This month in class, at the request of a lovely Glenogle regular, we’ve been exploring shoulder mobility. When it comes to the shoulders, due to the screen-focused and often seated nature of our lives, mean that a few common patterns emerge in this region: Tightness across the front of the shoulders Tension and weakness across the back of the shoulders Forward-head posture, leading to neck and shoulder tension Potential stress-related hunching of the shoulders, coupled with neck and jaw tension Sound familiar? Trust me, I feel you: when I worked 50-60 plus hour weeks as a journali ..read more

Your worth as a yoga practitioner isn’t determined by your asana practice. I had a conversation with a new(ish) student after class this morning. She’d grown up as a gymnast, then trained in martial arts, but now struggled with shoulder flexion and arm overhead strength. She’d gone from being able to do handstands, tick tocks, you name it, to losing that range of motion completely due to joint damage. It was a conversation that resonated with me deeply. My asana practice today is totally different to what it looked like 10 years ago. Splits, arm balances, inversions were peppered into ever ..read more

These past five weeks in class we’ve been focusing on the yamas, the first limb of yoga on Patanjali’s Eight-Limbed Path, as set out in his ancient philosophical text, The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Most of us discover yoga through the third limb, asana, yet stay for something deeper. It’s so important to recognise that our yoga doesn’t just take place on our mat. There is no point being able to handstand or get our legs behind our head if we’re cruel, hurtful or passive off of it.  There are five yamas in total (ahimsa, satya, asteya, brahmacharya and aparigraha), and we can think of th ..read more

Lower back pain is a topic that comes up frequently in our opening circle chats at pregnancy yoga. During pregnancy we release a hormone called relaxin, which helps soften the ligaments (and also our minds) in preparation for birthing our babies. This, coupled with the natural postural changes and extra weight necessary for growing a baby, can create instability in the pelvic girdle, affecting the lower back. Focusing on creating stability in the hips and being mindful of our shifting posture, as well as releasing tension, can be really helpful in relieving lower back discomfort. Here are ..read more

Are you experiencing Pelvic Girdle Pain (PGP) during pregnancy? Here are some ways you can adapt your yoga practice… While not harmful for baby, PGP can cause a range of uncomfortable symptoms, such as pubic pain, hip pain, groin pain, and lower back pain.  It can be worse when standing on one leg, walking, going up and down stairs, or moving the legs to get in and out of the car. I would always recommend a pregnant student experiencing PGP sees their GP and a physio first to get a proper diagnosis and treatment, there are still many ways we can support them in class, focusing on creat ..read more

Did you know your pelvis is designed to expand during childbirth?  Our pelvis is this incredible bowl-like structure comprising four main bones: the ilium (hip bones), which meet at the pubic bone, the ischium (sit bones), sacrum, and the coccyx.  Relaxin, a hormone released during pregnancy, softens the ligaments, enabling the joints to widen and creating even more space in the pelvis. When we labour in upright, active positions (think supported standing, swaying, all-fours, squats, lunges), the sacrum and tailbone are free to move, maximising the space available for baby to rota ..read more

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