Just 5 minutes...

For those who attended January’s Meditation – Practice Made Simple you may now be on the week 2 practice guideline (if following the prescription) of sitting for just 5 minutes and being aware of the breath.  For those of you who may be interested, you can try it for yourself, there's not much to lose (just 5 minutes!)

5 minutes is such a small amount of time – anyone, even the busiest person, can find 5 minutes.

Life occurs at the very tip of motivation – Joseph Goldstein

 
Last week was the first session of the year in supporting others to get started with a meditation experience – Meditation – Practice Made Simple.
 
The main focus to begin with is that of knowing why you want to meditate.  This comes down to motivation.
 
Unusual to see motivation ahead of methods of practice perhaps, but really, it is essential in order to have a chance of creating a practice and being able to maintain it.
 

The Journey To Well Woman

As yoga has been the mainstay of my life for more than 27 years, I have seen the practice support me through so many aspects of my life as a woman.

There’s been the journey of many, many years of gynaecological problems, surgeries and consultations leading to a diagnosis of infertility.  The two, very blessed but totally unexpected pregnancies (7 years apart) along with two very different births.  Through it all, yoga has been there, all the way to where I find myself now on the threshold of menopause.

This week, I spoke with Emma who is a Personal Trainer and is now 32 weeks pregnant and has been attending the yoga classes since she was 14 weeks.  Here's what she had to say about the sessions...

As an avid reader, well alright then, a complete book junkie, I have, over the years, developed a system with my lovelies (my term of endearment for my books!)  There's the 'next to the sofa' pile and there's the 'next to the bed' pile.  Someone asked me recently what I was reading.  Whilst it would be easy to give the name of one book, I am totally unashamed to admit, that I have several on the go at once.

The Dome & Lantern

Inspiration for classes can come from a variety of sources – sometimes as teachers we choose to work to a theme for a set number of weeks.  In the past I have had rotations of various guises as a foundation and at other times it can be hip openers or back strengthening.

Sometimes inspiration can come from a mantra or a short piece of writing, or it may even be one posture that lends itself to the creation of a whole class.

I was recently introduced to a term 'visual noise', which in essence is used to describe everything around us that we see, which in turn creates some sort of feedback, whether pleasant, unpleasant or neutral.

Taking time to consider this further, it would make sense that our outer world is, to the best of our abilities, visually appealing, irrespective of where we may find ourselves.  We may not be blessed with a garden, but we can bring colour into the home through the use of fabrics or houseplants.

Teaching yoga and or meditation, takes a leap of faith at times.  As teachers, our hope is to be able to share with others, practices that we have found meaningful as well as helpful and to be able to convey it in such a way that it inspires others to want to try.