I read an interesting article recently, in which the author (Jenni Rawlings, click here to read) calculated that she’d done over 100,000 chaturangas in her yoga lifetime. There are 50 chaturangas in ashtanga yoga, and often 20-30 in your typical vinyasa class. Chaturanga is a posture that is so key to vinyasa yoga yet one that takes a huge degree of strength, skill and precision to execute well. The shoulder joint, unlike the hip, is largely comprised of muscle and ligaments, therefore learning to load bear as yogis is something we shouldn’t rush into. In fact, my teacher Jason Crandell recomm ..read more

When we backbend, we want to prepare the body by opening the front (thighs, hips, shoulders and chest) and strengthening the back (hamstrings, glutes, paraspinal muscles) to create an even, spacious and expansive arc. Here, we will focus on postures that help open the hip flexors and thighs: the iliopsoas and quadriceps. The iliopsoas and quadriceps get a bad rep in yoga: the majority of us come to the practice with some form of tightness or restriction in this region from activities such as sitting for work, running, cycling, hiking, looking after children…  you get the picture. Yet th ..read more

Backbends: if you’re anything like me you have a love-hate relationship with them. I love how open and expansive they make me feel, in both mind and body, yet some days they feel sticky and uncomfortable, the after-effect of: a) 12 years spent as a journalist, hunched over a desk editing copy for hours on end; b) years of cycling to and from work; and c) motherhood and all the baby-growing, -wearing and -carrying. Most of us, especially during lockdown, feel the effects of our screen-driven lives: a tendency to hunch and round forward is not conducive to extending the spine for backbends. Hip ..read more

It’s been a while since I’ve posted on my blog (juggling teaching and toddler-mum life with a pandemic put the brakes on all my best writing intentions!) but I’m back and excited to start sharing more of this beautiful practice with you on here again. Our focus for March is backbends, and we kick off the month with one of my favourite workshops to teach: Spacious And Easeful Backbends, Saturday 6 March, 2-4.30pm at Eastside Yoga Edinburgh (book your spot here).  Backbends are my go-to family of postures when I’m feeling tense and in need of an energetic and emotional boost. When done with ..read more

‘Accept that you are held and supported and love [...] so lean into that and allow yourself to be held just a little.’ These are the words of my yoga teacher and mentor, Naomi Absalom. She shared them right before I had knee surgery and, honestly, they couldn’t have come at a better time. Confession: I am a workaholic. I find it hard to slow down and accept help, and I’m sure I’m not alone here. How many times have you shut out those around you so that you can just get the thing done? I think most of us are guilty of being blinkered in life at times. We’re so focused on achieving the end goal ..read more

‘Listen to your body. It is the only place you have to live.’ Jim Rohn Let me ask you a question: what’s the one phrase you hear time and time again when practising yoga? Listen to your body. And time and time again, what do most of us do? Continue to push on through. Pride and ego take over, and the result is more often than not an injury. The thing is, injuries happen, especially when you commit to a regular physical discipline. As much as we can try to prevent them while exploring our physicality in a sustainable way, sometimes there is no avoiding injury. To put it bluntly: sh*t happens.&n ..read more

'The goal of meditation isn't to control your thoughts, it's to stop letting them control you' - Anon I’ve been meaning to write this post for a while but life, as it has a habit of doing, got in the way. For me, the 13 March 2018 marked 100 days of meditation. It was a huge personal achievement. Meditation, and being still in general, has always been a struggle for me: I have an overactive, anxious mind that runs amok when still, and that until recently I’d managed to fairly successfully quiet through daily movement. However back in December I had a series of injuries, and suddenly my fa ..read more

If I had to pick a favourite yoga pose, one that was a little bit fancy but also feels amazing in body, mind and spirit, it would be this. To me, Vashistasana B is the perfect blend of strength, balance and flexibility: in it, I feel steady, poised, focused and, well, just totally alive and present. That said, I’m only too aware that not every student enjoys this pose: shoulder issues, hamstring tightness and limited external hip rotation can all inhibit strength and motion here. These are my top tips and drills to gaining ease in Vashistasana B.  Supta Padangusthasana This pose stre ..read more

'Oh god, oh god, oh god... no, no, no, no, no!' Probably not the words anyone's partner wants to hear, but when it comes to riding pillion on a rickety tandem down Bruges' cobbled streets, the control freak in me just can't be contained. Death-defying cyclepades aside, Bruges' beautifully preserved medieval architecture, guilty pleasure-esque cuisine (chocolate and chips, anyone?), and centuries-old beer culture make it the ideal destination for a weekend break. I hopped on the Eurostar to explore it with my husband and two dear friends for my 35th birthday, and it definitely made inching ..read more

You know how it goes. Wake up, check phone, thumb effortlessly switching between apps, a motion so ingrained it's almost as natural and involuntary as breathing. Before you know it, you’ve subconsciously woken an inner narrative questioning why you don’t look like/are as successful as/have the lifestyle of x, y or z. Sound familiar? I hear you.  A few weeks ago, my Monday morning started exactly as above. I wasn't teaching my first class till lunchtime, so I woke up, fed the pets, made some coffee, started mindlessly scrolling. Then, as keeps happening since I’ve started meditating daily ..read more