Teach Because You Love It

Dear Yogis.

I spent last weekend training with my guru, David Swenson, my Ashtanga teacher. Next year I might have to insist that you come with me, especially if you’re considering taking a yoga retreat or teacher training. Guru Swenson was asked what he would say to an aspiring yoga teacher:

• Teach because you love it.

• Teach when you have students.

• Don't teach to make money. 

• One person is a class. Give your heart and energy and passion for yoga to that student.

• The people who are good teachers would have been good teachers despite their training or where they qualified.

• Teach with sincerity, integrity, and respect the (Ashtanga) system.

• The duty of a teacher is to facilitate and inspire.  

Home Studio

I love to hear: ‘I couldn’t touch my toes when I started coming to yoga’. Yup, I relate to that! I love seeing postures going from absolutely impossible to merely difficult to doable to easy. I love seeing backache or sciatica ease. I find it so exciting to teach you. There are a couple of places left next week. Book a place!

Eden Fitness, New Class

The two Friday morning classes last week, the first with 15 yogis and the second with 20, worked like a charm. Introducing the earlier class has eased the numbers perfectly. Don’t forget the midweek class, Wednesday at 2.30-3.30, too.

Yoga in the News

This writer saw that I’ve turned off the news, lost interest in protest and made yoga my life. I’ve been spotted. “Time to roll up the yoga mats and man the barricades” by Brigid Delaney was in the Guardian this week.

Book Review

I can't help it... I'm attaching an extract from the delightful Running with the Mind of Meditation by Sakyong Mipham 

Under The Mat

Dear Yogis.

Today (November 18th) is the exciting day that the back-to-back classes start at Eden Fitness. It might be time to invest in a mat topper to put over the gym mat which are rarely cleaned and, in any case, weren’t intended for yoga! The last time I wrote about mats was in August, but that was about normal mats. Mat toppers (I think they are generally known as 'travel mats') are thin and light so easy to travel with and, in a gym, will give you a grip that the gym mat wasn’t designed for.

Yoga Mats

Here are a few suggestions. My first mat topper was the Lulu Lemon Un Mat (1.5mm thick ) which is super thin and  inspired many people who come to my classes to get their own. There is grip on one side and a smooth side for practicing jump-throughs. I’ll bring one to class if you want to have a go. Let me know.

The provided mats at the Yoga Show this year were so extraordinarily slippy and anti-practice that I was forced to by a mat. The cheapest I could find was the prAna Mat (1.5mm thick - probably last season’s design on sale) and it wasn’t bad as well as being a jolly design. In the wide-leg forward fold, though, I felt the dreaded slip. Try it if you come to my Home Studio.

Also at the Yoga Show also, the Milochie Mat (3mm thick) really caught my eye. It’s just so lovely, made from rubber, ethically sourced and is foldable. (I have folded my Lulu Lemon mat but a crease is left.) It’s not as thin, but the blue one that caught my eye has a pattern that promises to help with alignment – that pesky 45 degree-angle foot in the standing poses. I spoke at length with the designer who is the daughter of a yoga teacher. She says she would like to offer my readers an exclusive discount code offering 20% off any product across our entire range valid until 31st December. She says: ‘Please use code: goodtimesyoga’. It might make a nice present now that we’re entering the season of presents.

Please send me a review of your mat if you think yours is the best. Look here at the Yoga Studio for a 20% discount.

Training

I will be spending most of this weekend in workshops with David Swenson, my Ashtanga teacher and guru. He's a wonderful teacher who makes clear again and again that yoga is not for an elite club of athletes and that it is our responsibility as yoga teachers to teach anyone of any ability or disability. ‘It is our duty as teachers to figure out how anyone interested can participate’. I agree with this wholeheartedly. See if you can get a place.

Home Studio

Most classes are booked next week but there are spaces left. Quite unlike the summer when the classes are pretty Bikram, now the heater is on and the blind hides the rain outside. I have all kinds of mats for you to try here and plenty of time and equipment to help you achieve those illusive postures.

Enjoy your weekend.

Living with the Mind of Meditation

Dear Yogis,

One of the privileges of being a yoga teacher is seeing the herculean effort some people put into turning up to class. Honestly, I was never so brave as some of you. People come to my class after bereavement or with PTSD or depression or anxiety or panic attacks. I admire you so utterly.  I’ve been thinking about some of you because an esteemed yogi student gave me a present of a book that I treasure more and more with every page: Running with the Mind of Meditation by Sakyong Mipham. Here’s an example of a quote but there are so many delightful thoughts that almost any page offers something for me to pass on to you.

“Imagine that your mind is like your hand, holding a dumbbell. That dumbbell is all your issues and concerns. Being present in meditation is like putting the dumbbell down. Immediately there is less stress in the body and mind.”

Home Studio

Book a place! I watched a class leaving here one evening this week, walking off together into the cold night and smiling and chatting, and I felt overwhelmingly lucky. You’re all such fun to teach – especially when teaching core work. Please remember that groaning is an indication of an exhalation. Take a bit of time to inhale as well  However, groaning, I’m sure, is a sign of ‘being present’ which is very yogic!

New Class

The number of yogis coming to the Friday morning class at Eden Fitness has been growing and growing. Finally, 35 people in the groaning studio last week spurred Eden into Action and we have a new class starting from next Friday (18th November) at 8.30am-9.30am. The regular class at 9.30am to 10.30am remains the same. Back-to-back means a swift turn-over time.

Stay present!

Physio or Yoga?

Dear Yogis,

I sometimes get questions about very, very specific injuries and conditions such as yoga for post meniscus surgery or rotator cuff injury. Other questions that crop up are to do with the upper hamstring insertion pain or many and various back pains. Please see a physio and follow their advice. There’s nothing like their expert analysis. They’ve studied hard for exactly your visit! If you want a recommendation, I have a suggestion of a physio in Ladbroke Grove. I couldn't have healed properly after being knocked off my bike with just yoga - much as I love yoga and it's wondrous benefits. After seeing a physio, a yoga teacher can step in with suggestions that will support the physio advice.

Home Studio

Something really nice is happening in my small yoga studio. People are coming along with family members and friends. I have to admit that I don’t like to go to a yoga studio on my own. Why would i?! I like to share yoga and have fun with a friend. This seems to be happening naturally in my Home Studio. Long-timers know each other anyway and newcomers are quickly made to feel like regulars. Book a place! 

Please don’t forget to give me as much notice as you can if you can’t make it to class. Your confirmation email gives you the option of cancelling and the class will show up on the website for someone else to book.

Yoga in the News

Mick Jagger is in the news for being and Aerial Yoga practitioner. All the articles are so badly written, though, that I can’t include them! This is more interesting... and baffling. There are almost 20,000 unemployed yoga teachers in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand who have a long-standing ‘demand for jobs in state owned schools’. According to this article, ‘In the past, these agitated teachers have held many protests, rallies and demonstrations besides burning effigies of the government officials/ministers and threatening self-immolation.’ Gosh!