You were born into fairytales, myths and legends, when playtime was King, and you built the castle. Donning your most treasured felt-tip stained gown, You crowned yourself Queen of that Rainbow Land, where glittering Unicorns roamed and the sun never set. You could hunt for a stick, not a stick, no, a broomstick, a wand or a brave sheriff's pistol, for you had any number of fantastical skills, as the grown ups stood by and shook their heads fondly, quietly anticipating your easy fall into slumber after teatime. The day came when painting misshapen butterflies began to be replaced by sums, pro ..read more

For those of you that have followed along with my previous posts, it is no secret that my last 2 pregnancies were tough. The more that time flies, the more I can look back and truly appreciate the incredible support my family received at that time. I regret that I never got around to thanking each and every midwife, nurse, and doctor that assisted in the safe arrival of my babies and the preservation of my last shreds of sanity. Perinatal Mental Health Teams are popping up more frequently in the UK as greater research reveals the true extent of the impact that pregnancy, birth and the post na ..read more

Exactly as the title suggests, I am sharing with you a list of weird and irritating things that pop into my mind when I practice meditation. As I always tell my Yoga students, the first lesson to learn when starting out with Meditation is too simply observe your thoughts. Fostering a sense of witnessing from a distance, in the same way we might sit back and watch the world go by. When you practice this enough, and by this I mean noticing the thoughts everytime they pop up even if it seems to be every 5 seconds at first, you can move on to removing any emotional connection or reaction to these ..read more

Moving from restrictive eating to over eating was never going to be easy... It's hard to hear yourself described as a Binge Eater, especially when many years were spent as a Restrictive Eater (Anorexia being an extreme on the spectrum) I have come to accept that my reliance on food, either a lack of or an abuse of, will probably always be with me and now I am quite ok with this being a part of my make up and my lived experience. Binge Eating Disorder is becoming a better researched area of Mental Health enquiry, with the national charity BEAT launching new studies and surveys. Stigma is at it ..read more

Good lord, it can be completely exhausting "staying well". Can it become just another unhealthy obsession? Possibly. There are days when we just want to give up and sink to the bottom of that deep hole of helplessness, right? There is surely a happy medium between being fiercely protective of our wellbeing and letting go of the reins a little. I even find that letting go of the reins is a rigorously planned a deliberate action. For me this possibly stems from a naturally "striving" and perfectionist streak. I have had many health professionals admire my insight, my desire to self improve, my ..read more

It's been a while since I felt the urge to write. This winter has been brutal for so many of us and it's hard to reflect when your mind is crammed with Matt Hancock day in day out. The musings that brought me to my laptop today are that of a joyful discovery that I just had to share with you all. When I first began top take my Yoga work online, I was daunted and terrified about the idea of seeing myself on camera, let alone splashing my image all over social media. It's no secret that I have been plagued with body shame for most of my life, and I have written about this a few times before. My ..read more

How many times a day do you get asked "How are you?". How many times do you answer honestly? The real problem here is not so much that you answer through habit (of course we all have a default "I'm Fine thanks" setting), but more than that, do you actually know the answer? So let's experiment with a curious mind.... Try to find a few minutes at the start of the day to check in and ask your true self some questions: 1) Did I sleep well or did I struggle to relax, dream a lot, wake too early? 2) How is my energy level? 3) Do I already have a busy mind or am I feeling settled? 4) Do I have any a ..read more

Yoga teachers are guides, not rule makers or boundary setters. I only found this out when I began my own training, after many years of attending classes in awe of my teachers, who I believed looked incredible and could perform 1000's of poses better than I could ever hope for. There are some of myths to be dispelled in that paragraph, so let's try... Myth - I expect you to make the same shapes with your body that I do. Fact - I know how to ease you in to a pose safely and without injury. Myth - I am primarily interested in how deeply you can go in that pose. Fact - I know how that pose can be ..read more

There has been a lot of activity in the media and government health promotions about starting conversations about mental health. This is a huge step forward for society and the thus far stigmatised reality of living with poor mental health. There are more and more social media "shares" about being kind, reaching out and glimpses into the world of depression, anxiety and loneliness. Thank goodness. I am currently unable to honestly answer the "How are you?" question (I have spoken about this in my post "I'm Fine"), and until recently I have come down hard on myself for this. I viewed it as a w ..read more

If anybody has ever told you that Yoga can help you with your depression, there is a good chance you have internally (or perhaps less subtly) rolled your eyes. Perhaps it even felt like just another way in which you are misunderstood or that your depression is not being taken seriously. I have practiced Yoga on and off for nearly 20 years and when I am in a deep or long period of depression, I too have scoffed at the thought of taking to my Yoga mat. How could this make any difference to me, and why should I bother anyway because the world seems hopeless. So I've been wondering lately about o ..read more