Listening in

MINDFUL MOMENTS # 127

Below, I’ll talk to you about the benefits of yoga that you may not be aware of and why it’s so helpful to have a regular practice. My own practice has tailed off in the absence of teaching my weekly classes and with various trips away, so I write this as much as a reminder for myself as for you.

When life gets busy (gets busy? Isn’t it always?) it’s far too easy to lose ourselves amongst the whims and wishes of others and lose our own shape in our attempts to mould ourselves to those around us. One of the most helpful things I’ve been asked over the past few weeks whenever I’m struggling with a decision is: “What do you want?”. My lovely best friend Alice will then often follow this up with “what do you need?”.

Mindful moment: What do you want? What do you want? Not what someone else wants you to want or wants for you, or what you think you should want, but (at risk of sounding like the Spice Girls) what do you really want? Do you actually want to make that plan or see that person? For me, so often it seems, I realise I’m doing what someone else wants to do, not what I want. This is not about being selfish or about being selfless. It’s about listening to, respecting and understanding our own wants, values and needs. Life will then be so much smoother and simpler when we’re living in alignment with ourselves.

YOGA

Mindful Movement with Laura

Join us every Saturday from 11am-12.15 at the Cornerstone Community Centre in Hove for an all-levels vinyasa yoga flow class, meditation and mindfulness (mats provided or bring your own). 

£6 per class or £24 for 5.

Upcoming classes: Classes will resume September 23rd

MOVE

In the absence of my weekly yoga classes, my own yoga practice has dropped off; has yours? Please don’t mistake yoga for exercise; its benefits are infinitely more than just that alone. Next week, I am very excited to be attending a four-day trauma conference in Oxford, led and hosted by the inimitable Bessel van der Kolk, author of The Body Keeps The Score, a seminal work amalgamating his life’s work understanding how the body responds to traumatic experiences. In the book, there is an entire chapter dedicated to the benefits of yoga and it is no coincidence, then, that there is a yoga practice every morning at the conference. He writes about yoga as “a terrific way to regain a relationship with the interior world and with it a caring, loving, sensual relationship to the self”. In other words, yoga helps us come back to ourselves and helps us to reconnect our emotions to our bodies. In fact, brain imaging shows yoga causes an increase our ability to self-regulate; in our ability to manage, understand and - ultimately - befriend our emotions.

Mindful movement: Are you moving enough? Do you need some yoga in your life? How connected do you feel to your body? Are you aware of what your body is trying to tell you; what emotion is moving through you; what messages is your body is trying to send you? Take some deep breaths. This is all it takes to bring in some gentle body awareness.

REFLECT

“I am forever forward - no hurry, no pause”

- Tim Ferriss

Mindful moment: What does this mean to you? Are you moving forward?

Have we met?

Welcome to the Community.

I'm Laura, a yoga teacher and NHS doctor. With this weekly newsletter I aim to help you incorporate mindful moments into your week. I want you to feel inspired, empowered and creative. I promise to always be authentic; to only include content that speaks to me and which, therefore, I hope will do the same for you.

If you enjoyed reading this, then please consider sharing it with a friend!

Thank you for reading! Until next time, Laura x