SingingTreeYoga

Merry Stretch-making and all things Yogic this Christmas. I've arrived mid jet lag in the Southern Hemisphere...all the stars have changed and the water runs round the plug in a different direction. However Yoga is still fun and this week in the lead up to tomorrow's big day I've gone to my original ashram with my brother to do Yoga together. Love it! Happy and safe holidays ☺️🧘🏼‍♀️🌺 "Happiness will never come to  those who fail to appreciate what they already have."                                                                                                                                        Buddha

Did you manage to do your own 10-15minutes yoga and stretching this week? Good work! Well done! Yoga can really be the backbone to a full career in whatever it is you are most passionate about, whatever you love the most. Here at Yoga is where you can explore the change in your lifestyle, the flux that people go through these days in between jobs, changing career paths and let's face it today's stresses and strains require that we stay so very flexible. So I give you permission to step back in time, tell the boss you quit or whatever and... as they used to say on the 60's Morocco hippie trail, after the beatniks, the 'overland', go find yourself!  My fault,  my failure, is not the passions I have but in my lack of control of them.                                                                   ...

So lately I've been toying with the idea of Big City Noise Pollution. Sounds like a song Bjork would write. Anyway. The accumulative obsession humans have with building things means that in the more populated cities one finds oneself utterly distracted by sound. Sounds of hammering, even more disturbing; 'Hammer Drills' heard of them? You might be thinking: what has this to do with Yoga. Well let me tell you Sadiq Khan.... or really I should be pointing finger at Boris Johnson, if you had incorporated ISO 20121 that provides resources to the best Event Sustainability Management System, improving the sustainability of events across the city as this standard was being developed (2012 Olympic Games, remember that London growth spurt) we might have a more harmonious and happy city. This standard saves an organisation money and time. I know, I researched and utilised it as the practical component of my Masters. It puts the powers that be in touch with the lil'guy...

Modesty isn't something that can be taught, I don't think. In Patanjali's philosophy there is emphasis through doing Yoga on modesty. This can be applied to thought processes too, to have modesty is to learn compassion and to have compassion you can understand your environment; other people's problems and pains, other animals and the environment's needs. Yoga isn't performative. I say this because of a sudden shift in the delivery, if you like, of Yoga in Western practise. Yoga is based on an eastern 2500 year old philosophy and is a mode of exercise that has become useful to our vocations here, in the Western world. A tool-kit to release day-to-day stress and peaceful, often communal mode of exercise. It has more similarities with Tai-Chi, than anything I can think of. Again an Eastern practise. I find some of the styles of Yoga out there grotesque in their interpretation. Mainly because of the freedom that Yoga gives in it's various translatio...

It's interesting medical times here in the U.K. With programmes on TV exploring the breakthrough medical treatment of diabetes and fat fighting, the speed with which these findings are revealed at the moment is a little overwhelming. But brilliantly progressive too. For someone who has battled, in my 20s, Endometriosis and won, I can't help but think that a little more time and effort spent with women's health specifically, on the TV would be helpful. However we all have hormones and balancing the endocrine system and  consequentially the hormones can be difficult for both men and women. Regular Yoga has shown to have brilliant benefits. Because it's pretty difficult to overwork doing Yoga. You can get in touch with aches and pains, tightness and fitness levels - then work on a routine that works for you, not the other way around. I'd also (on this centenary day of the Vote for Women) like to put in a word for the common Yam. Not so common it's varietie...

Talking to a friend I gained new insight into teaching yoga. 'Let the words fall' was the advice given by the senior teacher. It's true if you say less, then more weight is placed on your words in a yoga class. However this is certainly not a rule especially if the words spoken are not considered. Sometimes we yoga teachers chose to fill a class with voice - this can be really enjoyable and immersing for the class. But before I go into the technicalities of voice control in conveying an idea, thought or indeed asana.... let's just reflect on the teachers task. It is important what people wear to a class, OK there's a wave of high street yoga fashion churning out it's frothy designs on the surface. That's all well and good and hey, whatever gets you into doing a class or two is fab! But it's also right to consider that we as teachers have to see what's going on (especially the legs). It's near impossible to teach a class with distracting ...

Are you having difficulty accessing your motivation? Everyone deserves a break now and then and a break or short holiday can help refuel, find energy and re -motivate you with your projects and passions. Here's a pic of Trebah Garden's the private seashore there. It's on the Helford peninsula and when my Dad was setting up the Cornwall boat show and Mather starting adult education in the area, we, with family and friends used to go cockling and swimming there. It's stunningly beautiful and tranquil. Even as I approached West Penwith in the early evening there was more wildlife and wildflowers; Bluebells galore, Pink Campion, Buttercups, Kidney Vetch, Primroses........I spotted a young deer. It jumped out of the hedgerow in front of my car and then stopped in the road. And the garden filled with funny woodpeckers, hard at work this time of the year! So the perfect re-jig to get the enthusiasm going for it all again. Namaste. Here's a quote from the book...