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Lucyogini

Yoga classes, workshops and inspiration for every body

2020 Yoga!

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2020 is very satisfying to write and see!

Don’t you think? It feels significant. A big year. A year for change?

Small steps my friends. We’re still deep in the winter. Not the time for sudden changes or restrictive resolutions, in my humble opinion :)  A time for quiet attention, tending our inner fires. Listening to our heart’s gentle song.  What might be there?  What might be possible, or needed.  No rush.  No need to jump.  Just listen.  Return to home-base.  It is all here, unfolding.

Classes at The Stables Yoga Centre, York!
I’m returning – finally! – to what feels like my own yoga-home, the Stables Yoga Centre in York on Monday evenings from 6th January! 

After almost 4 years, and two babies, I can’t wait to be back teaching Vinyasa Flow (6:15-7:30pm) and Beginners Yoga (6 week course, 7:45-9pm).  Contact The Stables for details and bookings.

The Stables is a beautiful space – if you haven’t been already I urge you to come along to any of their classes or workshops. A special place indeed.

Selby Yoga, FTW!
Our regular Saturday morning class resumes this weekend,
4th January, 9:30-10:30am at The Good Health Clinic.

I love our weekend yoga gang – thank you for making it such a fun, community practice, it’s such a highlight of my week to share it with you.  Jai!

The Sunday Sancuary popped up just before New Year – and sold out!  The overwhelming feedback was ‘ahhh – just what I needed!’

So here it is again, in the depths of the winter, when the sparkles of Christmas may already feel like a distant memory, let’s come together, tend our inner heart-fires, and choose rest, stillness, softness.  An opportunity for not-doing.

Sunday 26th January, 9:30-11am @ The Good Health Clinic, Selby
£10pp
Get in touch to book your place!

10 Ways to Inspire Your Yoga Self Practice!

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Earlier this month I led the Developing Your Own Self-Practice workshop with an amazing group of yogis who left me feeling inspired to share as much as I can about getting on the mat more often!

I am the self-practice head cheerleader.  When I first began my own self-practice, I didn’t really know what I was doing, I just remembered what I could from class and practiced because it felt good.  So I kept going, I became more and more interested and before I knew it things…changed. Yes I became more toned and eventually was able to touch my toes…but something more…I felt different inside…I liked myself more, I recognised my own inner strength and I opened up to the rest of the world more too.

Yoga works in mysterious ways…it has a way of getting under your skin, without needing to know the hows or whys before you start.  You just have to move and breathe, and the rest will come. I truely believe in the transformational power of yoga – which shows us how to live in fully explored ways, with more love, more compassion and more joy.

BUT! I know too how hard it can sometimes be to roll out the mat…and then know what to do!  The motivation! The discipline! The pressure!  Another thing to add to that endless to-do list!  Vegging out – and zoning out – instead can feel irresistble.  But if you know yoga makes you feel better then  believe me when I tell you that it is not selfish or time-wasting to spend 10, 20, 40 minutes – whatever you can – away from the clammour of everyday life. This is tuning in, not zoning out, taking control and making a choice in how we think, feel and live.  The benefits aren’t just for ourselves, but eminate out to everyone we interact with and every task we turn our hand to.

So don’t wait! Here are my top 10 ways to inspire your yoga self-practice – both on and off the yoga mat!

1. Use class to inspire you: Take away one pose, a sequence, an intention that speaks to you and use it in your practice throughout the week. Get to know it and feel it’s effects (tip: sometimes it’s good to practice the poses we don’t particularly like!)

2. Make it fit your life: There are some traditions and teachers that might say you need to practice 2 hours a day, at dawn, preferably on a mountain top, and that would be lovely. But if you have a job to do and kids to look after and a house to maintain and a million and one other things and actually, getting a few hours sleep would be good too, then this just isn’t realistic.  I am passionate that this has to be a living, evolving practice which is relevant and useful to our lives now. If we stick ridgidly to rules that might apply to the ancient Brahmen in India, but have no relevance to our own lives, then the practice is dead.  Beautiful and admirable perhaps – but not really relevant. There’s a whole other article to be written there! My point is, don’t wait for the opportunity to have endless spare time, superior knowledge and understanding; start now. 2 minutes or 2 hours, do what you can and let the practice serve you.

3. A moment’s meditation: You may not have time to practice at great length every day, or sometimes to get the mat out at all. Drop the guilt! Notice throughout the day when you’re feeling stressed/spaced out/flustered and reground.  Feel your feet on the floor.  Breathe. Be present.  And then move on with the task at hand. Practicing yoga isn’t all about making shapes.

4. Intention: What has brought you to the mat today?  There are no wrong answers to this….and the answers don’t have to be lofty or grand.  ‘Just because’ is a perfectly acceptable answer.  ‘To get strong’ or ‘to feel better’ are also good.  Having an intention can be a nice motivator to get to the mat.

Be led by how you feel: Specific aches + pains or emotions can all be a great place to start your practice from. Look to address stress, or a headache, or stomach cramps; if you feel sad, which poses do you feel most supported and nurtured by? If you are joyful, how can your practice be an expression of that joy?

