A Free Yoga Nidra for if you Wake Up at Night
Yoga Nidra if you’ve woken up in the night by Melanie Cooper We’ve all had those nights: you wake up in the small hours and suddenly your mind is wide awake. The stress of knowing you “should” be asleep can spiral, leaving you worrying about feeling tired, foggy, and drained the next day. This is […]
What is nidra and how can it help me?
What is Yoga Nidra and how can it help me? By Rina Modi teacher training Manager at the Shala Over the last few years I have heard more and more yogi’s talk about Yoga Nidra, with an increasing number of teachers offering this practice as well as the demand for teacher trainings in this area. […]
What is Yoga?
What is Yoga? Yoga is many things to many people. When we ask this question on our teacher training programmes we usually end up with many words scrawled all over a huge whiteboard. Yoga is hard to define as it is so expansive and all-encompassing. Here we have chosen 8 words we associate with yoga. […]
Pregnancy yoga – Benefits for prenatal wellness and birth
Pregnancy Yoga – Benefits for Pre-Natal Wellness & Birth “Whenever and however you give birth, your experience will impact your emotions, your mind, your body and spirit for the rest of your life” Ina May Gaskin Designer Pregnancy and birth is a multi-faceted time in a woman’s life. Whatever the journey, there are for sure […]
Burnout | Wellness Series
Yoga for Burnout What is burnout? It is a term we often refer to, particularly interchangeably with stress, but what does it actually mean? As a wellbeing coach working with adults and young people, burnout often presents in a plethora of ways with one common factor – exhaustion. Recently the World Health Organisation classified burnout […]
Yoga nidra & the art of relaxation
The inability to rest and sleep is a common disorder of our modern day age and many of us feel that we must be switched on and available 24/7. We spend more and more time concentrating on the many channels of digital communication on top of everyday pressures, and it can easily be the case […]
What is the brains most important job?
What is the brain’s most important job? Thinking? Feeling. Making us feel happy or sad, In fact it’s not any of the jobs you may associate with the brain. The brain’s most important job is running a budget for your body. Every thought we have, every action we take, every move we make is ultimately […]
How to support your home restore (yin) classes
In these strange times of imposed isolation, an accessible yoga practice can help ground the body and calm the mind. The Restore classes at the Shala often encompass poses from several styles that range from the prop-heavy Restorative Yoga style to the traditionally prop-free Yin Yoga. Over the few weeks I have been teaching online, […]
Practice while you can
This is a mantra I’ve repeated hundreds of thousands of times over the years when I was too hungover, depressed, heartbroken, anxious, sad or just couldn’t be arsed to get to the yoga studio. It’s also what I’ve told many people I’ve taught. Not just the able-bodied ones, but especially the less able, older people, […]
Yoga nidra as a journey through the brain waves
Yoga Nidra as a journey through the brain waves by Melanie Cooper . Like yoga itself, Yoga Nidra is both a process and state. It is a set of techniques to help people get into the state of consciousness between waking and sleeping. Yoga Nidra literally means “Yogic Sleep”, but it’s not really about sleeping, it’s […]
The gift of mindfulness
‘The precious gift of Mindfulness; like putting on a shade of brightness and clarity, mindfulness works in its simplicity. Years ago, I remember being in Moscow on a prestigious acting course and the teacher asking us pupils: “When are we truly happy?”. There was a lot of silence and thinking, followed by talking about what […]
Exploring mysore classes
A common misconception about Mysore “self-practice” classes is that they are for advanced practitioners only, but this is not the case. In fact we regularly encourage students who are newer to the practice to join our Mysore classes, especially if they have specific needs due to injury, health conditions etc. The only real prerequisite to […]
Open your voice, open your heart
Mantras are a powerful tool to calm the mind, reduce incessant thinking, and create focus and empowerment in our lives. They work on the principle of sound vibrations affecting our subtle, spiritual and physical bodies in a specific way. Mantras originate not only from India but also from cultures and traditions all around the world. […]
Harness the energy of the full moon
By Amy Bisazza The first full moon of the year in Cancer offers us an opportunity to create a strong foundation for the direction we wish to move in during 2017. The new and full moon have long been recognised and celebrated as auspicious times of the month in Yogic, Buddhist, farming and gardening traditions. Every […]
Brightening our inner skies
By Norman Blair I have been planning to write Brightening Our Inner Skies for more than ten years. There are notes that I made in April 2005. In 2008, I was writing down possible titles such as Opening Doors. Brightening Our Inner Skies seeks to help the reader to have a better understanding of Yin yoga. And […]
Rolling your way to a happier body
By Nichi Green The instant I started body rolling, my body felt more relaxed, more balanced, I felt better alignment in my joints, I felt my weight differently in my feet. My legs felt more alive and more toned. It was like the best massage I’d ever had but I was able to give this to […]
What can mindfulness do for you?
by Susie Ball Mindfulness seems to be having its moment right now. Everyone from Ruby Wax, to Google, to the UK parliament is singing its praises. Is mindfulness a fad, or can it bring sustainable and meaningful benefits to our lives? For me, mindfulness is far from a flash in the pan – it’s a way […]
On the ball
When someone gives you a ball, the first thing that comes into your mind is to drop kick it, or head it into a goal – it certainly isn’t to spend a Sunday afternoon rolling your body around it. “Breath into the ball” Nichi says pushing my hip down as the ball meets a deep […]
Yamuna body rolling
By Nichi Green The moment I started body rolling I loved it. Instantly my body felt more relaxed, more balanced. I felt better alignment in my joints. I felt my weight differently in my feet. My legs felt more alive and more toned. It was like the best massage I’d ever had but I was […]
Introduction to zen meditation with brad warner
The Zen Art of Sitting Down and Shutting Up 2–5pm Sunday 20th September 2015 Cost: £25 Brad Warner is widely regarded as one of the most exciting new voices in Buddhism, bringing an informal, witty and down-to-earth approach to meditation and life in general. Brad is certainly not your typical Zen Buddhist monk, so if your […]
Slowing down with yin yoga
Beneath our busy and hectic modern lives, can lie oceans of exhaustion. In this world of speed where the senses are intensely stimulated, in our culture of distractions and instant gratification, what we often most deeply require is…slowing down. Come and experience yin yoga this Saturday afternoon with Norman Blair one of the most experienced […]
Wild bathing
Winding right down to a soporific state is the main agenda at Eco Yoga in Scotland. A retreat here involves ashtanga yoga practice to the sound of the waterfall, high-quality vegetarian food, massages, star-lit hot tubs and wild bathing al fresco in the glorious Scottish countryside. The healing and rejuvenating water therapies (Jacuzzi, sauna, outdoor baths) are a cure-all for […]