The Yoga Lounge

Yoga thoughts, poses and dreams

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9 Benefits of Yin Yoga

Yin yoga is a beautifully delicious practice that helps us heal both our heart and our mind. It allows us time to sit within ourselves, to just be still, and to notice what the body and mind are telling us.

It differs enormously from Vinyasa yet is the perfect complement! By having a Yin and a Yang yoga practice, you are creating a beautiful balance within your energy systems and a unique sense of calmness you will feel both physically and mentally.

Yin yoga is a slow and steady practice, which blends with meditation to bring you back to a sense of ease.

Yin and Yang tissues respond differently to being exercised. Muscles require heat and movement to release in a Yang practice like Vinyasa, while connective tissue responds best to the long steady holds within a Yin practice. Here are nine reasons to practice Yin yoga regularly.

1. Yin increases your flexibility.

Yin yoga stretches and targets both the deep connective tissues between the muscles, and the fascia throughout the body. The aim is to increase circulation in the joints and improve flexibility as the poses stretch and exercise the bone and joint areas. It also helps us to regulate the body’s flow of energy.

2. You can practice it almost anywhere.

Yin yoga is very portable. You don’t always need a mat—the only thing you might need to introduce Yin into your day is a cushion or bolster! Most Yin yoga poses can be held while sitting at your desk, watching the TV, reading, or lying in bed!

3. Yin fosters self-love.

Yin yoga is amazing for opening up our hearts, calming our nervous systems, and providing a space for the body to deeply relax. It also allows us to recover and nourish ourselves, wash away our fears, and cultivate compassion and love for ourselves.

Practicing Yin is like thanking yourself for being so awesome. It helps us build absolute self-belief and faith in how wonderful we are, each and every day! This practice is a beautiful way for those who have disconnected from their bodies to reconnect in a gentle, compassionate way.

4. It melts your stress away.

Question: What is the part of the body that we use the most, but probably spend the least amount of time taking good care of?

Answer: Our minds!

We live in a world of deadlines and appointments, craziness and social media, anxiety and stress. What better way to switch off than to sit still in poses anywhere from three to ten minutes? By doing Yin, you are giving yourself plenty of time to do nothing other than ‘just breathe.’

It is a truly perfect way to find space, to slow your mind down, and to be guided deeper into your practice.

5. Yin allows you to become intimate with yourself.

Get ready to get intimate with your feelings, sensations, and emotions—something that can perhaps be ignored during a faster paced class.

When we begin to practice Yin, we learn to listen to our bodies, slowing everything down. We learn to recognize our thoughts, to see them coming in and out of our mind, and to experience and digest them, instead of having them race through our mind like an escaped rollercoaster.

This in turn increases our ability to be in the present moment and practice gratitude, slowly bringing us closer to our authentic self.

6. It builds fortitude and perseverance.

When life gets tough, you’ll find me on my mat practicing Yin—and the world quickly becomes a better place! When you are stuck mentally and the power to walk away is overwhelming, Yin teaches you that staying still and dealing with whatever comes up one breath at a time will actually help you grow.

As we hold our Yin pose, the drama peaks, it gets harder to ignore the monkey mind, and we start really wanting to leave the pose. Yin teaches us to find a place of comfort in a not-so-comfortable place and observe our thoughts and reactions from a perspective of calmness.

It is a practice that can be brought into our daily lives.

7. Yin is like meditation for beginners.

During Yin practice you will find yourself with a lot of time on your hands. Here, you find yourself face-to-face with the chance to begin a gentle meditation practice, to slow your breath and calm your mind.

Your teacher will guide you through your practice, offering ways to keep your mind focused and to stop your body and thoughts from wanting to escape.

Yin yoga provides a safe place for your mind and body to enter into and consequently gain greater personal growth through a meditative and blissful experience once you open yourself up to the vastness within yourself.

8. It enables you to release your demons.

When held at length, what seems like an easy, inoffensive pose can change into something super challenging. This is what Yin does—the poses and the way they are held can release incredibly strong sensations, both physically and emotionally.

See, we store our emotions in the various parts of our bodies. Memories, anxieties, and tension linger on in cells stored deep in our tissues. When we go into a yoga pose that opens a part of the body left untouched for a while, these deeply stored memories and emotions resurface.

Doing so can be challenging in the moment, and can lead to a wide array of reactions such as tears, anger, and sheer frustration, but afterwards it leads to our final point…

9. Yin gives you a fabulous afterglow

Practicing Yin gives you that dreamy afterglow where you find that moment of absolute peace within yourself.

While you may feel like you have not even broken a sweat by the end of the class, your mind, body, and spirit have been performing on a much deeper, more intense level, leaving you with a clearer mind, a lighter body, and a fuller heart.

