Share Your Dreams for 2020

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2020 yoga, daily yoga, teaching yoga, yoga goals, yoga healing, yoga lifestyle, yoga motivation, yoga teacher, Yoga With Paul

Over the last few weeks I’ve written a lot about my thoughts, ideas and plans for the new year so now, I’d like to ask you: what’s on YOUR mind for 2020?

What goals, ideas, plans and dreams are fuelling you as you begin the new year?

What changes are happening in your life?

What will you leave behind this year, and what would you like to encounter? 

As a yoga teacher I have the immense privilege of being part of an ongoing constructive process. Every class is an opportunity to lead, instruct and to share in the energy and collective strength of the yogi community.

Understanding your dreams, ambitions and aims helps me be a better teacher, because it allows me to understand the specific intersection of yoga with your life.

If you can speak to me before or after class — please do!

If you’re in another city, or country, and would like to share your thoughts and ideas here with the community, please do!

Post in the comments, or connect on Instagram or Twitter @YogaWithPaul 

I can’t wait to hear what you have planned for 2020.

4 Steps for a Positive New Year

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mindfulness, positive new year, speaking truth, yoga focus, yoga new year, yoga power, yoga relationships, yoga resolutions, Yoga With Paul

Happy new year!

We’ve reached (another) new decade. If you’re anything like me, you’re thinking about the joys and trials and changes of the past 10 years, and wondering what is to come.

None of us knows what the next 10 minutes or 10 hours holds, much less the next 10 years. That doesn’t mean we are helpless victims of fate, though. If we follow these four steps we have everything we need to have a positive new year, this year and every year.

Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash

Who we interact with

Our relationships are the single biggest factor in determining our happiness and contentment. When we have loving, supportive, respectful relationships it gives energy and meaning to the rest of our life. If we allow ourselves to get bogged down in relationships that drain our energy or confidence we find it that much more difficult to move on with anything else.

If you do one thing in 2020, spend it with good people. You know in your heart, and your gut, the people who lift your spirits, who challenge you, who help you be your best self. Embrace them, cherish them, share your life with them. They won’t fail you.

What we focus on

It’s true in yoga class, and in life: where your mind goes, the rest follows. If you focus on positive goals, on good things, on empowering relationships, your life will move in these directions. If you focus on clarity, mindfulness and love, these will be abundant in your life. There are always obstacles and difficulties, but don’t let them define you.

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

When we speak

It is so easy to open our mouths before we study our minds (and hearts). We live in a world of instant communication, where we can share our ideas and opinions with the push of a button. This power brings responsibility. We need to remember that our words have impact, whether we’re talking or Tweeting or anything else. Taking time to consider our words is a sign of self-respect, and respect for others.

How we react

Life will bring surprises — not all of them welcome. The train will be late, the friend will disappoint us, the boss will be thoughtless, the partner will be difficult. We can’t control circumstances, but we can decide how we respond. When we pause and take a deep breath we give ourselves space to choose how to react. We don’t have to be a victim of frustration and irritation, we can opt to be calm and remember that this too shall pass.

Read more: 3 ways to free yourself from frustration, 3 yoga poses for sharper focus

 

 

New Year, New Goals

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mindfulness yoga, new years goals, New Years Resolutions, yoga energy, yoga goals, yoga positive, yoga resolutions, Yoga With Paul

New Year’s Resolutions are a time-honoured tradition, but given that around 80% of them are abandoned by February, maybe it’s time for a different approach.

Photo by Form on Unsplash

The resolution conundrum

The problem with New Year’s Resolutions is they usually fall into the though shalt not category of negative goals, that is, giving up things we enjoy.

Common resolutions like losing weight, quitting smoking or drinking, etc all centre on not doing something. This is obviously difficult. We have our habits for a reason — they are enjoyable, comfortable, or simply familiar. Quitting them cold turkey is hard, and more often than not we give up on giving up.

Goals, not resolutions

This year, instead of framing your plans as “resolutions” why not make goals?

Goals are positive. They are something we want to achieve, they add purpose and challenge to our life, they give us a sense of accomplishment.

Not eating sweets may be an achievement, but in the moment, it feels like deprivation. Not smoking is an accomplishment, but it can leave you feeling anxious and dissatisfied. The same goes for so many other habits and routines.

Be positively charged

Framing our desires for change as goals allows for positive action. Instead of not eating dessert, we can actively plan to eat at least two vegetables with every meal. Instead of not having a drink, we can plan to do a mini-yoga session after work — stepping away recharged and happy will just be a natural side effect.

