Date: Saturday 12th October 2024
Time:  3.00pm – 5.30pm
Venue: The Canvas, 27 Old Ford Road, Bethnal Green, E2 9PJ
Cost: £30.00
Pre-booking required – please contact me to book

This afternoon is an opportunity to really slow down, take care of yourself and explore practices that soothe the mind, body and whole nervous system.

We are living in stressful, challenging and very busy times, and in order to stay calm and balanced we need to regularly carve out time to slow down, take care of ourselves and move away from all of the stimulation of the outside world.

This workshop will allow us to turn inwards, to rest and connect deeply to our body, breath, and present moment sensations.

In doing so, our mind can begin to quieten, our body can release deeply held tension and tightness and find more ease and our nervous system can begin to calm down and help us to feel safe, soothed and relaxed again.

We’ll begin the afternoon with a series of gentle, grounding, mindful and somatic movements to release stress and tension, allowing energy to flow freely but calmly through the body again.

We will also explore a number of soothing and calming practices, including breath work, mudras and self-massage, before eventually settling into some longer-held restorative poses to soak up some deep rest, and connect to a place of inner calm and stillness.

The afternoon will finish with a grounding and calming yoga nidra (deep yoga sleep) practice. Yoga nidra has been described as “an effortless state of restfulness in the form on a horizontal meditation that takes place just on the threshold of sleep.” (Uma Dinsmore Tuli)
Thirty minutes of yoga nidra is said to be the equivalent of three hours sleep and this practice is deeply nourishing and restorative.

By the end you will feel deeply rested, refreshed and recharged – ready to move forwards from a place of inner calm to navigate these ever busy and changing times.

 “Stillness is like water
moving deep inside the earth
seeping slowly between rocks
trickling down 
in the dark
a tide moving inwards.

Stillness is the space
between breaths
inside heartbeats
the silence of the gathering wave
that never breaks.”

Judith Prest

Sogyal Rinpoche, Tibetan Lama

Please contact me if you have any questions or would like to book a place.

Practices to support our transition into this new season

**Live online via Zoom**
Date: Sunday 10th November 2024
Time: 3.30pm-6pm
Cost: £25.00
Pre-booking required – please contact me to book

“There is beauty to be found in the changing of the earth’s seasons, and an inner grace in honouring the cycles of life.” Jack Cornfield

As we move more fully into autumn, and the colours of nature continue to change around us, the temperature drops and the daylight shortens, why not take some time out to rest, centre yourself and allow your mind and body to settle into stillness.

Autumn is traditionally a time for turning inwards and slowing down, when much of the natural world looks towards a period of hibernation, and we should also try to honour this, and remember that life doesn’t always need to be lived at full speed; time for rest, inner reflection and deep relaxation is also so important and necessary for our well-being. This can be a good time to release what no longer serves us, and embrace the changes both in nature and within ourselves.

Deep Autumn rest is so important – not only for your body – but also for your energy, mind and emotions. This is a time to go slower and focus inward, to relax and restore your forces. With the seasonal shift, it’s easy to get out of balance, perhaps feeling exhausted, sluggish, dry, achy or stiff at this time of year.  This afternoon’s practice will help you to rebalance your energy and to restore both body and mind.

The afternoon will begin with some gentle movement so that we are then better able to settle into the stillness of the longer held yin poses. The time we spend in the yin yoga postures is also perfect for quiet contemplation and for developing a sense of inner mental calm. We will take the stillness and peace created during these poses into a long guided relaxation – a yoga nidra practice – to honour and support our transition into this new season.

Allowing the mental chatter of our mind to quieten as our bodies deeply settle into the yin poses, we can begin to perceive the constant and subtle changes in our body, emotions and mental patterns.

Yin yoga affects the meridian channels in the body, and this practice can help to release blocked energy or chi, in same way as acupuncture does, so it can be a very useful practice when we are feeling run down, tired or drained of energy, as we often can be during the change of seasons and the as the days shorten.

You will leave the workshop feeling both deeply relaxed, with a sense of inner stillness and peace, and also fully refreshed, with renewed energy to fully embrace autumn and all of nature’s glory.

This workshop is for everyone interested in slowing down, connecting more deeply to the present moment and finding more calm and peace in their busy lives.

Please contact me to book a place or if you have any questions regarding the workshop

Next Dates: 
Thursdays 31st October – 5th December 2024 (6 weeks) – fully booked
Thursdays 9th January – 6th February 2025 – booking now open
Thursdays 13th February – 13th March 2025
Thursdays 27th March – 24th April 2025
More dates to be announced shortly
Time: 10:15 – 11:15
Cost: £70.00 for 5 week course/ £84.00 for 6 week course
Location: FieldWorks Dance, 274 Richmond Road, London E8 3QW
Pre-booking required for the 5 weeks – spaces are limited to ensure everyone feels comfortable and has enough space

A fun, engaging and relaxing class for mums & babies and a great way to get moving safely again after your pregnancy and birth

This 5 week course is specially designed to help with new mothers’ postnatal recovery whilst also allowing time for engaging, bonding and relaxing with baby.

The course is suitable for all news mums from 6+ weeks postnatal (8 weeks after a Caesarean birth) up until babies are fully crawling.

Each week the focus will be on helping new mothers to begin moving their body again in a safe and gentle way, to regain strength, to open and release areas of tightness and tension in the back, neck and shoulders, and to find space for relaxation. We will also include some gentle yoga stretches, movements and songs for babies.

The course will include movements and breath work to safely and gently tone the abdominal muscles from deep within, allowing them to ‘knit back’ together, and to strengthen the pelvic floor muscles in conjunction with the breath: a ‘closing of the body’ after pregnancy and labour.

The classes also focus on the re-alignment of the spine and pelvis, and encourage an awareness of posture in all movements, including the care and handling of babies.

An emphasis on the breath throughout the classes will help to develop a sense of wellbeing, and we build in time for relaxation so both mothers and babies feel nurtured.

We explore postures and practices mums can do with and without their babies so they can easily continue their yoga at home.

The classes will be informal, fun and relaxed, and mums are free to feed, change, comfort or soothe babies to sleep whenever necessary.

The benefits of regularly attending postnatal classes in the form of a course include:

• the course allows us to build on practices and progress each week
• regular attendance allows you to really feel the benefits of the practice
• it also allows babies to feel more comfortable and at ease in the class, and with other babies
• a regular group builds a greater sense of support and community amongst new mums and babies

The course is a great opportunity to reconnect with familiar faces from pregnancy yoga classes and to get to know other new mums in the local area, and many long-term friendships have been made in these classes.

Please contact me if you have any questions regarding the course or would like to book a place.

T&Cs: please note that the course is non-refundable.