Have you practiced Yin yoga before? What is your favorite thing about this particular yoga practice? Share your thoughts with me in the comments!

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Attention

Don’t think about that white elephant! Of course, now that’s all you can notice in your mind. Where we place our attention is where we rest our power.

What you put attention on, you grant power. Where you choose to place your attention, then, is a crucial decision.

Yoga and meditation teachers often use the words ‘attention’ and ‘awareness’ interchangeably. To me they are fundamentally different, as they create two fundamentally different experiences of reality.

Attention means being focused on one thing. Awareness means taking in multiple things at once. Focusing on one thing gives us a distorted view of reality, especially when we focus on the most negative thing happening in any given moment. Learning to move from attention to awareness can transform your practice both physically and mentally. Ultimately, it can transform your life.

Attention can be focused and steady, and when it is, it can be quite helpful in quieting the monkey mind. Our normal mode is to be stuck in attention that is reactive rather than steady. Our minds tend to zero in on what appears to be the most pressing thing at any given moment. We do this to the exclusion of everything else, only to become obsessed with something different a few moments later.

This obsession over whatever seems most important at the moment literally distorts our perception of reality. It dramatically over-emphasizes one aspect of reality, while it erases from your view everything else that is happening. The problem is that we have an inbuilt tendency to zero in on the most negative thing happening in any given moment. Ignoring all the other things happening in each moment means ignoring countless things that are actually going well. Cultivating awareness is not the act of putting on rose-colored glasses. It’s the act of taking off the cracked, smudged, and soot-stained glasses you have been wearing all your life.

How moving from attention to awareness can transform your yoga

In yoga reactive attention manifests itself often as a fixation on a particular body part. Sometimes we fixate on the body part that seems to be working hardest at that moment. Sometimes it’s the one that is feeling the most intense stretch. Reactive attention also manifests itself as an over-focus on the front of the body (associated with individual consciousness), and a tendency to forget about the back body (linked to universal consciousness).

In yoga, allowing reactivity to rule us means we forget about the energetic shape of a pose. We forget about spacious alignment as our mind tries to convince us that we need to straighten that front leg NOW in Warrior II because the bent leg can’t support our weight any longer. Ironically, being able to move from attention to awareness is exactly the solution to the front knee turning to jelly.

Bringing awareness to body parts that don’t seem important right now is transformative. Spreading awareness allows you to realize that there are actually muscles you are not currently contracting that, when engaged, would really aid the pose. When you notice non-essential body parts you also notice that you may be holding tension where it is actually detrimental. Engaging what you forgot to engage, and relaxing what you forgot to relax can make poses dramatically more effortless. Of course, making poses more effortless is a mere side-effect of moving from attention to awareness, cool as it is. The real point of distinguishing between attention and awareness is to notice how reactive attention keeps us out of the here and now. The point is to notice that attention keeps us away from serenity.

Spread awareness to increase happiness

We will focus this week on spreading awareness to the body parts that don’t seem important in any given pose. Hopefully you will discover how seemingly minor and usually forgotten alignment details can transform a pose. Perhaps you will also discover how spreading awareness can transform your experience of that pose.

In this way, your yoga practice can become a laboratory in which to practice reducing your reactivity and increasing your serenity through moving from attention to awareness. With enough practice, your growing ability to be less reactive will spill over into the rest of your life.

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Do something today that you love.

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The Obstacle is the Path

While hindsight is 20/20, often the things we perceive to be major hindrances become our greatest teachers. In the moment, though, when obstacles present themselves, our response is often one of frustration or defeat.

We fight to hold onto the past, to hold onto only the positive moments in our lives. We build this illusion that our lives would be different, and happy if we only it were different, or like it used to be.

Yet, life flows. Pain and death are inevitable just as the seasons change.

We suffer in missing this flow of life. We suffer trying to hold onto the attachment of an ‘if then’ world. A world of yesterdays and should have beens. We suffer in resisting change.

Yet, what we do not realize in our suffering is that the obstacle is the path.

This is our journey.

How can we know light if we do not also know darkness? How can we know love if we do not also know hate? Joy without sadness?

There is no destination on our journey. There is no end point. Our path is not straight it has ups and downs, birth and death, pain and happiness, joy and sadness. When we fight the flow of life we try to change nature and the universe itself.

Life happens. Pain is inevitable, we cannot change this no more than stopping time itself. The Dalai Lama stated “True change is within, leave the outside as it is.”

The obstacle is the path. Embrace it, don’t fight it. Give gratitude for these moments, these moments are what make you. There is beauty in every step along the journey, gratitude in our experiences. Give thanks and gratitude for the ability to experience these moments no matter how painful they may be.

This is growth. This expands our circle of compassion and our connection to all living beings. This is putting our heart out, fully open and vulnerable.

