Koru Yoga - Kerry McGregor

A message for my lovely students.
It’s been a few weeks since my darling dog Lola died in an awful, tragic accident. And despite my hope that I would recover enough to get back to classes quickly in order to support you all it seems this grief has a longer journey. I can’t keep feeling the pressure each week to hope I can hold it together enough to get back to being able to hold space for you all. It’s very clear to me that I need to try and hold that space for myself for a while. My emotions feel like a tidal wave and that’s not a place I can successfully teach from.
I’m going to take a little break and I hope you can all understand that this is me practising what I preach - working at the level that works for me right now and trying to find a deep compassion and kindness for myself while I grieve the loss of my little girl. I’ll post again to update where I’m at as we approach the end of term 2.
I will miss you - keep moving with curiosity and kindness - I appreciate your understanding.
Kerry

Just a reminder that I’m still not back on deck yet - taking the time I need to grieve until I feel ready # # # thanks for understanding

Apologies for short notice but I won’t be holding classes this week coming 6th may onwards at either Menzies Creek Hall or Sole Frequency. My darling dog Lola has died and I just can’t.
Appreciate your understanding. Will post when resuming.
Kerry

Little reminder I have no classes this week at either Menzies Creek Hall or at Sole Frequency but back the following week as normal. 🙂

I seriously can’t recommend this highly enough. Claire is a phenomenal teacher and coach and I can’t think of a better, more valuable retreat than this!

And then if you’re in Adelaide… (Adelaide Yoga Flow - Sam and Dan check this out!)

Tina Shettigara - Cosmic Alignment: Yoga Therapy for the Spine - Two-day workshop with Leila Stuart A workshop for yoga practitioners and yoga teachers

Anyone lucky enough to be anywhere near Coffe Harbour should get themselves along to this workshop with Leila Stuart. She’s one of the most inspiring incredible teachers I’ve ever had the privilege of learning from.

Yoga Workshop- Coffs Harbour with .stuart .
One of my most loved Yoga mentors, Leila, will draw from her forthcoming book Experiential Anatomy: Therapeutic Applications of Embodied Movement and Awareness to teach a 2-Day Weekend Workshop in Coffs Harbour February 17th & 18th.

Please join us for The Cosmic Spine: Yoga Therapy for the Spine.
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This workshop is suitable for experienced yoga students, yoga teachers, personal trainers, physiotherapists, massage therapists and movement teachers interested in learning slow, mindful, and accessible healing movements for the spine and neck. You will learn experiential anatomy practices, somatic inquiry and applications of yoga philosophy to enhance your personal practice and teaching.
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If this piques your interest, see link to learn more in-depth details about the workshop.

Please register your interest by Sunday, December 10th

https://www.beyondmovementstudio.com/upcoming-workshops/leila-stuart-spine-workshop-feb-2024

I’m so looking forward to getting back to yoga this year! The Christmas break has been lovely, the rest much needed, but I know my body and mind are craving a return to a nourishing practice! How about yours?
We are mixing things up just a little bit this year…

Mondays: Menzies Creek Hall venue. Starting Monday January 22nd

(Many thanks to the committee for subsidising these classes to assist the community in finding healthy habits and making connections in the process!)

9am - 10am Supple and Strong (for the second half of your life!)

This class is a fun way to improve your balance, strength, mobility and functional movement. We challenge ourselves to find new and different ways to move and organise our bodies - getting more comfortable and capable along the way!! Investment is $5 per class, payable in cash each visit. Bring a friend and have some fun!

6.30-7pm Foundations of Movement

This 30 minute class will bring awareness to how your brain currently organises your body’s movement, and what options may be available for you to shift things in search of greater ease, comfort and core stability. We’ll explore our major joints preferences and capacities, unwind from the tension of the day and get a little blood and lymph fluid moving. (It will also be a great combination with the 7.15pm class!) investment is $5, cash paid on arrival.

7.15-8.15pm Somatic Yoga

Are you battling any (or all?!) of the following? Work or family stress and anxiety, sleeplessness, weight gain, perimenopause symptoms, or just mid life “creakiness”?
One of the most important factors we need to consider in any of these situations is to understand the essential balance between our sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system responses, and how much time we spend in each.
Constantly being stuck in sympathetic (or flight/flight response) elevates our cortisol levels - something that contributes to weight gain, sleeplessness, high blood pressure, anxiety, diabetes and digestive problems, to name just a few! This class is a check in for your nervous system and will teach you how to rebalance, and lower cortisol levels, while assisting the brain to find new ways or organising the body’s movement patterns. We will explore the power of the breath as well, and find deep levels of relaxation. Wear warm layers (pjs welcome!) and expect to wind down ready for bed 😉 investment is $10 for this class, payable in cash on arrival.

(Please note, cards can be bought that offer a slight discount for a 10 pack. Please get in touch for information)

Please bring your own mat. If you have a yoga bolster bring that too. We supply blankets but if you have a favourite snuggly one bring it along!

