5 reasons to revisit or begin your yoga practice in 2016..

I cant lie, as a born again yogi through and through it was hard to make this just 5 points but i have done my best, and highlighting why showing upto your mat does so much more then stretch your limbs and look cool on your Instagram...

BREATHING - I know, we do it all the time right? Or do we? Well, considering without this functionality our physical bodies wouldn't be alive anymore, we don't offer up to much attention or gratitude for our breath. In yoga it is all about the breath, or i believe it should be. The profound effects of simply laying down, hands on your belly and just inhaling for a count of 4-5 and exhaling for the same count is the most simple yet effective way to clear your mind ( which is a noisy monkey at the best of times) and just have a moment to collect yourselves and then move forward with intention. Thing i'm crazy? Put your phone/computer down and try it. Give this attention to the breath for a few hours a week is heaven on a mat.

QUIET YOUR MIND - Our mind is a beautiful gift or a destructive friend, when we spend to much time in it ( cue over stimulation with our phones, emails, over thinking) and never just switch off, check out, whatever you wanna call it. We can become a slave to it, where it begins to control us as opposed to us controlling it. Our inner knowing, our gut feelings gets lost and we bounce from thing to thing never really knowing how we got there or where we are going. Our yoga practice puts us safely out of reach of devices and teaches us to drop the awareness down into the body and experience what it feels like to be within it, in that moment, nothing more and nothing less.

NO BARKING TEACHERS* - sometimes i feel like there are far to many situations we find ourselves in in life where we have to do things a certain way, harder/faster/better then the person next to us etc etc. Don't get me wrong, there are times when this is appropriate but equally there are times when we need to just accept and embrace wherever we are that day, take a breath and acknowledge what we are feeling. I was once told that your one job as a yoga teacher is to remind your students that they are divine beings, just as they are. High five to that! Coming to your mat is a place to serve the body in that exact moment and if that means and hour of child's pose or belly breathing? Fabulous. (* i cant promise non barky teachers but i promise there are many)

OPEN YOUR BODY - I love the gym, crossfit, running all the upbeat exercise, i use to be a huge junkie of them in actual fact and found yoga boring, like this long drawn out stretching game that i just wanted to win. Thankfully times have a changed and nothing makes me happier then feeling free within my body, to opening up all the areas that take a beating through everyday life, be it training - working at a desk or just picking your kids up and down. Breathing and softening into these postures open your body in a way that is hugely impactful to your everyday movement. Plus, your bicecps wont be as important to you in your 80s, more so the flexibility and movement of your hips or the strength of your spine. Invest in both elements of keeping a strong body and a peaceful mind.

YOU DESERVE IT - CONNECT WITH THE DIVINE - EMBRACE WHO YOU ARE - Ok, i had to get a few in the last point. Find a teacher you resonate with ( there is one for us all, just do a bit of research trial and error) get out of that monkey mind and take the time to just transcend reality and remember you are but a speck in this epic universe. Meeting yourself on the mat each time you arrive to it, breathing into your body and quietening your mind is something that i cant tell you about really, its something that you can only experience yourself.

When you do ( because you will right...) notice the ripple effect this inner peace has on your life off the mat, your relationships and your decisions, as the practice takes form way beyond making shapes and enriches every aspect of our lives.

Namaste yogis and yogis to be.

Hells

**WARNING - The above is based on no actual fact and just my humble opinion**

Yoga, a flexible body or a flexible mind?

' I would love to do yoga but im just not flexible enough' if i had even $1 for everytime i heard this, infact, for all the times we have all heard this or maybe repeated this to ourselves. Its safe to say we would be multi billionaires right now. We really do have a deep obsession with believing that we need a flexible body to practice yoga, don't we?

Its not surprising, of course, since the west embraced yoga and the craze began of making it into this elite bending competition, perhaps it is or was the only conclusion we were ever going to come to.

Although, really, this statement of being ' not flexible enough' makes as much sense as saying that you aren't 'fit' enough to go to the gym. Yoga does indeed have this element of stretching and making shapes in it, in the asana practice ( physical practice) but wouldn't it be a shame if this huge subject made up of living compassionately, kindly and lovingly to ourselves, to others, reminding us or teaching us to live freely whilst letting go of fear. Wouldn't it be as shame if this was defined or denied to us just by whether we could or couldn't get our legs over our heads?

Whilst the 'making shapes aspect' gets the most attention outside of class, 99% of regular practitioners i speak to or students never give feedback on the physicality aspect of yoga ( although im sure like most of us, that is the initial reason we may begin yoga) and almost always explain instead how it makes them feel. The amazing feeling to just breathe in peace, to have there mind come to stillness for that hour in there week, that instead of someone barking at them to hurry up, be quicker, push harder they are invited to just be, to slow down and listen to whatever it is there body has to say ( and yes if that is 65 visits to childs pose, a rest posture during class, fabulous) aren't we missing out on all the beauty that exists if we purely focus on the shapes the body makes, or in this case, the shapes we think our bodies 'cant' make?