This is life, beautiful with all of its warts and changes. When we remove the cocoon of illusion life transforms, and we are free to fly in all its beauty, the concept of good or bad dissipates and we are simply left with this present moment.

Let it rain, feel it, embrace it, and dance. Remembering that the obstacle really is the path helps us stay true to our heart’s calling.

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5 Yoga poses to boost your immunity

Yoga has so many health benefits. One of these is increasing immunity. Performing some easy yoga asanas pre and post-infection can help to improve the immune system and strengthen the muscles of the lungs. Here are some easy exercises that you must do daily.

1. Child's Pose

The simple relaxing asana releases tension from your lower back reduces stress and fatigue, elevates mood and rejuvenates your mind. It works perfectly in boosting your immunity.

Step 1: Kneel on the ground with your toes together and knees slightly apart from each other. Place both your hands on your thighs.

Step 2: Exhale and lower your torso forward. Your belly should be resting on your thighs and your head should touch the mat between your knees.

Step 3: Stretch your hands in front of you to touch the mat.

Step 4: Pause, inhale and then come back to the starting position.

2. Bow Pose

Dhanurasana improves the flow of blood in the body that helps to boost immunity. This exercise puts pressure on the digestive tract that helps to digest food easily.

Step 1: Lie down on your stomach with your feet hip-width apart and arms by your side.

Step 2: Now bend your knees upwards and take your heel towards your butt. Hold the ankles of both legs with your hands.

Step 3: Inhale and lift your chest and legs off the ground. Keeping your face straight pull your legs as much as you can. Your body should be tight like a bow.

Step 4: Pause for 4-5 breaths and then come to the starting position.

3. Cobra Pose

cobra pose opens your lungs, strengthens your spine and increases your energy. It can help to improve digestion and relieve the pressure on your liver, thereby reducing the load on your immune system.

Step 1: Lie on your stomach with your feet close to each other and hands stretched overhead.

Step 2: Join both your legs and rest your forehead on the ground.

Step 3: Bring your hands underneath your shoulders (palms resting by the side of your chest), keeping your elbows close to the body.

Step 4: Inhale and gently lift the upper half of your body.

4. Passchimotanasana

Paschimottanasana or Seated Forward Bend improves digestion, provides relief from nasal congestion and reduces anxiety. It also helps to keep the brain calm and reduces symptoms of post-COVID mental issues.

Step 1: Sit down on the ground with your legs stretched in front of you and your hands resting by your side.

Step 2: Take a deep breath and draw your spine up long. Stretch your hands towards the ceiling.

Step 3: Exhale, bend forward to touch your toes with your hands.

Step 4: Your belly should be resting on your thighs and your nose should touch your knees.

Step 5: Stay in this position for 4-5 seconds and then go back from where you started

5. Savasana

Savasana is the easiest and relaxing asana. your go-to asana. This exercise helps you breathe better and calm your mind.

Step 1: Lie down comfortably on your back with your hands and legs stretched.

Step 2: Close your eyes and inhale slowly through your nostrils.

Step 3: Exhale and think that body is relaxed.

Step 4: Stay in this pose for 10 minutes

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Relaxed Breathing for Sleep

Lie comfortably on your back. If your lower back feels strained, place a pillow or rolled blanket under your knees. Lovingly and with kindness, place your right hand on your belly and your left hand on your heart. Feel the connection with your own body and send a thought of gratefulness for all your body does. Observe how your body naturally moves while breathing. Your right hand should be lifting with each breath, while your left should remain relatively still. If this is not your natural breathing pattern, then inhale into your lower belly, and exhale while feeling the lower belly draw inward. While chest breathing is a stress response, many people remain in that mode even when relaxed. Stay for a few more breaths, establishing relaxed breathing in your belly.

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Outdoor yoga

What you need to know:

Pricing

Outdoor classes can be paid for using your monthly subscription or as drop in. Drop in classes are R110 per person.   Address

Classes will be held at my home

The gate will open 10 mins before class starts

There is parking on the property

Times

Thursday 10.30 am Gentle Vinyasa Sign up

Thursday 6 pm Sunset Yin Sign up

Saturday 9 am Vinyasa Power Flow Sign Up

I am also looking at doing an outdoor workshop/intensive 30 minute class on a Monday or a Friday morning. If you are interested please let me know which time you would prefer

These classes will be available as outdoor classes from next week.

Cancellations

Outdoor classes are dependant on the weather. Cancellations will be announced an hour before class in the WhatsApp groups so please make sure that you are in the correct group.  You do have the option to attend the cancelled class on zoom in your own home.

What to bring

Bring your mat, blocks, straps, bolsters and blankets. I don’t have any props at home any more as they have been temporarily re-homed by my zoom yogis. You may want to bring water with you when the weather is very hot. A sunhat and sunglasses might also be a good idea.