Wednesdays: Sole Frequency in Gembrook
Starting Wednesday January 10th

6pm-7pm Somatic Yoga
Are you battling any (or all?!) of the following? Work or family stress and anxiety, sleeplessness, weight gain, perimenopause symptoms, or just mid life “creakiness”?
One of the most important factors we need to consider in any of these situations is to understand the essential balance between our sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system responses, and how much time we spend in each.
Constantly being stuck in sympathetic (or flight/flight response) elevates our cortisol levels - something that contributes to weight gain, sleeplessness, high blood pressure, anxiety, diabetes and digestive problems, to name just a few! This class is a check in for your nervous system and will teach you how to rebalance, and lower cortisol levels, while assisting the brain to find new ways or organising the body’s movement patterns. We will explore the power of the breath as well, and find deep levels of relaxation. Wear warm layers (pjs welcome!) and expect to wind down ready for bed
Investment - contact the studio for pricing.

Best New Year’s Eve prep ever. When I’m usually adding a huge list of “to do” and “do better” to my already full plate, it’s occurred to me over my last few days of reflection that instead I’m going to start taking things away first. And the first of those to be removed is prioritising others’ expectations of me (and implicit in that, “my worth”) ahead of my own deep true knowing of what’s right for me. A word Glennon uses in this book is “selah “. Pause and reflect, stop and listen. My responses to requests or statements by others are so often driven by deep conditioning (how to keep people happy, how to be “nice”, where is my value) and in the rush I miss my own knowing.
When I DO I start to add things “to do” to my list for the year, I will be starting with some healthy boundaries too. I’ve had to set one or two of those in the last year and it’s been one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do but DAMN I respect myself more for it. Sometimes in encountering behaviour that crosses those boundaries I need “selah” more than ever, so I don’t just fold. Learning to have healthy boundaries in your 50s is a little like a toddler learning to walk. Takes a LOT of practice. But I’m realising the wobbles and falls are just part of the learning, not failure.

Selah is my word for this coming year. Like an internal signpost.
(Big thanks to my lovely Eilish and her beautiful Shiv for the gift of this book)

Little reminder - no classes from me for a couple of weeks at either Menzies Creek Hall or Sole Frequency - today is surgery day. I’ll post to let you all know when the new and improved version is back on the mat!! 🙂
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Tonight’s yoga at 6.30 at Menzies Creek Hall is the last class of mine for a couple of weeks or so with a break for another fun hospital visit 😉
30 mins of core awareness followed by a luxurious relaxing restorative yoga practice. $5 and $10 respectively. ♥️

I’ve enrolled in this awesome course - can’t wait. Take a peek!

Registration for the first ever round of SOMA:HOME is closing today!

I've mainly been talking about this via email and on my stories, so you'd be forgiven for wondering what the heck I'm talking about.

But it would be remiss of me not to add one last reminder here to anyone who might be interested.

SOMA:HOME is my brand-new 6 week program to deep-dive into
befriending your body and mind. Over 6 weeks we'll get to the heart of what stops you from caring for - and ultimately loving - yourself and your body.

Why?

So that self-care becomes a default way of being, not something to chase. And so that your experience of your inner world is one of coming home, not going into battle.

I'm offering this course for the first time, and at a heavily discounted rate ($125 AUD).

If you're interested in joining us, I'd love you to check the program out and sign up here: https://www.ericawebb.com.au/soma-home

Registrations close really soon - at 8pm AEDT tonight - Wednesday 1st November.

We’d love to be your Christmas gift solution this year!

One of my favourite podcasts.
This episode is a gem for me at the moment ♥️

‎SelfKind with Erica Webb: Ep 229: Should self-care be proactive or reactive? on Apple Podcasts ‎Show SelfKind with Erica Webb, Ep Ep 229: Should self-care be proactive or reactive? - 18 Oct 2023

My apologies but I have to cancel tonight’s sessions at Menzies Creek Hall for personal reasons. Sincere apologies for short notice.

You body is not siloed from your mind. Beating yourself up mentally? You’re gonna feel that in your body.

Your mind is not siloed from your body. Tight, achey muscles? You might feel irritable or anxious and not sure why.

This is important when it comes to learning to find a sense of home, safety and love within yourself.

When you start to explore the ways your body and mind interact and impact each other, you can meet that (ie yourself!) with more curiosity, more kindness and more compassion.

