Chaturanga is a posture that is so key to vinyasa yoga yet one that takes a huge degree of strength, skill and precision to execute well. The shoulder joint, unlike the hip, is largely comprised of muscle and ligaments, therefore learning to load bear as yogis is something we shouldn’t rush into.
When we backbend, we want to prepare the body by opening the front (thighs, hips, shoulders and chest) and strengthening the back (hamstrings, glutes, paraspinal muscles) to create an even, spacious and expansive arc. Here, we will focus on postures that help open the hip flexors and thighs: the iliopsoas and quadriceps.
This is where props can be a saviour: they provide support and incredibly useful feedback that enables us to build awareness, space and ease in our backbends without creating unnecessary tension or strain. These are a few of my favourite ways to prop backbends. We’ll be exploring this and more in my upcoming workshop, Spacious & Easeful Backbends, Saturday 6 March, 2-4.30pm at Eastside Yoga Edinburgh (to book your space click here - go to courses).
Backbends are my go-to family of postures when I’m feeling tense and in need of an energetic and emotional boost. When done with patience and a steady approach, backbends are rejuvenating, revitalising and can provide us with a great sense of clarity, spaciousness and openness. They open up the entire front body, open the diaphragm and lungs, create strength and flexibility in our spines, all of which boost our vitality and resilience.
‘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...
K.I.S.S. You’ve probably seen this acronym before. Keep. It. Simple. Stupid. It’s so obvious when you think about it. Hands up, how many times have you worked on a project, decided it wasn’t ‘enough’, then layered on numerous extra flourishes that, in all honestly, probably didn’t need to be there. I’ve lost count of the amount of times I’ve worked and reworked a piece of copy/a yoga flow/an outfit, only to scrap everything and revert to the original, and often simplest, incarnation. READ MORE...
You know how it goes. Wake up, check phone, thumb effortlessly switching between apps, a motion so ingrained it's almost as natural and involuntary as breathing. Before you know it, you’ve woken an inner narrative questioning why you don’t look like/are as successful as/have the lifestyle of x, y or z. Sound familiar? READ MORE...
Confession: I’ve been dreaming of making these Reese’s Pieces-esque cups ever since my little sister (twin one) sent me a late night WhatsApp pic of the cups she made with actual chocolate and peanut butter. I drooled a lot, told myself it was far too late to eat chocolate, and went to sleep, before frogmarching to WholeFoods the next morning to get the ingredients to make a slightly healthier version (that's what I'm telling myself anyway). Because #yogalife, but also because I'd been wanting to make raw chocolate for a while. READ MORE
Friends, I hear you. That moment in class when the teacher invites everyone to squat and says, ‘And if you have Bakasana (crow pose), take it.’ Meanwhile, you’re sitting there slack-jawed watching everyone around you effortlessly balance their entire body ON THEIR ARMS. (On a side note: yoga is really weird, isn’t it?) Well those people who make it look effortless? It’s because they’ve put in hours and hours of practice. That’s the thing when it comes to the harder yoga poses: there is no big secret, it’s just repetition, repetition, repetition. These are the drills I swear by. READ MORE...
If you’ve been doing yoga for a while, you’ve probably heard the phrase ‘injury can be our greatest teacher’ at some point. (If you haven't, lucky you.) Hands up, I’ve definitely heard it roll off my tongue on more than one occasion. While certain yoga cliches make my skin crawl, this one, in my humble experience, holds true. READ MORE...
I have a confession: I'm not the world's biggest breakfast lover. I used to be a porridge fan but, during the week at least, when I'm getting up early to teach, I tend to rely on quick and easy-to-digest smoothies. But when I do have time to luxuriate over brunch, these blueberry and banana pancakes are my go-to. READ MORE...
No one really knows what they’re doing the first time they set foot on a yoga mat. Most of us can’t touch our toes, everyone wobbles when they try tree pose, and the mental effort it takes… well, that’s something that takes years to master. It’s the falling over, picking yourself up, and trying again that matters. READ MORE...