Booking is essential  You need to book to ensure you have a spot.

Sign up by emailing me.

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Breathe

We don't notice our breath because we don’t have to. It is one of the body’s many miraculous and autonomic functions. From our first gasp at birth to our last rattling sigh, we may never give our twenty thousand breaths per day a second thought. However, in a yoga or meditation practice, breath is the focal point. As any yoga practitioner, meditator, laboring expectant mother, or athlete knows, the breath is where the magic happens. It is the bridge between the body and the mind and links the physical and subtle dimensions.

As we practice asana, we learn to keep the body calm through the breath. The combination of movement and conscious breathing produces a unique physiological response. By maintaining a steady, slow breath, we cultivate relaxation and keep thoughts at bay even while we may be pushing our physical limits. Conscious breathing and asana become a moving meditation.

Our mental state and our breath are interwoven. If we’re relaxed, the breath is slow and deep. If we’re stressed, it is shallow and fast.

The breath is one of the rare essential functions in the body that is both voluntary and involuntary. Like blinking our eyes, we don’t have to think about our breath, but if we choose to, we can interrupt the natural breathing rhythms. When we do so, we also interrupt that breathing pattern’s associated biological reactions. For instance, when the body begins shallow breathing due to anxiety, we can reverse the response loop by initiating deep, slow breathing. When we are slowly “belly breathing,” it’s difficult for the fight-or-flight (anxiety) response to take hold.

Yoga teaches and guides us toward experiencing this mind/body/spirit connection that leads us to an inner peace, regardless of outer circumstances. This is what it means to be whole, a word that shares its root with health and holy. Yoga guides us back to wholeness. Healing must take place within our own bodies and minds.

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How to Be Happy

What is the secret to happiness? Why do so many people wonder how to be happy?

The secret to a happy and fulfilling life is gratitude. Gratitude is simply thinking about what we have instead of what we don’t have. Our ability to recognize and feel grateful for the blessings in our lives is an integral part of our happiness

To truly experience gratitude, take it a step beyond just thinking.

For each thing you are grateful for, take a moment to experience what it feels like to appreciate that thing. Focus your mind on what you are giving thanks for until you experience a physical sensation, perhaps a flutter of energy or a wave of happiness.

There is a different, deeper quality to our gratitude when we do this. Taking the time to shift your awareness from words in your head to a physical experience will reveal that feeling grateful is different than just thinking we are grateful.

Opportunities for Practicing Gratitude:

Anytime you catch yourself thinking about something that you do not have, shift your thoughts to gratitude for the things you do have. If you are thinking of a break-up, missing someone, financial problems, an illness (lack of health), or something you desire that is causing you suffering, redirect your thoughts towards what you already have.

When you wake up in the morning and your thoughts start to wander, use that time to focus your thoughts on the things you are grateful for. This will help set your mind to a positive energy for the day.

If you are the kind of person who takes a while to fall asleep, try thinking of things you are grateful for instead of just letting your thoughts wander or counting sheep.

When something upsets you, pause and take a brief moment to be grateful for something. This will take the edge of your negative emotions. If you are with someone who is upset, try gently bringing up things they might be grateful for “At least you still have . . .”

There is so much in this world to be grateful for. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

Language, stories, books and the ability to read, to talk and communicate with others. Eyesight, hearing, smell, taste, and the sense of touch that connects us so vividly to the world around us. Our bodies, organs and cells that seem to know what to do on their own. Shelter, heat, gas, lights and electricity, sun that warms the earth and nurtures the plants, the rain that waters them. Animals, pets, birds and their songs. Technology, computers, email, printers, word processors, cameras, scanners, cell phones, cars, planes. Supermarkets, drug stores, toilet paper, toothpaste, soap. Sunsets, the moon, stars, beds, pillows, blankets, pajamas, and dreams. Favorite sweaters, warm and cozy socks. Postmen, garbage men, roads and the people who build them. Coffee, tea, water, bread. Fruits, vegetables, mushrooms, and all the humans throughout time who risked and even lost their lives figuring out which ones are safe to eat. All the animals who gave their lives to feed human beings. Beauty, art, paintings and paint, pottery, jewelry. The people we love, family, friends, things that make us laugh. Vacations, adventures, parks, the ability to walk, hike, run, bike, swim, and dance. Couches, tables, cups. bowls, plates, spoons, forks and knives. Fire for warmth and cooking. All the trees that decorate the landscape, giving us oxygen and shade. Flowers that add color to our world and feed equally colorful creatures such as hummingbirds and butterflies. Oceans, beaches, and waves that break on shore where we can wet our feet and hear the hushing, soothing sound of the ocean’s music. Music, the humans that made the effort to master instruments and write the songs that move us. Our ability to learn, grow, and evolve. Our ability to change and become masters of ourselves, our minds, and our lives. Our capacity to create, to nurture, and to love . . .

