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Archives for July 2014

How to take a Yoga Staycation!

July 28, 2014 by Lucy 12 Comments

Beachside cabanas…dawn yoga by the infinity pool…mountain top chanting…mmm! There are lots of exotic and tempting yoga holidays and retreats out there.  But if you’re not going away this year don’t get down!  You can make your own yoga staycation just as tropical, enriching – and a LOT cheaper – and you won’t even have to think about what to pack.  With the Summer underway and the sun shining you can create your own little piece of yoga retreat heaven right where you are! Here are some ideas for making and taking your very own tailor made Yoga Staycation!

1. Take your practice outside

There is nothing more affirming, nurturing and grounding that getting outdoors and connecting.  Get your mat outside – or don’t even bother with the mat – get your hands and feet into the grass and dirt and FEEL what your body and mind needs.  Sit and listen – and then move – let nature inspire you.  Rise up and open your hands and heart to the sky; bow down and release into the ground; expand and breathe into the space around you – without the boundaries of walls and ceilings.  Stop, drop and yoga wherever the mood takes you! 

Set a week, or a weekend, or a day to get up early and practice outdoors – listen to the birds, enjoy the morning light.  Or switch things up and get out as the sun is setting and flow as the temperature cools welcoming the easy summer night.

Go to the park or out in your garden, or if space is an issue, just open the windows and let the outside in!   Involve the kids; get away from the kids! Make it an hour or just ten minutes – be a part of the world outside.  Forget the ‘rules’ and let nature move you.

2. Expand your yoga horizons

Studios and teachers often alter their timetables during July and August, so places you wouldn’t normally go might be accessible to you during these months.  Check out different teachers and studios you wouldn’t usually go to and expand your yoga world!  There’s something to learn from everyone.  You might have more time to travel further afield, or in the spirit of a Summer Yoga Staycation, take a couple of classes a week rather than one – or as many as you fancy!  Summer is a time of light, optimism and opportunity – be inspired to expand your yoga horizons.  You never know what (or who!) you might find…

3. Be a localaterian!

Our communities, what we eat and our impact on the environment is just as much a part of living yoga as throwing shapes on the mat.  Find out what your local markets, shops, cafes, and other independants have to offer.  Interact and be a part of where you live. Support your community!

It’s all a way to send love out – and what you send out comes back to you tenfold!

4. Walk!

Walking is so theraputic.  A way to be outside, increase your vitamin D intake, increase circulation, heart rate and seratonin levels.  Walk in the sun; walk in the rain.  Walk around your nearby streets; walk for miles over hills and dales.   Let stress melt out through the soles of your feet with every step and let walking become a meditation.  Enjoy the journey.

5. Digitally Detox

Taking time to consciously unplug from emails, mobile phones and social media is the mark of a proper holiday for me!  Even if you’re not leaving the country this Summer, pretend you’re out of signal range for the duration of your staycation (a pleasing rhyme!), or check in with your messages just once a day if you have to – replying only to anything urgent.  This can be a tough one at first, but letting go of these daily habits can help you to unplug and recharge yourself…

6. Rest

As the weather warms up, my dogs get lazier and lazier, and who can blame them.  Basking themselves in the sun, then digging holes in the garden to lie in and cool down….they are my little Buddhas!  They know what instinct is telling them.  Factor in time to rest; give yourself permission for it; unapologetically sink into it.  Covering yourself in soil under the shrubbery might not be your thing, but whatever it is that allows your mind and soul to unclench and rest easy…get some of that.

Enjoy the Summer, yogis!  Share how you plan to spend your yoga staycation below!

 

Filed Under: General Yoga, Well being Tagged With: body and mind, community, digital detox, how to, outdoors, practice, recharge, rest, summer, vacation, walk, yoga, yoga for life, yoga for living, yoga staycation

QUESTION: When is a Powercut a Meditation?

July 17, 2014 by Lucy 9 Comments

I wrote this in a powercut.

There was a powercut today, the longest one I can remember for a long time. And whilst I am in no way comparing this to real disasters where people are left without power or heat for days and days, it has – as all interruptions do – woken me up a little bit to the habits and dependences we walk through life with everyday.  Every room I go into I reach for the light without thinking; no TV…I’ll just check such-and-such on the web…no internet; no landlane and a flat mobile battery.  None of these things are remotely life threatening of course; but just becoming aware of our habitual beliefs, actions and thought patterns – our expectations – is interesting.  When what we thought was there without question, just isn’t.

We all have our patterns, our subconscious movements, those things we reach for without thinking.  It’s the same with meditation. We sit down, start tuning into the breath, paying attention to the body, but pretty soon a little itch arrives at the end of our nose…and before we know it – without thinking – we’ve moved to scratch it.  We sit longer, retuning, observing, but pretty soon our legs ache or a thought has wormed its way in and before we’ve processed what’s going on, we’ve changed position or are merrily a million miles away, following that thought down the road and far away.

None of these things are ‘bad’.  It’s ok to rely on light switches to work and water to flow from the tap.  It’s ok to check your email / phone a million times a day or to scratch your nose in meditation…but is it possible to become aware of our impulses before we act? To find the space between thought and action; to shine a light on our patterns of behaviour.  To recognise the choice we have – the freedom – that exists in the space between thought and action.

Today I am grateful for all the things we take for granted, and that we live in a world where those things can be taken for granted.  I am grateful for the opportunities (particularly those that don’t even seem like opportunities) for us to recognise ourselves and awaken.

Filed Under: Mindfulness & Meditation Tagged With: beliefs, expectations, gratitude, habits, meditation, mindfulness, opportunity, powercut, thoughts and actions, truth, yoga

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