As our world begins to reopen bit by bit over the coming months, have you given thought to how you can create a practice of stillness to help you navigate this period? Stillness doesn’t mean being stationery, if you lie on the grass and look up you will see our world is constantly moving. As you sit and read this your feet might be moving, you are breathing, your mind might already be thinking of lunch and what to cook for dinner.

There are so many ways to embrace stillness that don’t involve sitting still for hours on end in a stuck position. Meditation, and if you are new to meditation please approach this like you would anything else, start small. Some people tell me they try to meditate for 20 minutes a day. When I ask how this is working out, mostly it’s not very well. So be kind to yourself and try 5 minutes. It can be hard to develop a meditation practice, so start small, create achievable goals.

Perhaps you enjoy walking. Can you do this without listening to a podcast (and believe me I love podcasts). However if this particular walk is part of your stillness practice try without the podcast. Also try walking without music. Music is wonderful but again if this walk is part of your stillness practice leave it off.

Or maybe you enjoy reading poetry, the song of words on a page. The comfort of reading the beauty of an artist’s voice. Again be there, read the poem absorb it. It doesn’t mean approaching some practice from a stuck position but rather an approach to moving through the world.

Swimming in the sea, how can we still in the sea? Very easily, lie on your back drink in the vastness of the big blue overhead. This for me at the moment is my practice of stillness.

The benefits of being still are enormous. There is so much comfort in taking time each day to allow the body to absorb everything nature is offering you. You might even say it is a shelter, a place of refuge, a quiet in the midst of chaos.

Try to be attentive, whenever you can, to the spaces between thoughts. This is where the wisdom resides. There exists in In your mind an unchanging field of awareness, which in itself is never altered by the thoughts or experiences passing through it.

Whenever possible, sense into that still ever-present awareness.

Everything that changes has an unchanging stillness at its heart.

The Curious Yogi –

Thank you so much to those who have booked into the Curious Yogi course. This 4 week course starts Monday 24th 7-9pm. There is still time to join us simply click here to do so.

Schedule this week –

Tuesday 9am – Morning Flow, the class to build strength.

Wednesday 8.30pm – Nidra on Instagram Live

Thursday 7pm – WindDown, the class to nourish your body in a safe and gentle way

Saturday 10am – Nature inspired Vinyasa, a class to raise your hear rate. Do as much as you need, nothing more.

To join me for 30 days of Yoga please click here. But also know that you can drop in to classes whenever you like with drop in rates available for all classes.

Have a wonderful week.

Much love,

Chris

The Body is a Pathway to Freedom not a road block. So in that vein how has April been for you so far? Kids went back to school today, some of you went back to work and some of our lives have remained the same. However you are this Monday, in mind, body & spirit has Ahimsa formed part of your thinking and action so far? The invitation at the start of April was to bring Ahimsa into your practice. For each of you coming to class with me you are on a journey of 3 live yoga practices each week. Each class works a different element of your practice. Each class gives you the tools to help navigate life just a little easier. So let me ask you how is your vibration? When Ahimsa is practiced continuously in thought, word & deed you are living with and moving with harmonious vibrations.

Ahimsa is part of the first of the eight limbs known as yama, or practices of self-regulation designed to free us from being victims of our own human impulses. Yama practices are likened to cleaning techniques for our minds, bodies, and spirits that allow us to live more conscious, liberated lives. Asana for the body to move, Pranayama for our breath to travel, Meditation to settle the mind. The power of Asana is to allow us to sit still with ourselves, to allow us to be content.

To join me in class this week –

Tuesday 9am Morning flow, a class to build strength.

Wednesday 8.30pm Nidra live on Instagram live. Grab a blanket and lie down for total relaxation.

Thursday 7pm WindDown yoga, a class where we take our time to get into poses. We settle the breath & mind and then hold for a few minutes.

Saturday 10am Nature Inspired Vinyasa flow, a faster paced class beginning with Surya Namasker and the odd inversion.

To join the 30 days of Yoga please click here. If you don’t want to commit to 30 days of Yoga then drop in rates are available for all classes.

The Curious Yogi

If you are curious to know more about Yoga, it’s origins, the history of the practice, of Asana and how Yoga looks in the modern world then please join me on April 26th for ‘The Curious Yogi’. The 4 modules of this course will take place over 4 Mondays 7-9pm. The modules are Yoga History & Philosophy, Yoga Asana, The Modern Yogi & Yoga off the Mat. This course is a place for those who have maybe thought about doing a teacher training but also for those who are interested in the timeless teachings and many styles of yoga that have grown from the lineage of Krishnamacharya. The inspiration behind many styles of modern yoga including Ashtanga, Vinyasa, Hatha Flow, Iyengar Yoga and the teachings of his son Desikachar. The training is grounded in yoga’s ancient roots as well as its modern blossoming. To join me for this course please click here.

Have a wonderful week, be kind to yourselves and to one another.

x Chris

Join me for 30 days of Ahimsa Yoga. Following on from last week’s invitation to bring Ahimsa into your practice, Ahimsa will form the base of our yoga for the month of April. Ahimsa in our practice means all of the joy and fun of exploring your body in yoga but perhaps closing your eyes and really tuning in to what it means to be moved from the inside out.

The invitation to move with Ahimsa is a gentle intuitive practice that allows you to move from the heart. If you would like to join me please click here to buy your pass. You will receive a 7 day recording after class. Tuesday will be all about building strength. Wednesday’s offering is a reset Nidra. Thursday’s class is where you WindDown, taking time to get into poses and then holding them, we end this class with a 10 minute Savasana. Saturday’s class is a faster pace combining Surya Namasker, inversions & meditation.

For those who have asked for the Spotify list, click here to listen to the Spring playlist.

On April 26th – May 17th I will be teaching a 4 week course titled “The Curious Yogi”. This course will take place on 4 Monday evenings. This course will cover the History of Yoga including yoga philosophy, Yoga Asana, The Modern Yogi and Yoga off the Mat. This course has taken me about 6 months to write, I am so excited to bring this course to you. Full booking details will be up on my site later this week. I will be limiting this course in numbers so it becomes a more immersive space for all on the course.