It is an amazing world we live in when we take the time to recognize what we have instead of focusing on what is lacking.

It's time to live your best life! 🥰

For more info and a free Thrive Checklist click here.

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#thrive#yogaclassesonline#wellness#happiness#wisdom#entrepeneurship#yogaonline#timetothrive

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Live My Best Life

The present moment holds the secret key to how to change habits.

I talked myself out of doing yoga. This was certainly not the first time I had not followed through on a plan. On this particular day, however, it occurred to me that one of the reasons we may not follow through on all the plans, goals, and ideals we hold for ourselves is that the self that makes the plan is not the self that is present at the time that the action is supposed to occur.

In a sense, you can never choose to do something in the future. You can only make that choice in the actual moment that you are going to do the thing in question. So all the times that we decide to do something later and manage to follow through, it is because we were in a similar mental state at the time of the original decision and the time that the action was carried out. In both moments in time, we had similar values, priorities, motives, emotional state, etc.

However, our state of mind is not always the same. If it were, we would stick to diets and exercise programs, instantaneously quit smoking, drinking, or over-eating, keep up with old friends and to-do lists, and generally achieve every goal we set for ourselves. So what can we do to become a more consistent “self”?

If we hold an ideal for ourselves yet fail to take the actions necessary to achieve that ideal, it is because we have not made that specific behavior a habit. The behavior is not a habit because the state of mind required for the behavior is not a habit. If our ability to follow through on an action depends on the state of mind we are in, then it follows that we need to make a habit out of being our highest selves in order to achieve ideals we set for ourselves.

Allow me to make a simplistic and dualistic example here using the complex concept of the “self”. Let’s say the self can vary in quality, measured on a continuum where on one ends we have the “higher self”, the best most remarkable person we are capable of being, while far on the other end lurks “lower self” a rather lazy specimen that gives in to every craving and has little regard for consequences.

The habits we develop are then a result of allegiance. In each moment, you can make the choices that higher self would make, or you can give in to the demands of the lower self.

The key here is that you must be present and consciously aware when a choice is being offered to you. Instead of having that second helping of pie, you have the opportunity to pause and notice that you are not just choosing if you want more pie – you are choosing which habits you nurture and where your allegiance is. You can be aware that you want the pie, but still choose not to have it because passing it up is in line with the goals of your higher self. Then next time you have the same choice it will actually be easier to choose the healthier option. Do this again and again, and you will develop the habit of choosing health. Yet each time, the choice can only be made in that tiny present moment.

It is only in these present moments that you can change your habits. Setting big broad goals for ourselves like “I will eat better and exercise” does not work if we aren’t aware of the constant choices we will have to make in order to achieve that goal.

The human brain is actually perfectly suited to this type of habit training. Our brain functions through vast networks of neurons. As we use certain connections over and over again, these connections strengthen and the behavior becomes natural and automatic, just like when we learn to drive a car. Likewise, when we stop using certain neural networks, the brain slowly trims off those connections. We can basically re-wire ourselves to be who we want to be through our habits.

Once you realize you want to change something about yourself (the way your mind works, your emotional patterns, your habits, and so forth) you are ready to take the first steps. We’ve all set goals only to find that we fall off the wagon. A goal we set one day doesn’t seem as great or possible a few days later. Maybe we are tired, or our energy is just shifted on some level. No matter what the cause is, we seem to encounter resistance, either from within ourselves or from the outside world.

The key is to see this resistance as the opportunity you have been waiting for. This is your chance to take the other path in the fork on the road. Welcome these moments of struggle, because every time you can find the strength to choose the higher option you planned for yourself, the more you are building new connections in your mind. The more difficult it is for you to take an action that overrides any resistance, the more powerful the effect will be of sticking to your plan.

By choosing to follow through with the positive behavior despite the resistance you felt, you reinforce the connections in your brain that will make it easier to choose the same behavior in the future. These are the moments to train your brain to adhere to your higher self’s wisdom. The more often you can overcome the resistance, the quicker your old habits and patterns die off. This is the path to change.

Find me on Facebook and Instagram where I share my photos, thoughts and stories about creating the life we desire. Thank you for reading!

It's time to live your best life! 🥰

For more info and a free Thrive Checklist click here.

Find me on Facebook and Instagram where I share my photos, thoughts and stories about creating the life we desire. Thank you for reading!

#thrive#yogaclassesonline#wellness#happiness#wisdom#entrepeneurship#yogaonline#timetothrive #thrive #yogaclassesonline #wellness #happiness #wisdom #entrepeneurship #yogaonline #timetothrive

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Are you thriving? 🌼

Stop surviving and start thriving! It's time to start living your best life. So what does it take to live my best life?