Taking action allows us to be agents in our own lives and well-being. Instead of focusing on what we’ve done “wrong” we can be excited and proud of doing things that make us feel strong, healthy and balanced.

Read more: Resolution reboot, Small actions = big changes, Master any #yogagoal

 

 

3 Holiday Yoga Sessions

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Christmas yoga, cleansing, energy yoga, healing yoga, holiday detox, holiday yoga, yoga digestion, yoga immunity, Yoga With Paul

During the holidays it is easy to over-eat, over-drink and over-indulge generally.

There is nothing wrong with relaxing and having fun. However, pretty soon you start feeling sluggish and less-than-your best. To stay in form so you can enjoy the holidays, try these three holiday yoga sessions for digestion, immunity and energy.

Digestion

Wind-removing pose: Do this any time to gently stimulate your digestion and encourage elimination. If you’re doing it at home, hold it for longer than you would in class, breathing mindfully and deeply to get the best massage for your colon.

Hands to feet pulling pose: This is another wonderful massage for your internal organs. Pulling your body tight against your thighs means no room for light or air anywhere on the outside, and no room for excess on the inside either! Bend your knees as much as you need to to keep a good compression between your abdomen and thighs.

Cobra pose: Lying on your belly puts gentle pressure on your stomach and digestive system, encouraging the movement of any trapped wind. As you rise, really contract your back and leg muscles to strengthen this massage.

Savasana: Embrace the benefits of stillness. Whether you’ve over-eaten, drunk too much, or simply gotten stressed out by everything, taking a few minutes to relax in corpse pose, breathing evenly in and out through your nose, is a great way to calm the body and bring it back into balance.

Immunity

Pranayama: Our lungs are an important defence system so give them extra attention. In addition to breathing exercises in class take a short break two or three times a day and do some extra breathing. Pranayama is perfect for expelling stale air, while Kapalabhati detoxes and heats the body internally.

Focus on the core: The digestive system is crucial to immunity so take care to do plenty of asanas to strengthen and stimulate it. Try to do postures like Pavanamuktasana (wind-removing pose) and Adho Mukha Svanasa (downward-facing dog) for a few minutes each day.

Inversions: Inversions promote the circulation of lymph fluid. This lymphatic system transports immune cells through the body and works to detox the blood, so it is crucial for staying healthy. You can do shoulder-stands, headstands, or handstands. Or lie on your back with your bum next to the wall and your legs up for a gentle but effective inversion.

Energy

Crescent lunge

This is a fantastic energising pose that activates the major muscle groups of your core and lower body, opens your heart, and gets the energy flowing along your spine.

Wheel pose:

Wheel pose is a challenging, invigorating posture that creates great space in the body. The amazing front body stretch and compression of the spine reverse our normal posture, rebalancing our energy and opening our hearts.

Downward-facing dog

Downward-facing dog is a great posture for immediately activating and engaging the whole body, at the beginning of your practice, or as a reset from the stress of the day. It engages the major muscle groups, stimulates the digestion and elongates the spine.

With a little help from yoga the holiday season can be happier, healthier and more fun!

 

 

Legacy of Yoga Teaching

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Kailash Puri, women yoga teachers, yoga history, yoga legacy, yoga teachers, yoga teaching, yoga UK, Yoga With Paul, Yogini Sunita

A friend called to my attention an article in the Independent about two pioneering women yoga teachers in London.

Photo by Racheal Lomas on Unsplash

The article briefly profiled Yogini Sunita who was a popular yoga teacher — and instructor of future yoga teachers — in the 1960s in Birmingham, as well as Kailash Puri, who taught yoga from her home in Merseyside for more than 20 years.

Both these women were instrumental in spreading the knowledge and practice of yoga in the UK and — as the article notes — both have sadly been largely forgotten.

One reason for this is that they focused on the practice of teaching, while many of the best-known yoga teachers are famous because they have written books.

This got me thinking about the legacy of yoga teaching and what’s important.

Though it is tempting to say that people who write books, or create a style of yoga, or star in hit YouTube channels are “more influential” it is important to remember that real influence happens on the personal level.

Teaching yoga changes people’s lives. When a teacher helps a student overcome an injury, illness, or insecurity, that’s a legacy. When students grow more mindful, compassionate and calm, that’s a legacy.

Of course it is a tremendous accomplishment and privilege to become a famous yogi, but it is equally an accomplishment to promote the practice of yoga, even if the only people who ever hear your name are your students, in your class.

