Happy New Year! For my first post of the year I want to celebrate that wonderful feeling that comes with the new year…a fresh start, a clean slate; like starting a new school exercise book, full of promise and hope.
Practising meditation – stillness and silence
It’s the time of year for reflection and letting go of the past (see previous blogs on autumn energy!) and thinking about what we really want from life. I still believe that bringing some stillness into your day is one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself. Time to really listen to our hearts, to what we truly want, helping us to ignore what our wanting mind tells us we need.
I’ve written various blogs over the years on both goal setting and being still to help you connect with yourself, so please do take a look at previous posts, if you need more ideas or inspiration. Why not try spending 5 minutes in beautiful stillness and silence, every day (if you sit at the same time each day, you will get even quicker results) and then write down any ideas that pop into the silence. This is an amazing way of tuning into your dreams.
There are many yoga practices to help you stick to your resolutions and achieve your goals. One of my favourites is the Archer pose:
Stand in the Mountain pose and for a moment let yourself become still, whilst you think about your goal.
Step out to a couple of shoulder widths apart. Turn your right foot to the right, the left foot follows a little, so that you are comfortable.
Right arm extends out to the right, at shoulder height, palm faces away. Left arm up at shoulder height, bent at the elbow, fingers making the archer mudra with index and middle fingers extended, thumb pointing up, ring and little fingers folded in.
Draw in your core muscles. Look to your right hand. Inhale as you focus on your goal, pulling your left elbow / hand back but keeping the elbow bent (as if you were drawing back an arrow).
As you exhale (with strength and power), let your left hand travel towards your right hand, giving your dream wings. Bending your right knee slightly as your weight moves into the right leg, but stay anchored into the back leg.
Repeat a couple of times on both sides. Each time focussing on your goal, picture it, feel it, hear it.
At Inside Out Dru Yoga, we’ve always been results driven, giving practical advice that we know works, and I know from the feedback you give us that it’s one of the main reasons you keep coming back to our classes.
From a personal point of view, I am a practical person and if I can’t see the point of doing something, if I’m not benefiting, I don’t do it – which is why I love my yoga practice. I’ve tested it and experimented with it for over 20 years. Each time I have a challenge I think to myself “Well, I don’t know if it will help but I’ll give the yoga a go and see what happens” and each time it provides me with a solution – it’s definitely one of the reasons that I have not had to visit my GP for 13 years! And it’s this constant proof and validation that makes me confident that it will work for you too.
All our classes are tailor made to suit the needs of the people in the class, we never operate a “one size fits all” policy. When you join one of our classes we ask you to fill in a health and lifestyle questionnaire. This helps us to plan our sessions. We usually have a general theme (for example, classes are currently focussing on staying healthy as we move through winter, so there’s plenty of immune strengthening and circulation boosting yoga, along with some great detoxing practices which many of our students have asked for!), whilst we vary the postures and techniques to suit each class, so that everyone gets the most from the lesson.
We love it when students tell us about specific goals they would like to meet or challenges they want to tackle. This really gives us something to get our teeth into! And we just love sharing our experiences and knowledge with you all. We get no greater reward than when you tell us that you have achieved your goal or that you have benefited from the yoga we teach!
So, come on, tell us your well being goals for 2014 and let us help you sparkle. Ix