Yoga is moving meditation How it can improve your mental clarity and wellbeing I've been meditating for many years.  Having had the priviledge of being on meditation retreats and workshops with many wonderful teachers including Adyashanti, Gangaji, Jack Kornfield, Jeff Foster, Byron Katie and even spent a weekend with the Dalai Lama in London many years ago.  I have to say though that with HH The Dalai Lama,  I didn't meditate much as I kept falling asleep!  For me yoga and meditation are one and the same.  Yoga is a moving meditation. For all the ways in which meditation can help are added to the fact that you move (slowly) too.  As we age however, it becomes increasingly more and more difficult to sit in meditation for some people, especially if they have joint pain.  This makes them unable to cross their legs, in constant pain, such a busy mind.   That's why a yoga practice that is mindful movements of body and mind is so helpful. M...

  Forest Yoga   Doing Yoga Outdoors in Nature Trees are living, breathing partners to humanity. Our inhale and exhale are in rhythm with each other and spending time in the forest, amidst the towering trees; is a wonderful way to reconnect to your own nature.  Forest bathing, also called shinrin-yoku,  a practice that originated in Japan in the 1980's, is becoming more and more popular as a way to go back to our roots.  Reconnecting us to a time when we lived in the forests, spent more time in nature and were more in tune to the rhythm and cycles of life.  How do you do yoga outdoors in nature?  Taking your yoga mat into the garden or a park is a possiblity.  In the summers  teach yoga in my garden and a class for our local municipality in a local park.  I teach about taking time, exploring the body and especially the joints in order to rejuvenate and restore function and mobility.  And if you feel a little more adventurou...

The Problem If You Are Hypermobile and Doing Yoga. Top Tips for Hypermobile People   The main problem of hypermobility and yoga is rooted in the misconception that yoga is about stretching.  It's not.  WHHHAAAAT ?   Yoga is not about stretching?    No. it's about connection.  The root of the word yoga means joining, union and connection.  Where in our body do we connect to ourselves?   Through our JOINts.   Often why I refer to my work as the JOINT RENEWAL SYSTEM (TM) is because when I call it YOGA people get all sorts of images in their minds...  There is absolutely NO NEED for anyone to move their body this way in order to stay healthy, active and go about their lives feeling good, relaxed and easy in their body.    I totally respect the young flexible women and men who want to play and explore these advanced poses.  But as most of my students and clients are not looking to do fancy poses, it's very ...