We have been thinking about courage, what this means to us and our work. To us courage means finding strength and groundedness in the storm, finding steadiness when life throws curve balls or you when you are moving out of your comfort zone into a place of vulnerability, where the outcome is not guaranteed. ‘Vulnerability is not about winning its not about losing its having the courage to show up when you can’t control the outcome’ Brene Brown So, the path of courage is not heading towards something that is known, but in a direction that aligns with what is meaningful, important and valued. P ..read more

‘Whole hearted adults play’ - Brene Brown As adults we can forget to play. Life can become serious. So can our yoga practice. We can become overly focused on building strength and steadiness and forget that we can find much joy in our practice too. When we think about play we often think about children and their innate ability to be spontaneous, creative and find fun and silliness in the real and imagined world. Children can teach us to experiment with each posture, each breath, each moment with a beginner's mind. The beginner's mind is not the automatic mind that fills in the gaps through pa ..read more

This month we turn towards the growing energy and vibrancy of the season and how this is reflected in the nature around us. The colours, sounds, growing warmth and light. Yoga teaches us that we can explore the essence of who we are through the layers of what it means to be human. We may be more familiar with thinking about our physical body - how we move, how we experience our body in space and how this body is contained within the structure of our being - our bones, organs, muscles and skin. Within this layer is our energy body - our life force energy that flows throughout our physical body ..read more

As we see the leaves change to yellows and browns then fall, as the air starts to cool and the clocks change we feel the familiar cycle of the seasons shifting. The changing rhythm and pattern of Autumn. This Autumn however, we are also experiencing a new pattern, that of a return to further restrictions on our lives, something that was totally new to us in Spring now has a sense of uncomfortable familiarity, a feeling perhaps of ‘oh no not this again’. This brings to mind the yogic philosophy of Samskaras, mental and emotional patterns, through which we cycle over and over. Repeating samskar ..read more

Our theme for April is Soothe. One of the many opportunities our yoga practice offers is to tune into our experience. Over time, we can start to listen to the language of the body. It’s subtle and not so subtle messages. It is hard when what we find is painful and uncomfortable. Our human response is to avoid it. Our desire to change it, push it away can be strong. Of course it is. We can begin to explore the size, shape and sensations of what we find. This is not to magically change the experience to a positive one. The intention is not to aim for an experience. It is building strength and co ..read more