Blog - Page 16 of 16

November 29, 2013

What if I’m not flexible for yoga?

A common misconception for people fearing their first yoga class is, ‘what if I’m not flexible enough?!’ This is a strong reason why it’s a good idea to give it a go, you can go a long way with it. Yoga is however, also much more than just stretching and strengthening the body.

When I started on my yoga and Pilates journey 4 years ago, when I tried to bend over to touch my toes, I could barely even get past my knees! Many years of running, kickboxing, weight training, netball, hockey and other such activities had left my flexibility in a stiff state. 4 years on and well, you’re reading this from my website so you can see how bendy I’ve now become! Not only bendy but the strongest it’s ever been.

Yoga and Pilates are intelligent and scientific approaches to making the most of the body, stretching the antagonist muscles while you work deeper to strengthen it’s agonist; always utilising the fact that our muscles work in pairs. If you take a look at either of these activities and the mechanics they use, it can unveil to you just how beneficial they are for the whole body, mind and spirit; what you can get out of life as the potentially sweet package it is.

The key to not feeling like an idiot in a yoga class when you’re new is to
1) find a good teacher who breaks down each posture to enable even the stiffest of bodies to make the most of where they’re at and
2) leave any judgement of how you or anyone else (able or unable) is doing outside of the class, or even better yet, stick any judgement in a box for a while and see how great you are without it

Long and short, YOGA IS FOR EVERYONE – if you’re less bendy right now, it just means it’s easier for you to find the place which will help you to focus without yet having to tie yourself up in crazy knots to find the same lesson! 😉

November 27, 2013January 20, 2014

Thank you!

So much thanks to the people who have given me love and support over the last couple of years and helped me to realise and then continue to achieve my intention of further sharing Love and Happiness with the people I meet. Yes I know – I’m a bit of a tree hugger but hay – we can’t all be tuned into the same frequency but I’m happy with that. Who wants to be the same as everyone else!? That’s why we’re all born different. EXPRESS YOURSELF 😉 Class is a great place to get expressing this through your interpretation of the yoga postures I’ll take you on a journey through during each lesson.

Thanks to Aneesh, Ahmid, Samantha and the wonderful crew at Brilliant Corners!

Now the hard work starts, promoting the classes and seeing who is in the right space and time to learn some tools for delving deeper into themselves and discovering the space where ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE 😉

Also, HUGE thanks also to Mr Kay Suzuki for helping me to make this all possible– producer, dj, promoter, marketing expert, chef, love bringing and entrepreneur. Arigato Kay and big thanks to all reading this x

November 25, 2013January 20, 2014

Fail to Prepare and Prepare to Fail

And that’s why at Core-Focus HQ work is still going into preparing class structures, chillax time tune(s) and all the little bits of detail which will no doubt be lost to improvisation when in the moment tomorrow night!

It’s always sods law – prepare a class plan and it wont get used – but I’d rather put my intention into action and have a variety of hot options to deliver tomorrow night, depending on who comes and steps on the mat

See you tomorrow! x

November 24, 2013January 20, 2014

More Class Prep: Aromas and Love

With the weekend drawing to a wind down, it’s time for some more class preparation. Next on the list, give the new mats some love. I’m mixing several drops of patchouli oil in hot water and using a couple of cotton towels to cleanse and then dry the mats, with the intention of bringing to any students who use them the best of my good vibes.

Not too sure if the aroma will stick around on the mats (if it doesn’t it will be extremely mild, so to not put you off your yoga practice) but I feel intentions make the world of difference to both the giver and the receiver; they ultimately become the backbone of what you do and how you do it. I hope you can all feel the love. In the words of the great John Lennon ‘All you need is Love’ (and of course air, food and water I hear a few cynics say; but if everyone has love for everyone, then there is ALWAYS more than enough to go around). J

A teeny bit more motive behind my use of patchouli oil:

Technically we have 5 senses (6 if you include the intuitive sense modern day science is still trying to get a handle on), smell being one of them. Healing, stimulation, calming and exciting can all be invoked within us using one of our senses – i.e. we see or hear an artist’s creation on canvas or vinyl or perhaps even just the taste of a rich, dark (fairly traded) chocolate soothing ones soul. Smells too help us to achieve different states of being. From the little I have picked up by being around my cousin and my best friend, who are both fabulous massage therapists and adept with the scented world of essential oils, I am intrigued by the power of smells (preferably the more pleasant ones). Thus I chose patchouli oil to prepare the mats with because of its grounding and uplifting nature, having no contraindications for known groups of people and generally, I find it very balancing. This also aligns well with my intention for what yoga can bring into a community such as ours.

This is where I got mine in case you are interested 🙂

http://www.enaissance.co.uk/patchouli

Happy Sunday Beautiful x

November 22, 2013January 20, 2014

We have equipment!! Things are starting to heat up over here!

YES!! Equipment has arrived!! 9 New sticky Ecotex mats and 10 blocks to get us started with!

😀

VERY Exciting! Finally the tangible link between Core-Focus Yoga and Brilliant Corners has arrived. Classes are enabled in the physical sense

Next steps – clean the mats and get a bit deeper into class sequencing prep

Class plans are looking hot already! We’ll be focusing on heating up the body and burning all that extra festive booze or foods, then leading you into a calm and warm state where you can relax and unwind

It’s also my intention to give each mat a bit of love in the form of a cleanse, using a smidgen of essential oil diluted into pure warm water; to personally ensure the mats are in tip-top state and making full use of their stickiness. Helping you to get the best experience out of these classes!