For me,Yoga is so much more then stretching. It is dropping the awareness from my insanely active mind and reuniting it with the body. Its having time to just breathe and listen to what it is my heart, my soul and deepest thoughts have to say instead of drowning them out with comparisons and noise, reminding me, all of us, that we are abundant and perfect exactly as we are ( beyond make up, clothes and Instagram filters)

It is Union (yoga) of anything and everything, breath with body, mind with spirit,  'individual' with community the list is endless,

 A flexible body isn't the requirement for a yoga practice more that of a flexible mind.

 As a statement graffitied on a wall in Asia once read to me, 'The mind is a gift we often forget to open'

So please, don't let your creaky hips or tight shoulders stand in the way of you and this beautiful practice, find a teacher that speaks to you, that resonates ( i believe there is one out there for everyone) let go of your expectations, your fears and allow your body mind and spirit be opened upto this ancient and abundant practice.

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The beauty of beginnership

How often do you catch yourself only enjoying a moment when it becomes a memory?
Ive noticed a lot of things about myself since my teaching journey began but one thing has really stuck out this year as I've embarked upon new business ventures. The strange and funny relationship that I have with being a beginner, maybe some of you can relate to this. I have found I was hiding behind the term so that no one expected anything much from me. That I could slip into new opportunities without being weighed down by the expectations of others. At other times I was trying so desperately to sprint 10,000 miles past the term to be viewed as this accomplished figure.

Having become a little tired of flitting between the above, I took some time to reflect upon all of the times in life when we have faced this interesting relationship with the term and its loading. Firstly, at the beginning of our lives as children when we desperately wished we were older, to reach all those seemingly more exciting stages of life, (all I wanted to do was wear my sisters old topshop cast offs and go dancing in the under 18s discos) 
Or when we are on our yoga mats in our warm up, rushing through the breaths and movements to get to the more glorified postures, the handstands and arm balances that look 'cooler' on our instagram posts. 
Now I'm pretty sure you are all with me here when I say, in both cases we miss out on so much of the beauty that already exists where we are.
Under 18 discos really just consisted of trying to pull your dress down the whole evening and when we finally get to those ‘cool’ postures it’s the end of the practice and we wish we could do it all over again but this time paying attention.

How often do you catch yourself reminiscing about something you have done, nostalgic and wishing that you had just enjoyed it at the time, before it became a memory? So when I noticed this in myself, I had, (and still have to), take a step back and look at all the things I'm missing out on and that maybe we all miss out on when we start something new, when we are too busy dealing with being that dreaded word 'beginner'

Let us remember we are a beginner because we have made the courageous choice to start something new, that it isn't something dreaded but instead a new adventure. How incredibly lucky we are to have the opportunity to expand our learning, the butterflies in our stomachs, the excitement of meeting new people, friends and colleagues .All the things you have yet to learn, to know and to discover.

How much are we missing out on trying to get somewhere else? Perhaps you have always wanted to start practicing yoga, take up a morning run or join your local art class. Maybe it has always been put off because of the negative loading of being new, being a beginner.

So this week I challenge you to view the term with fresh eyes and when you find yourself rushing through stop, ask yourself why, where is it you are heading to exactly, and what is actually going to happen when you finally 'arrive'?
 

I would love to hear how you get on, comment or get in touch below - Helen x

 

 

The V word.

 

It's been around 10 months since meat left my diet and around 8 months since milk walked on out.  Now, for someone who ate meat at every meal (steak for breakfast kinda girl) and didn’t even know the difference between vegan and vegetarian until last year, this a big turning point.
There is this common misconception that everyone who is ‘vegan’ or ‘veggie’ has a shaved purple head, smells of BO and waves their arms up in the air to the infinite from their treehouse in the forest where they have retreated in disgust at human life and now hug trees for an occupation. I don’t make any judgement at people who hold this view because to be honest I was once one of them, quaffing as I chowed down my 3rd steak of the day. 

But it doesn’t have to be that extreme or ‘out there’, I don’t even know that it is/was a conscious decision to stop consuming meat but more of one of deciding to live in truth. Educating myself on what is going on in this crazy world we live in (crazy but amazing world that we live in!) especially when it comes to what happens behind closed doors in the factory farmed, corporate, money making world. No, I'm not about to show you horrifying pictures or describe scenes of animal death but what I will quietly suggest is that for anyone that is continually outraged at corporate and government gain based on deception start to really look into what is happening on our very doorsteps. Not just in the wild USA (that was a common excuse for me when watching factory farm exposing films ‘ oh that terrible but it doesn’t happen here, its just in the states’). Lets not kid ourselves here, USA is worse, yes, but we are not exempt in the UK or Australia. 

 

I say meat and milk made their own way out the door because once I bit the bullet and actually looked at the facts there was no decision to be made. There was no hard struggle involved of self-restraint. I didn’t want to buy into that world anymore. The truth smacked me in the face and I had to take notice.  I sat through difficult documentaries such as the incredible food inc; uncomfortable and difficult because the content was something I knew I had known about and still brought into. I saw the human cost caused by me consuming these animal products, the farmers out of work having undergone the most awful treatment from corporations, from families that have lost children over the chemicals in our food and I thought for what? For the sake of me ‘having’ to eat something that I think will be fitting for my latest fitness trend. Surely I can do better than that? 

