I am in the lucky and privileged position of embarking on my first house-buying adventure. Over the years I have witnessed my friends go through the stress of this, so I was anticipating some challenge. Trying to navigate what feels at times like a confused jumble of mortgage advice, surveys, solicitor quotes, paperwork, etc has certainly been daunting so far. It is interesting too that in England there is no guarantee you will actually get the property until you get your han

In Part 1, I explained how the type of movement I practice and teach has evolved. Here in part 2, I’ll explain why mindful awareness is a HUGE part of my yoga classes. Have you ever been to a yoga or meditation class and heard the teacher say things like: - “notice how relaxed you’re feeling...” - “clear your mind...” - “pluck out negative thoughts like weeds...” - “feel the prana moving down your arms...” or similar? In response to this guidance, you may find yourself wrestl

A little story about how mindfulness tools support me to cope better with stressful situations and how I have developed greater confidence and self belief as a result. I met my husband 5 years ago. Ever since I've known him he's been passionate about scuba diving and trained as an instructor last year. I always said I could never ever scuba dive. Why? Well: I am scared of deep water, not a confident swimmer, have a phobia of drowning and also have asthma, so can get anxious

I was excited to find this gorgeous image of a bird flying free from a cage for the poster for my next course. It is a symbol that resonates with changes that I have been through. For 12 years I worked in desk-based jobs, including in a job I was really passionate about, in the NHS – supporting the monitoring and improvement of quality of care and patient safety. However I just couldn’t quite fit myself into the role, I kept trying but it just didn’t suit me, and I got very s

How often do we pay attention to sensation in our bodies? “Autopilot” mode is very useful. We can use “muscle memory”, so that once we've learned to walk, run, cycle, swim, we can do it without having to think about it. We can even drive and eat a sandwich and worry about how bad the traffic is at the same time! However in daily life, our bodies often get ignored and used in a mechanical way, and we can find ourselves with very little awareness of what is going on in the bo