‘Accept that you are held and supported and love [...] so lean into that and allow yourself to be held just a little.’ These are the words of my yoga teacher and mentor, Naomi Absalom. She shared them right before I had knee surgery and, honestly, they couldn’t have come at a better time. Confession: I am a workaholic. I find it hard to slow down and accept help, and I’m sure I’m not alone here. How many times have you shut out those around you so that you can just get the thing done? I think most of us are guilty of being blinkered in life at times. We’re so focused on achieving the end goal that we often miss the support network directly in front of us. READ MORE…

Let me ask you a question: what’s the one phrase you hear time and time again when practising yoga? Listen to your body. And time and time again, what do most of us do? Continue to push on through. Pride and ego take over, and the result is more often than not an injury. The thing is, injuries happen, especially when you commit to a regular physical discipline. As much as we can try to prevent them while practising in a sustainable way, sometimes there is no avoiding injury. To put it bluntly: sh*t happens. So what happens to your yoga practice when you can’t, well, practice?

For me, the 13 March 2018 marked 100 days of meditation. It was a huge personal achievement. Meditation, and being still in general, has always been a struggle for me: I have an overactive, anxious mind that until recently I’d managed to quiet through daily movement. However due to injury, I found myself facing a terrifying and enforced period of rest. My mind went into overdrive: how was I going to deal with this? The solution? Actually committing to a meditation practice...

Do you ever notice that you think things to yourself, about yourself, that you wouldn't say to your worst enemy? It doesn’t have to be this way. We are not our thoughts, so don’t let negative thoughts define your relationship with yourself. We can either allow negative thoughts to insidiously raze our self-worth, or we can actively choose to flood ourselves with positive energy and build ourselves up from the inside out. 

If I had to pick a favourite yoga pose, one that was a little bit fancy but just also feels amazing in body, mind and spirit, it would be this. To me, Vashistasana B is the perfect blend of strength, balance and flexibility: in it, I feel steady, poised, focused and, well, just totally alive and present. That said, I’m only too aware that not every student enjoys this pose: shoulder issues, hamstring tightness and limited external hip rotation can all inhibit strength and motion here. These are my top tips and drills to gaining ease in Vashistasana B. 

'Oh god, oh god, oh god... no, no, no, no, no!' Probably not the words anyone's partner wants to hear, but when it comes to riding pillion on a rickety tandem down Bruges' cobbled streets, the control freak in me just can't be contained. Death-defying cyclepades aside, Bruges' beautifully preserved medieval architecture, guilty pleasure-esque cuisine (chocolate and chips, anyone), and centuries-old beer culture make it the ideal destination for a weekend break. I hopped on the Eurostar to explore it with my husband and two dear friends for my 35th birthday, and it definitely made inching ever-closer to 40 more bearable. Here is my humble guide to the fairytale city. READ MORE...