I am very much against the current corporate/ media controlled state that we have come to in recent years. Tired of people being exploited, of disparity being so common, of everyday people being so disconnected from each other, choosing hate over unity and mostly of governments and corporations profiting off all of this, rolling this theme worldwide with lies whilst keep looking the other way.                  

I am not stating that dropping meat from your diet will save the world or that you should drop your beloved chicken curry from your diet forever but what I am saying is that we should back up the rally for change that 99% of people I meet want by educating ourselves, living in truth and doing our bit to make a change. For a small act from all of us in unity would change the current system as we know it (and you will feel that little bit lighter knowing that your hard earned cash isn’t going into the pocket of souls that mistreat others so terribly). 

 

I recently was told a story by an amazing Isreali lady who likened a factory farming doco to the holocaust, that it was no different just to animals instead of humans. She shared a story of her granddad who was detained in a detention centre during in Hitlers reign. There was a soldier who clearly opposed what was happening but was, of course, too afraid to stand up through fear for his life. Still, everyday he risked it by leaving crumbs for her granddad after each meal. If it hadn’t had been for that small but very brave gesture he would have died and this whole generation of his family wouldn’t exist. Herself, her sisters, her babies… all through one man's small gesture.  

 

What if we all lived in truth, educated ourselves with the information that is being so desperately hidden, understood that each time that beep is made at the check-out we cast a vote of how things should be. If we all made one small change: be it a meatless meal or day a week, almond milk over cows milk in your coffee, teaching our children that not just cats and dogs should be respected and cared for but all animals - what wave of change would we create? How much further could we move towards that world that we all so desperately crave?

 

If you would like to make a small or big change but aren’t sure how, it’s something that many people struggle with when making transitions. Here are some books and website that I have found so educational and helpful. From where you get protein from (something you will hear every waking moment when you say you are the V word) to living ethically in the city.  Its all there

 

http://ediblethebook.com/

http://deliciouslyella.com/

http://ohsheglows.com/

http://www.peta.org/living/food/making-transition-vegetarian/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKIeWeoqpfc

 

I also highly recommend Sharron Gannons book, yoga and vegetarianism. Don't be put off by the title, the book Is something I read directly after watching food inc and helped reinstate the importance of the change I was about to make. Its educational and inspiring.

 

Hells x

 

Letting that S#!$ go!

Whilst on holiday over Christmas this year I realized there was an underlying theme to the hopes/dreams I had for the year ahead, I had written so many different ideas down that when I took a moment to reread it all I saw it was based on that very simple but extremely difficult practice of, letting go.

In yogi philosophy this is known as 'Aparigraha' Non grapsing, loosening our grips. Letting go of what I think I should be doing, of being concerned with what anyone else is doing, letting go of the past, letting go of fear in all its capacity. Letting go of the stories my mind tells me, not good enough, not this enough, what if this, what if that. Although the past has brought us to where we are and of course is of great value it can also be a hindrance to us ever moving forward.

How often do i hear myself wondering back to why i can’t do something because a past conversation, opinion or story of mine or someone elses? Perhaps If i were to just let go, move forward with a sense of freshness that nothing had happened before, nothing could hold me back, miraculous things could or should I say would take place.

Today I taught my first ever ‘real’ yoga class, to a group of beautiful, diverse yogis. Most of which I had never met before and a style of class I haven’t practiced teaching. I woke up this morning with that nervous/excited feeling of ahh im finally going to teach! After all that time invested in training, it’s happening. Then the usual boring story of self- doubt crept into my head, the naysayer voice spoke up again but something different happened this morning. I didn’t listen! I laid there thinking right you cannot get out of this bed until you are leaping out fist punching the air screaming ‘I CAN DO THIS!’ and that’s what I did! I laid there repeating those words again and again until I believed them and jumped out of bed like a karate kid ready to yogify the world! Well, something like that anyway. As the nerves tried to kick down my door in the lead up and throughout the class I somehow managed to just ignore them and remember that this is fun, this is why I spent all those months training and studying. Let go of that idea that im not this or im not that, im enough and I can do this. So after de-briefing with my Mentor Rachel, I realised that the underlining theme of success throughout the class was just loosening my grip to all of the above. Letting it go.

Isn’t it what we all need to a little more of? After all we have never been here before. We have never lived this moment right here, right now in each part of the world we are currently in. It is all new, it is all a fresh adventure with tracks that have never been walked on before.

Cheshire cat smiles at the end of my first class with my Mentor Rachel.

 If we could engage with all the above every time doubt or fear comes into our minds then I have no doubt that life would be a lot more fruitful and our minds would have so much more space for far more valuable things.

So that’s my tagline into this fresh new exciting year, Let that shit go!

Hellsx