Strength: Being my best self often means doing things that are difficult and challenging. Breaking bad habits and creating good habits takes discipline and strength of character.

Courage: It takes courage to create the life I desire. As I explore and honor what I ultimately want for myself, I find that means breaking some old habits and making life changes.

Self Respect: Living your best life begins with appreciating the fact that you are alive. Realizing that life is a gift and every single day is a blessing is the foundation on which I build the life I desire. Appreciating life means respecting myself and my body.

Organization: Being the best I can be also requires organization Setting goals and living a balanced life is much easier when I take the time to plan things out and write them down. From daily to-do lists to 5-year plans, getting organized has a magical impact on our ability to achieve our goals.

Ready to create the life you desire? Do you want to change surviving to thriving?

It's time to live your best life! 🥰

For more info and a free Thrive Checklist click here.

Find me on Facebook and Instagram where I share my photos, thoughts and stories about creating the life we desire. Thank you for reading!

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Be here Now

"The next message you need is always right where you are.” —Ram Dass

At university, lecturers used to take roll call and ask that if we were there to announce, “Present!”.

Just like on my yoga mat, at times I would be there but not really there ­– if you know what I mean. Do you ever have that feeling, when you know that you’re physically present but not fully there? Maybe you’re with the kids and their endless endeavour to play. Though we want to give our children our utmost attention, sometimes we just can’t keep our minds from wandering onto work, the chores that need to be done and the plethora of other things that our minds like to entertain themselves with.

So what do we do? Certainly, a daily dose of meditation, focusing on the breath and declaring “thinking” as thoughts arise before retuning to the breath can be a great tool to become more present in daily life.

I find that a daily intention to be present, even setting alarms or keeping Post-It notes around the house reminding me to be present can be useful.

However, what being present really means to me is to be on guard more often – to catch those little stories floating around the head. Being present means catching those daydreams, the worrying or desiring and in those moments, choosing to let them go. I listen firstly to the sound inside my own ears and then become present to all the sounds that surround me.

If I remember that meditative experience, that feeling of complete peace, freedom from wanting or not wanting, then that too helps me to come back to the now.

“Look, listen and feel” is a great little mantra to help us become more present, more mindful of our surroundings and our thoughts, words and deeds. Undoubtedly this mindfulness will effect the environment in a positive, negative or neutral way. Give up the stories in your head and “defy the lie”, as Baron Baptiste used to put it.

Sure, there may be good reason to reminisce and there are plenty of times that we need to plan for the future ahead, but don’t let go of today’s greatest need, which is for more of us to be present and accountable for the impact we have on the planet and all beings in it.

It doesn’t take much time to pause for a moment, look, listen, feel and have an inner body experience. No one else can do the work for us. Self-effort is all that we have to use as our means of salvation.

One definition of enlighten that I like is “one hundred percent present, one hundred percent of the time”. Let’s be present so as to make the world a better place by spreading more joy and positivity and giving up all that doesn’t serve us.

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Choosing a Yoga Mat

You might be thinking of finally buying a really good yoga mat. I’ve been practising yoga for a very long time, so I’ve tried and tested lots of different mats across different yoga studios around the world, but I always come back to my Manduka mat and I’ll tell you why I love it so much.

Before Buying, Consider These:

The main thing to consider is how much use and abuse this mat is going to take? You want to think of:

1. How often do you practice: Once or twice a week? 5-6 times a week?

2. What style of yoga do you practice: A vigorous ashtanga or vinyasa flow or less vigorous like Iyengar or Yin?

3. How sweaty do you get? How much of a puddle you’re going to make on your mat can determine how slippery that mat is gonna get and hence your overall user experience.

Why Cheap PVC Mats Are Not Good

If you’re just starting out, you might be tempted to buy a cheap mat - that R200 to R300 PVC mat, and that might last you a year or so… but at some point, that cheap PVC mat is going to start crumbling and leaving little bits of flakes all over you. And then you’re left with all these holes shredding through your mat. You might have experienced this at some yoga studios with older mats. Not very nice.

Not to mention how environmentally unsustainable it is to keep buying a new mat every other year or so. You might as well pay the money to invest in a solid mat, and you’ll never have to buy a new mat in your life again.

Why You Should Consider Manduka Mats

The life long guarantee makes this mat eco friendly and eventually budget friendly.

My yoga practice has evolved from practising and teaching ashtanga yoga to vinyasa, yin and yoga Nidra. They’re all varied styles, but essentially I need a durable mat, with thick enough cushioning, and because I get sweaty when I practice, it needs to be able to hold up without me slipping and sliding all over the mat.