‘Move the way joy makes you move’ – Osho

6. Study: Svadhyaya or self-study is the fourth of the Niyamas (personal observances) as outlined in Patenjali’s Eight Limbs of Yoga.  This can be any activity where we are intentionally self-aware; but can also be a more literal form of study. Books, the internet, teachers are all there to help support and inspire your yoga journey.  If you have a question, feed that interest and find out more – there’s so much great information out there – a lot of it for free!

7. There are no rules:  If you get ‘stuck’ or are unsure what to do next, simply return to the centre – get grounded + return to the breath. Notice the fluctuations of the mind – are you panicking? Are you self-chastising?  See if you can let go of the grasping of the mind and allow things to be.  Get out of the thinking mind and let your body move you.

8. Music: Playing music whilst you practice can be a lovely way to inspire movement + flow, or as a nice way to add another dimention to your practice if you usually practice quietly.  Just beware that you are still actively present with your practice.

9. Stay playful: Getting on the mat is an opportunity to feel and enjoy living in this imperfect perfect body. Enjoy it!  We all have our limitations but we can all do so much.  It doesn’t matter if you fall out of a balance or if you don’t know the names of all the poses; just move and breathe for the sheer joy of being alive.

10. Anything can be yoga: Anytime we approach life with a sense of mindfulness and honesty of intention, it’s yoga. …Don’t let this become an excuse to not make time on the mat! But rather a way of making yoga a way of life, not just a part of life.

‘Practice, and all is coming’ – Pattabhi Jois

What inspires your practice and makes you roll out the mat?  What blockages to practice to you sometimes face?  Share your questions and tips – I’d love to hear from you!

 

The meaning of Namaste

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Na – ma – ste.

Three little syllables that close our yoga class.  I like to open arms up wide to the sky, draw the palms together, touch them to the forehead, then the heart-centre and then bow to the class.  A gesture of respect, of peace and of thanks.

There are lots of translations of Namaste – from a simple ‘hello’, to the literal ‘I bow to you,’ to the elaborate (deep breath) “I honour the place in you in which the entire Universe dwells, I honour the place in you which is of Love, of Truth, of Light and of Peace. When you are in that place in you, and I am in that place in me, we are One.”

I like to think of it as ‘The best in me salutes all that is the best in you.’ 

The meaning of Namaste is a recognition that we are all equal; we are all teachers, and all students, always.  Not just in class, but out in the world, with everyone we meet and connect with on whatever level.

As we open our arms up to the sky we invite energy and life to fill us;

by bringing the palms together, we signify gratitude to the Universe, to the energy that is bigger than us all;

by drawing this to our foreheads, we bring attention to our thoughts – and welcome the possibility of true clarity;

by drawing the prayer to our chest, we bring attention to our feelings and welcome gratitude and compassion to our hearts; 

in bowing we recognise and respect all that is good and brilliant and miraculous in each and every one of us – ourselves included.

All in one little word.

The meaning of Namaste is giving thanks for all that each and every experience brings us – the good and the bad. It is recognising the connection between ourselves, each other and the wider Universe. It is recognition of our own innate brilliance.

Humbling and exalting in equal measure!

Say it like you mean it. See how taking the spirit and intention of Namaste out into the world and all our daily interactions can open up our communication, our generosity and our understanding.

I consider myself extremely lucky that I get to share yoga every day. But we all can – live yoga, be yoga. It opens you up to more YES, more LOVE and more JOY.

In the truest possible sense, to each one of you…Namaste.

 

xoxo lucyogini

Valentines Yoga! Heart openers & back bends

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Happy Valentines to you, yogi friends!

I love a bit of Valentines, even if it is a bit over-commercialised. What’s not to like about a day shamelessly declaring your love! Love comes in so many wild and wonderful forms, from smooching with your beloved to the quiet, content thank you to the sky above, and why not a day dedicated to them.  Here (& showcasing my awesome photo-collaging skills circa 1998…) I’ve put together some of my favourite heart-opening yoga poses that you can explore and build into a flow – there’s a freedom and honesty to be found in these poses; let down your guard and surrender to the possibility of the moment – where energy flows, love goes :)

One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisable to the eyes.

– Antoine de Saint Exupery, The Little Prince

Enjoy & tell me how you get on in the comments!

Wishing you love & light this Valentines, and always

xoxo lucyogini

 

 

A BEGINNERS GUIDE TO YOGA! (or, YOGA: THE FAQs)

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Making 2014 your year of yoga? Yay! You won’t regret it! Yoga is a workout for your whole being (and no gym membership required).  Here are some questions I often get asked about starting out on your yoga journey, I hope it helps – come join us in class, roll out a mat and b-r-e-a-t-h-e :)

Q: Yoga…?

Yoga originated in India around 5000 years ago.  It is an ancient practice whose meaning has shifted over time – what we understand as yoga in modern society is most usually the postures or poses (‘asana’).  Yoga comes from a Sanskrit word which is translated loosely meaning ‘to yoke’ or ‘unite’.  Yoga then is the practice through which we unite body, mind and spirit.

