where we feel more relaxed, we have more vitality and energy, and we even sleep and digest better. Flowing breath in our postures and breathwork are key aspects to improving our physical and mental wellbeing. Plus the meditative focusing layer on the breath during practice can help calm the turbulence in the mind. All yoga teachers teach this differently, with more or less emphasis on breathing. Find what helps you and enjoy discovering a fuller, more spacious relaxed, strong and stable body, breath and mind.
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 It feels like so much is changing at the moment.
My kids are entering new stages of their lives, there is the usual flux of summer schedules with holidays and plans, alongside some class changes and new equipment coming to the studio In the midst of change, I love my morning routine that keeps me constant and on the front foot each day. What's your morning routine? Perhaps a shower, tea, check emails, breakfast, clean teeth, walk the dog. Morning routines I know many of you have also integrated yoga into your morning routine (which makes my heart sing). And I know before that I have likened developing the habit of doing a short daily yoga practice to cleaning your teeth. My aim here was to help you see it as an essential and non-negotiable start to your day. Even when your on holiday, you still clean your teeth right? It's the most gorgeous bit But that doesn't do justice to just how gorgeous it feels to do yoga each morning. It is actually nothing like cleaning teeth. I can't say I love cleaning my teeth, it is fine, it does a job, it tastes quite nice, and feels good after. But the actual act of doing it is a bit of downtime where I think about other stuff. I don't stand their loving every moment and marvelling at how lucky I am (perhaps I should!). It's nothing like cleaning your teeth My yoga isn't anything like that. The hardest part is stepping on to the mat. The rest is easy. From the first moment of arriving on my mat, I get to stop, connect to my inner landscape, fully experience that first inhale and lift of my arms above my head, and come into a wonderful flow with myself. The fluid breath starts to hum and expand me, the moving and stretching awakens everything from head to toe, the twists ease movement into my spine and hips, and the vibrant downward facing dog gets the breath going deeper and fuller and then the sublime lying twists... where I get to stay there and allow the pose to work its magic and the breath to be felt at an energetic level in every fibre of my being. By the end I feel energised and wonderfully spacious and light, open and fresh and ready for everything the day has in store for me. But the process to get there was way more enjoyable and fun than cleaning my teeth! It becomes pure joy If you haven't discovered the joy of a morning yoga routine yet, I would highly recommend trying it every day for a week and waking yourself up properly (not just rolling out of bed and getting on with the day). Give yourself a chance to build the habit, and stick with it while you get used to it. Don't give up if you forget or find it hard. Play the long game and keep having a go. Keep it super simple. Perhaps pick your three favourite poses and do each one for a couple of minutes, slowly and dynamically with your breath, feeling each pose and exploring each breath fully. Or use my free 12 minute video as a starting guide to get you going: Free Morning Yoga Video > |
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Bristol YogaSpace Ltd
Princes Place, Bishopston Just off Gloucester Road Bristol BS7 8NP |
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