And that, right there, can change your relationship with yourself in big BIG ways 💕

To my lovely students - you may want to check this out!
I’m having to change my current teaching schedule due to some annoying administrative challenges - so for those who usually practise with me tuesdays - maybe hop over here to my wonderfully talented friend and colleague Erica and check out her amazing work!!

www.facebook.com

4am
It offers such a powerful window of time for reflection. In yoga and Ayurvedic practices, it’s considered a spiritually charged time - an opportunity to process emotional states and reclaim and reconnect to our “purpose”.
Chinese medicine also aligns this time with our “yin” side and lung energy, and may indicate an imbalance if we wake consistently at this time - or that we are processing strong emotional conditions.
For me, each of these resonate as I sit here at this time.
It’s so quiet where I live at this time of night. No cars are on the road - those who partied late are already home in bed and those who start early have not yet risen. Not even the kookaburras have sung yet.
I can always tell, when I wake at this time, that I’m unlikely to drift off again. Something is floating to the surface to be examined.
This last week has been a huge one for me. But today, on the surface at least, it’s a new market my business will be attending. Like a kid, my nervous anticipation has me wide awake. Seed of Life Farmers Market in Upwey is delightful - a collection of passionate makers - cheeses, spirits, breads, vegetables, relishes - you name it. When you are a maker of these things - you share something - a need to nourish others. A certain kind of love goes into these things. For me - it’s also a powerful reminder of where Koru Pantry came from. Waking at 4 on retreats to ensure the huge pot of chai was on and simmering, ready for the yoga students who sat in mediation for an hour at this time. The perfume of my chai would waft from the kitchen - little tendrils weaving through the air, offering nourishment.
This business was built on the back of this - a longing to be part of a deeper process of connection. Of revealing the essential in ourselves. Of connecting to our soul, and those of others.
The deeper layer, of processing emotional issues, has always been marked by a cup of tea in almost every culture I’ve heard of. It’s my go to when I’m sad, overwrought or lonely. It’s also the first thing I offer when someone arrives, when news is to be shared (whether happy or sad), or when life simply needs to pause for a moment. It marks the start of every day for me, a ritual of preparation. Unlike a coffee, it’s never on the run - rather, a reclaiming of that 4am window of reflection. Even if only for 5 minutes.
It’s 5 am now.
The first car has passed on the road, and there are sounds of nature waking around me. It’s time to go and get ready to head to market - to meet new people and offer up our tea to be a part of these powerful moments for them too.
I’m so grateful to all those who support us - who give me the chance to grow this into something that can sustain me in a way that feels like a valuable contribution to others.
Come and see us today if you’re around. Consider how you might pause (whether at 4 am or a more “civilised” time!) to just reconnect. We’d love to be a part of that.

Some of our class discussions over the last week (particularly with a lot of new students recently) have centered on shifting our focus from an externally sourced concept of “what’s right” in our practice to an internally (or somatically) sourced one of “what is” instead.
Then my clever friend and colleague did this and I think you should all have a listen and follow!!

‎SelfKind with Erica Webb: Ep 221: Embracing Change and Self-Discovery through the Somatic Lens on Apple Podcasts ‎Show SelfKind with Erica Webb, Ep Ep 221: Embracing Change and Self-Discovery through the Somatic Lens - 6 Sept 2023

Menzies Creek Hall students - I’ve emailed you, but in case you miss it, there’s no classes tonight unfortunately. Back to normal next week!

Just a heads up to my Menzies creek students at Menzies Creek Hall tonight - my usual driver option (and my standbys!) are not available to chauffeur (damn my eyes!) so I’m afraid class is cancelled tonight. See you all next week!! Stay warm, have a little roll and wiggle on the floor in front of the fire tonight!!
Love Kerry

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cv8g7RbtRmn/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Does your Pinky toe look like this?🦶 Great post from @ai526ai 🙏⬇️ My pinky toe had (still has) pretty bad deformity. It was curled under and twisted enough that the nail was touching the floor. I see some progress since I stopped wearing narrow toe box shoes and started wearing toe spacers. For sure it will take a lot longer for my pinky toe as well as the 4th toe to become fully straight. Besides looks, I noticed my pinky toe did not move at all. Felt like it was stuck there, and that affected my balance. Here is what helped me to gain back the ability to move my pinky toe. 1. Manual massages 2. Pinky toe Extension 3. Pinky Toe Abduction 3. Pinky Toe Flexion Abduction is still the most challenging one for me. Flexion was hard in the beginning but it gets easier one you get a neurological connection. Doing these small exercises will wake up and strengthen foot muscles which will improve the stability and lead to establish a strong foundation of our body. #fixyourfeet #toedeformity #pinkytoe #pinkeytoeexercise #mobility #wakeupthemuscles #trusttheprocess #bepatient #foothealth #footfunction #restoreyourfeet #consistency

Hey all - my slight cold this morning has accelerated rapidly and I’m down and out with crazy coughing and congestion. However the lovely Pilates teacher at Menzies Creek Hall is stepping in to the rescue and can be there at 7.30 to teach a class for you all. 6.30 core won’t run today as she’s teaching elsewhere at that time.
Please head down and support her - I’m very grateful she has changed her plans to accomodate this at late notice.
See you next week!!
# # #
Kerry