What do you think is the essence of a ‘yoga legacy’? Share in the comments!

Yoga for the Zombie Apocalypse

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Halloween yoga, hot yoga, vinyasa yoga, yoga benefits, yoga strength, Yoga With Paul, yoga zombies

Halloween is around the corner, as the endless shop displays of ghosts, ghouls, witches, pumpkins and black cats remind us. In addition to urging us to dress up, and eat a lot of orange-and-black packaged candy, Halloween is a chance to face — in a rather jokey fashion — our primal fears.

Photo by Devers Kerr on Unsplash

The pretend-scary of Halloween is rooted in timeless human fears: darkness, death, the unknown, spirits, sickness. Making a holiday of them is a way of facing fear, but also a way of avoiding it.

Yoga, as a mind-body practice, offers another way to consider our fears. We challenge ourselves in order to feel more confident, stronger, more empowered. Whether we know it or not, we are practicing yoga for the zombie apocalypse.

Think about it: we do yoga to be stronger, more alert, to enhance our balance, reflexes and concentration. We do yoga to control our breath and mind. We do yoga to surmount obstacles and cultivate courage and determination.

In other words, we do yoga to prepare for the day something goes horribly wrong. It might be a zombie invasion, it might be the loss of a loved one, or our own health. Whatever “apocalypses” we eventually have to confront, yoga is a tool, a weapon, to prepare us to navigate the worst of times.

So, as you’re heading out to a Halloween party this weekend, or passing out sweets to trick-or-treaters, smile and remember: yogis don’t need to be afraid of monsters.

Read more: Scary good Halloween yoga looks, How to be fearless

4 Hydrating Autumn Infusions

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autumn recipes, autumn yoga, Ayurveda tea, healing teas, herbal teas, hydration yoga, natural immune boost, yoga immune system, Yoga With Paul

Autumn is on its way! Preparing your body for the change of seasons is critical to maintaining your health, energy and positivity as the days get shorter and colder.

Staying hydrated is key to health year-round, but it can get more challenging as the weather cools and you are less inclined to reach for a cold bottle of water. While regular tea and coffee are appealing, they also have a diuretic effect and excessive intake can jangle your nerves.

Instead, embrace the calming, healing properties of infusions based on herbs and spices, which offer a warming, flavourful way to get your liquids.

If you want to get all fancy you can seek out special herbal blends, or make your own. Personally, I find good-quality boxed teas hit the spot, and are less fussy than attempting to do it yourself. However, here are a couple of easy DIY infusions to try too!

Four Hydrating Autumn Infusions

Photo by Mike Kenneally on Unsplash

Thyme, rosemary and mint

These three herbs are all wonderful for digestion, and quite a tasty blend. To make this infusion, I use store-bought mint tea bags and add a generous pinch of each dried thyme and dried rosemary, then let infuse for several minutes.

Lemon, ginger and cinnamon

This is a classic that will invigorate your body from the inside out. Lemon and ginger offer antioxidants and stimulate digestion, while cinnamon is reported to balance blood sugar. If you’re suffering a cold or ‘flu, add raw honey for extra soothing.

Heartwarming Yogi Tea

This Ayurveda-based Yogi Tea blend is packed with warming ingredients like ginger, chilli, cloves and black pepper. Delicious on its own or with a splash of non-diary milk.

Elderberry & Echinacea Pukka Tea

This is a great autumnal blend that combines the tartness of elderberry with the immune defending powers of echninacea. Great to see you through the inevitable onslaughts of cold-weather germs!

What’s your favourite autumn infusion? Share in the comments!

4 Steps to More Respectful Relationships

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daily yoga practice, positive habits, positive yoga, respect, respectful relationships, Yoga With Paul

I read an article recently about food allergy sufferers who struggle to get chefs, or even their own families, to acknowledge their allergies. As a result, some have gotten ill from deliberately being fed ingredients they couldn’t eat, while those with severe allergies literally risk their lives if someone ignores their dietary needs.

This struck me as not just a food issue but a respect issue. When someone denies or refuses to acknowledge someone else’s need, it is saying, “you don’t matter.” Unfortunately, as the story demonstrated, people often have difficulties respecting each other’s needs and boundaries. Whether out of carelessness or ignorance, we damage relationships by failing to treat the other person with the care they deserve.