Pros

I like the Manuka because of its thickness - 6mm thick! When we talk about cushioning, we tend to think of it as a bouncy feel. But with a yoga practice, you don’t actually want a lot of bounce in your mat as that will make standing poses a lot more difficult. This is why Pilates mats are not good for yoga. They’ve got way more cushioning which you’ll need for Pilates core floor work, but they’re terrible for a yoga practice.

For yoga, you actually need a solid feel in the surface beneath you, but the floor’s too hard, so you actually need a firm solid base, that’s also got a slight cushion to it. It’s one of those things that’s difficult to put into words, but once you step on a Manduka mat, you’ll get it. Like… Ohhhhhh. It’s 6mm thick, but Solid, firm yet kind of cushioned at the same time.

It’s also got an amazing grip to it. In downward dog, your hands and feet simply stay in place. With some of the cheaper mats, you end up constantly having to slide the hands or feet back to where they should be, and that distraction takes you out of that moment in your practice.

With any new mat, you’ll need to wash it with soap and water to remove the slippery film in the manufacturing process, so do that with your new Manduka. It could help to make it less slippery when you first use it.

Oh and that’s the other thing that I love about this mat too - it’s a closed-cell mat, which basically means it doesn’t absorb any water when you wash it, and dries a lot faster. Most of the cheaper PVC mats are open-cell mats, and basically they act like a giant sponge. And if you think about it from a hygiene point-of-view when you’re sweating all over the mat and if it’s open-cell and absorbs all that sweat over time…

Cons

Basically - there are 2 main cons: it’s heavy and it’s expensive.

It’s about 3.5 kilograms. This mat is HEAVY. And not something you wanna be lugging around town or traveling with. If you’re only planning on a home yoga practice, without moving the mat anywhere, then this is perfect.

It’s expensive. But, there’s a lifetime guarantee, so it does pay for itself over your its lifetime.

[theyogalounge]

Class Schedule

Monday

Mantra Yin 6pm

Most of us already know that yoga can help lift our mood. With Yin Yoga, however, we can tailor our yoga practice to target certain emotions by embracing a meridian-based approach to practice—focusing on the organs and their associated emotions, as well as on clearing the energetic pathways to allow chi (vital energy) to flow through these areas more smoothly. Proponents of this approach say that it can benefit us both physically and mentally. Suitable for all levels and ages. Tuesday

Compassionate Warrior 10.30 am

Rejuvenate your body and mind with this heart-opening flow.  Expect backbends and chest openers. This is a sweaty class, but everyone is welcome and modifications will be offered.

Journey to the Self Nidra 6.00pm

Take a journey through all aspects of yourself from the most tangible to the most subtle, finally resting in the blissful, pure source – the true Self. Wednesday

Cross Training 6.00 pm

This class will focus on a bit of everything. Strength, flexibility, balance, cardio and breathing. This is a vinyasa flow class and will definitely make you break a sweat. Thursday

Eye on the Prize Gentle 10.30 am

An hour of healing, self care and connection. This is our gentle vinyasa flow class and is perfect as an introduction to yoga, or if you want to just take it a bit slower. Gentle flows followed by gentle stretches.

Yinspiration 6 pm

The best medicine is sunshine, laughter, nature and rest .... and yin. Join us as we stretch and release tension from our bodies in this sixty minutes of peaceful release. Saturday

Move It! 9 am

Our Saturday class is a fun, sweaty class with challenging poses to keep the class interesting for everyone. Thirty minutes of hard work, followed by thirty minutes of stretching. Suitable for every body.

These classes are all offered as live online classes.  You are also welcome to subscribe to recordings of these classes. Subscribe to recordings here.

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Eye on the Prize

“Focusing is about saying no.” —Steve Jobs

In the practice of dharana, or single-pointed focus, mantra and drishti are both useful.

Drishti, or the focal point for your gaze, helps you keep your eyes on the prize. Locking your gaze on a nonmoving object confers stability to your poses and helps train your mind to sustain attention over time. Drishti is both the physical act of focus and a metaphor for the necessary mental focus it takes to achieve the things we desire.

Mantra means “mind-tool”: it is a tool for focusing your mind to sustain attention on one thing over time. A mantra can be quite spiritual, like the mantras we chant in class, or it can be simple or, at first glance, senseless. (If you’ve ever had the chorus of a song stuck in your head, you know how this can morph into a tool for mental focus.) One of our my favorites is breathe in, breathe out. This cues and coordinates with the breath, and while the words could seem unimportant, what could be more major than the fact that you are taking this breath, and this one, and this one?

A few great mantras:

MANTRA: I am love.

WHY: I use this mantra to manage my insecurities, judgments, and tendency towards comparison. The more I connect with my own heart, the more love I have to give. I also believe in vibrational match dot com! As I fall into deeper love with me, I see love everywhere.

MANTRA: I have time.

