Collective Heart: A beautiful meditation that I use to cultivate a felt relationship with my physiological heart as well as the heart of awareness itself. Open to a felt sense of appreciation, call in what you need and offer up what you can. A beautiful practice to connect and rest your mind into your heart, exploring the relationship between the personal and the universal.
10 Minute Flow: A short and sweet flow for when you’ve only got 10 minutes and you want to get your practice in and bring some movement and presence into your day. Props: 1 block (you can do without). Enjoy!
Integrating Opposites: Contemplating a leadership skill Brene Brown calls: the capacity to hold two opposite things to both be true. How does integrating opposites and holding both to be true reveal itself in our practice on a physical and philosophical level? The podcast that sparked this contemplation was Brene Brown’s podcast Dare to Lead, in her conversation with Barack Obama - I highly recommend checking it out!
Guru Mantra Tutorial 2: A slightly more complicated but beautiful chord progression for the Guru Mantra that I learned from Stephanie Snyder, with a peace prayer added at the end. “The teacher is in all the beginnings, all that is sustained, all of the change and loss and challenge. The teacher is nearby and beyond the beyond, I bow down to that teacher that is indeed everywhere.“
On Boundaries: Contemplating the porousness of our boundaries looking at writing and ideas from ancient and contemporary sources. Perhaps we are not as ‘fixed’ as we imagine? What does it mean to be in relationship with our environment? What is your felt experience of the collective? I refer to: Radical Wholeness by Philip Shepherd, Small Arcs of Larger Circles by Nora Bateson, The Recognition Sutras (Ksemaraja, translation Chris Wallis), and Basic Neurocellular Patterns by Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen.
A little bit of everything: A well rounded flow that nurtures a lot, challenges a little, moves between specific and free form movement, and invites options for playful balance explorations. We close with a yummy rest and some chanting. Great for when you need a little bit of everything.
Downward facing savasana: A guided rest practice exploring downward facing savasana. Soften your skin and ease into the support of earth beneath and space above; relish and replenish. Can be used as a practice on it’s own, or before or after another shorter class when you want some extra quiet rest. You can do this without props, but if you have the following they can be wonderful additions: A bolster or two (or 3 sleeping pillows), a yoga block (or rolled up towel), a blanket or two, and an eye pillow (or rolled up hand towel)
Post run practice: Some of my go to practice favourites after a run to release and refresh. Starting with some myofascial release for our feet using a tennis or therapy ball (quick to skip if you don’t have one) and moves into a leg focused flow with some supported backbends and floor based stretchy goodness at the end. Props: Ball, yoga strap, block. This can of course also be done without the run (!) to release tired legs & feet.
When we get stuck in our head: What happens when the centre of our awareness is located in our head? A comparative study of descriptions on what happens when we over identify with our ‘head intelligence’, looking at the Sutras on the Heart of Recognition by Ksemaraja, written about 1000 years ago, and Philip Shepherd’s book, Radical Wholeness, written in 2017. The translation I refer to for Ksemaraja’s book is the Recognition Sutras by Chris Wallis.
Innermost & Outermost: A creative flow moving around the mat, exploring the relationship between the outermost layer of our body and the innermost workings of our nervous system. The skin and nervous system arise from the same source within the embryo. Feel into that relationship in this practice as you start with supported supine postures, challenge your balance, find your strength and power, and close with supported backbends and a yummy long rest. Props: A strap/tie and a block or rolled up towel.
Clarity & Direction: A balanced and fluid flow exploring clarity & direction as we move, in particular though the lower limbs. Starts with a floor based sequence to create space in our legs and moves into a continuous fluid practice with options to make practice stronger if you like, and play with side plank variations and balances as we find clarity, strength and reach through our legs.
Strong & Playful: A challenging class that plays with weight shift, balance, handstands and momentum. A variety of movement textures with asymmetrical movement woven through out to challenge our proprioception and forge new pathways. Options to play with press handstand variations (that are also easy to ignore and skip if that’s not fun for you). Less talking & instruction and more of a guided creative movement flow. Enjoy!
Sweaty Mood Booster: This practice is designed to get you feeling strong, get your circulation going, your heart beating, and invigorate and boost your mood with the magic of dynamic motion. For days when you need to shake things up and get a little sweaty and out of breath! Dynamic strength work, handstand hops, some stretchy goodness and rest interwoven for a feel good booster in a short amount of time. Take what you need, leave what you don’t, and have fun.
Flow & Restore: Start slowly, enjoy rolling movements on the ground, sneak into a little flow and settle into some restorative postures to close. A go to fave when I need to move, rest and replenish in equal measure. Props: 2 Blankets and a bolster or two sleeping pillows/ large cushion.
Creative Rib Flow: A practice focused on freeing up space and exploring the relationship between the ribs and spine. Through some dynamic movements, some very specific movements and some free flow, we open to a spacious spine-rib relationship. Play with a creative sequence including progressive ways into camel pose, leg strengtheners, crow pose play and a subtle but powerful floor based movement segment before we rest and chant.
Winter Solstice - a personal retreat for your nervous system: A 2 hour deep reset for your nervous system. This is a solstice practice but you can use it any time of year when you need support in slowing down and receiving the nourishment of stillness. We use a wide variety of practices to ease into stillness, beginning with sound, a little bit of movement to shake things up in order to settle into a floor based somatic flow focused on finding space around the ribs and spine, and finally dropping into longer held restorative postures, a mini sound bath and chanting to close. Treat Yourself! Props: Bolster or two pillows, yoga block if you have, 3 blankets, chair or wall.