Photo by Tiago Felipe Ferreira on Unsplash

We all need to cultivate respect and these four steps are a great way to start…

Listen

The basis of all healthy relationships is communication, and that means listening. We need to practice really paying attention to what other people are trying to tell us — not just verbally, but physically and emotionally. The yoga studio is a good place to begin: focus on listening with real attention to the instructor, not just letting the words slide past you. When you’re talking to a friend, loved one or colleague, stay present.

Accept

Other people will experience, feel, say, and do things you can’t get your head round. They will staunchly believe things that seem totally inexplicable to you. No matter how strange, it isn’t your place to decide whether or not their feeling, ideas or experience are valid; you must accept their version of their life. This doesn’t mean you have to agree with someone whose beliefs you find objectionable, for example, but it means you have to accept they hold them, and have a reason — whether or not it seems right to you.

Support

To be a respectful person, you have to support others as they move through life, especially if their experience is different from yours. It isn’t enough to be an ally to the people who are like you. Practicing compassion and openness means being willing and able to care for those around you, whatever your similarities or differences.

Affirm

The big leap in respect is to not just accept but affirm other people, even when they are coming from a place — or going through an experience — that is foreign to you. Again, affirmation does not mean supporting beliefs that are contrary to yours, but it does mean respecting the inherent human value of everyone you meet, and affirming that everyone deserves to be treated with care and dignity.

Read more: Four practices to speak with kindness, Three practices to cultivate patience

Yoga for Recovering from Illness

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stress, yoga anxiety, yoga cancer, yoga chemo, yoga healing, yoga immunity, yoga wellness, Yoga With Paul

Yoga is a practice that strengthens our bodies and minds when they need it most. Acute illness, like cancer, is a physical and emotional trauma that calls for attentive self-care — and science is finding that yoga can be an important tool.

Photo by Natalie Grainger on Unsplash

A recent study investigated whether yoga could help with eight common side effects of chemotherapy: pain, tiredness, drowsiness, nausea, lack of appetite, shortness of breath, depression, and anxiety.

The researchers assessed the participants over an eight-week structured yoga course and found improvements in many of the symptoms. What’s most important is that, “participants’ self-report of overall well-being demonstrated a positive improvement.”

In other words, people who do yoga feel better, even when they have a severe illness.

If you are recovering from a serious health issue and want to practice yoga, the focus should be on having a gentle, restorative and meditative practice. Try these posts to get started:

1. Restorative yoga
2. Balasana – child’s pose
3. 3 grounding yoga poses

Has yoga helped you overcome illness? Share in the comments!

4 Yoga Poses to Unlock your Shoulders

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bow pose, child's pose, dhanurasana, healing yoga, Revolved side angle pose, uttanasana, yoga flexibility, yoga forward bend, yoga postures, yoga shoulders, yoga stress, Yoga With Paul

Our shoulders carry a lot of weight, physically and emotionally. When we are tense or stressed, we tighten our shoulders. This can lead to short-term discomfort and long-term pain, stiffness and imbalance.

Regular yoga is an antidote to stress and its physical expression in our bodies. Before doing these poses, warm up with Pranayama breathing. The deep breaths open your lungs and rib cage, and the rhythmic arm movements gently warm and open your shoulders. When you’re ready, here are four great poses to unlock your shoulders.

Standing forward bend (Uttanasana)

We usually think of the forward bend as a hamstring stretch, but it is also a wonderful, gravity-fuelled stretch for the shoulders. The key is to let your whole upper body hang loose and heavy. This will relax the muscles and give you a light warm-up for the more active poses.

Bow pose (Dhanurasana)

This is a challenging pose that strengthens your back and creates a strong shoulder stretch. It is important to maintain good form: keep your knees and feet six inches apart, and perform the pose slowly, being mindful of the pressure you are putting into your shoulders. Work gently to the point you can maintain the posture and hold it.

Revolved side angle pose. Photo: Urban Decay Visuals

Revolved side angle pose (Parivrtta Parsvakonasana)

This posture is an incredible stretch that opens your upper body, creating space and clarity. Your shoulders lead the way as you turn the upper body in one direction and the lower body in the other, giving a strong, detoxifying massage to your organs and connective tissues. To deepen the rotation and increase the stretch across the back of your shoulder, press elbow against the knee.

Child’s pose (Balasana)

Round out your shoulder session with a long, meditative rest in child’s pose. It is an incredible stretch for your spine and shoulders, opening your upper body and inciting natural relaxation. You can vary it by alternating between arms-forward and arms back. Mentally, it is also a soothing pose, helping relieve the stress and distractions that cause your shoulders to lock up in the first place.

Questions? Comments? Tweet me @YogaWithPaul or write in the comments!