WHY: “I have time” reminds me to slow down and move mindfully throughout the day. While we never know when our last day will come, we do know (thanks to science!) that the more present we are in any given moment, the happier and more fulfilled we are. In today’s world, we are all subject to the pain and influence of urgency.

MANTRA: Dream Big.

WHY: I say this a lot throughout the week. It helps me to not limit my thinking in how I can help a person, a community, or as many animals as possible, while I still have breath in my body. I believe what you think about and choose to set your focus on is where you’re headed. Whether people experience great things—big or small—has a lot to do with how they think.

[theyogalounge]

6 Ways to Celebrate Spring in Yoga

The bees are buzzing: the flowers are blooming; the birds are singing; and people are digging up weeds and planting colourful seedlings. Spring is in the air! But is spring in your yoga practice?

Spring represents a time of renewal, transformation, and letting go of the old to make room for the new. The energy of Spring surrounds us and these six tips will help you tune into the spirit of spring in your yoga practice.

Exit your winter caves

It's time to exit our Winter caves of hibernation and throw off the heavy blankets along with all the weight of lethargy and sleepiness. It's time to reboot and rise up, filling ourselves with fresh energy. While you might be in the habit of choosing yin and restorative yoga classes, opt for fierier classes for the next few months: vinyasa power flows are just a great option. By building this heat within, you can burn out the old junk you have been carrying and set yourself up for a successful spring.

Spring clean your gut

April and May are the perfect time for some hefty detoxing. Most of us hold our old habits, exhausted emotions, and holiday indulgences in our gut. Incorporate a few extra twists and kapalabathi (breath of fire) into your practice to help clear out everything you don’t need anymore or try a deeper cleansing detox for a few days.

Be playful

During spring, joy and fun are all around as new life begins. Watch the animals play in the grass or listen to the birds chirp in the trees. New life inspires a sense of playfulness that we can embrace in yoga practice as well. Embody playfulness in your practice by going for poses you normally shy away from, laughing instead of cringing whenever you fall, and taking it all a little less seriously.

Practice outside

It is finally warm enough to practice outside, so let’s celebrate. It does not matter if it’s in your backyard or in the mountains, practicing outside in any way is a great chance to connect to nature. Breath in the fresh air, dig your hands into the moist dirt, and celebrate the incredible earth we have been blessed with. As you rest in Savasana (Corpse pose) at the end of your practice, enjoy the special bliss that only practicing yoga outside can bring.

Time for new vibrations

Those who think and talk about spiritual energy say that spring is a time of intense vibrations. The entire hemisphere is working to shed the old tired ways of winter and embrace a brighter, more alive state of being. This transformation is tangible and contagious. Like a snake that sheds its skin, celebrate spring by shedding your winter layer and opening up to the energy of the season. Start with this simple spring meditation. Embracing the shift of spring and opening yourself to new possibilities can bring massive change.

Keep it fresh

Spring is the perfect time for a fresh start. View every yoga class as a fresh start. Forget what came before and don’t worry about what might come next. Take every class—or for that matter every asana and every breath—as a chance to be something entirely new.

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Spring Meditation

Sit comfortably in an upright position, either in a chair with your legs uncrossed and your feet flat on the ground, or in Sukanasa on a cushion.

Close your eyes and begin to take slow, deep breaths in through your nose and out through your mouth.

Next, bring to mind any thoughts, ideas, or beliefs that have become stagnant, non-serving, or irrelevant.

One by one, or all at once, see if you can connect to what their original purpose was. Do they have a reason for still existing? Is there something further to explore or is the energy ready to be dissolved and returned to its purest form?

When you come to the realization that it's time to let go of mind clutter—much in the same way you would give away an old jacket that you never wear anymore—thank it for having served its purpose and take in any learning or wisdom it has to impart.

Next, imagine seeing it dissolve like a morning layer of fog as the sun shines through, or visualize erasing it from a chalkboard to reveal a fresh, clean slate.

Once you've cleared away that which no longer needs to occupy your mind, spend some time connecting to the open space you have created in your internal world. The space that you've cultivated doesn't mean the mind is now empty. Rather, see it as being filled with the element of space, which represents pure potentiality.

Next, invite in a new thought or belief in the form of an intention for something you would like to manifest in the coming days, weeks, or months. Perhaps there is an old idea that you want to take off the shelf, dust off a bit, and revisit—maybe it's finally writing that book or starting the project that's been in the back of your mind for years.

Bring your new intention to the forefront of your mind and imagine planting it like a seed in the fertile soil of your soul and then ask the Universe to orchestrate the mechanics for its fulfillment on your behalf.

Then, let go of the intention—trusting that the Universe will work out the details—and take a few slow, deep breaths before opening your eyes.

Any way you look at it, spring cleaning is a great time to clear out anything that is no longer serving you so you can make way for new ideas, perspectives, intentions, and desires.