Many people think yoga is just about stretching, and whilst stretching is certainly involved, yoga is really about creating balance in the body.  This is done through the poses or postures, each of which has specific physical benefits.  We look at the breath and how breathing can aid our stamina in each of the postures.

But yoga isn’t just about the physical; it’s an ancient and scientific system that can lead to greater clarity and harmony in life. Many health and fitness programmes are difficult to maintain because they are rooted in a negative attitude – that you need to be something different from how you are; that you are inadequate and need to ‘fix’ something about yourself.  Negativity is a lousy motivator.  Yoga however, is non-judging, meeting you exactly where you are, as you are right now.  By practicing yoga, we can improve our overall health and wellbeing with a positive and non-forceful approach.

Q: Why do yoga?

Most people start to get strong, get fit, tone up, manage stress, manage pain, to be more flexible, improve posture….and yes, the benefits of yoga can certainly include all of these things and more.

When I started, I dreamt of incredible flexibility and looser hamstrings….but what I didn’t expect was for it to offer me a practice that would extend beyond the mat, beyond the class I attended once a week.  It has the capacity to enter your whole life – and that doesn’t necessarily mean giving up all worldly possessions and living in a cave to meditate (although it might!); every breath can be our yoga practice, our homelife, our jobs, the company we keep can become an exercise in awareness.  The asana help us to strengthen our body, the pranayama (breathing) becomes our guide to the present moment, each thought a seed for meditation.

…Don’t let all that stuff spook you though! Concentrate on the moves you’re learning and matching movements to your breathing – the rest is yours for the taking, but entirely optional.

Q: What can I expect from a class..?

We start with ‘grounding’ – usually sitting or laying down and taking a few moments to relax and bring our attention to the present moment and to our breath.

We then move on to some warm up movements, and then onto more dynamic asana (poses) – there are always adjustments available, so don’t feel you have to do anything that doesn’t feel right to you – yoga is about listening to your body.

The class finishes with Savasana and relaxation; we allow the work we’ve done in the class to be assimilated into our bodies through full relaxation.

Q: But I’m so inflexible! I could never do yoga…..

All the more reason to come along to class!  Yoga isn’t about being flexible, although it can be a lovely side-effect of practicing.  It doesn’t matter if you can’t touch your toes (I couldn’t when I first started), or if you don’t feel ‘bendy’ (I don’t consider myself to be a naturally bendy person either!) – it doesn’t matter how fit you are, what shape or age you are – if you can breathe, you can do yoga.

Q: Am I too old to start yoga?

Certainly not! There is no age-limit and people start at all times of life.

Q: Do I have to be fit to do yoga?

Nope. Practicing yoga can help build strength and fitness from whatever starting point you are at. Take the classes at your own speed – there are always variations and adjustments to make the poses accessible to you; start from where you are and build gently from there.

Q: What do I wear?

Something comfortable you can move easily in, tracksuit bottoms or leggings are ideal.  It’s a good idea to layer up – a vest or t-shirt along with a jumper so that you can cool down and warm up at different parts of the class.

Q: What should I wear on my feet?

I always, always recommend practicing with bare feet.  It helps you grip the mat, spread the toes, stops you from slipping, and helps you feel grounded and connected to the earth.  Release your feet! I promise I don’t care what your pedicure looks like! I do care about your alignment, that’s what I’ll be looking for.

However, bring some socks with you for the relaxation part of the class to keep your toes warm :)

Q: Is yoga just for women..?

Absolutely not! Yoga is truly for every body.  And let’s be clear: yoga does not make you dainty or feminine – it makes you strong and durable.  Many ‘male orientated’ sports and activities, weight lifting, contact sports, etc, leave muscle fibres tight and shortened, leading to reduced flexibility.  Yoga tones muscles, increases flexibility and range of motion, all of which helps to increase muscular endurance – which in turn helps you to lift heavier weights, run faster (and longer), with less chance of injury.  Whether you’re trying yoga to compliment your training regime, or as a new way to exercise, you’ll find that the benefits – body and mind – extend far beyond gender.

Q: I don’t have a mat…?

No problem, I have lots of mats available in classes, so don’t feel you have to go out and buy your own.  If you already have a mat, feel free to bring it along!

Q: Is yoga a religion?

No.  Yoga asks no pledge of allegiance, nor does it exclude anyone, of any walk of life or religious belief.   However, for many yogis, yoga can become a spiritual practice as much as a physical one.  For me, yoga has a spiritual element that offers us the opportunity to realise our own uniqueness, our personal divinity.  It doesn’t offer an external god or gods to worship, rather, if at all, it opens us up to the godliness inherent in ourselves.

Nor is yoga a cult or a fad or new-agey nonsense – there’s a reason it’s been around so long! Yoga gets us back to basics – what is real, what we have, who we are, right now.

Q: I’ve no one to come to class with….?

Whether you come alone or with friends, you’re always very welcome in our classes.  You don’t need a partner or a group – come and be part of our yoga community!

New beginners 8 week course starting Tuesday 28th January (12-1pm @ Selby Osteopaths Studio) – come along and discover yoga for yourself!  Contact me to reserve your place!

Love & light,

lucyogini xoxo