Little Lotus Yoga

Give them the opportunity to be truly creative and inventive.
*Children given paper plates to make faces will never learn to draw and cut a circle.
*Children given a limited colour palate, will accept a monochrome world.
*Children given other people's words for writing, will never learn to search their own mind for wider vocabulary.
*Children gazing numbly at a screen will never stretch their own imaginations to create.
*Children kept clean and sterile will never learn to breathe in nature and know how precious it is.
*Children thinking that silence is to be commended will never learn to use their voices with confidence.
*Children without a musical instrument in their hands and music in their ears will always feel that music is too precious for them.
*Children who don't experience poetry or lyrics will never understand the beauty of words to sing.
*Children without scabby knees will never learn how to keep themselves safe.

My Yoga classes at Riffs Youth centre are set to close, as I am not able to secure a new teacher. 😭
If your child has attended my classes you'll have been emailed a few times on this. If you have a child who could benefit from yoga classes ( and that's all children in my opinion !) please either get in touch with Clary, or chat with me if you'd rather.

Parents of my children's classes, please check your emails. There has been a change of plans for both Parley School classes and Riffs Youth centre classes for next term 💟☮️

Natalie Smit-Ash Ferndown Youth Centre - Riffs Parley First School

Yoga at Bear Island again?
The wonderful Old Thatch in Ferndown will again be hosting our Summer Holiday yoga sessions.
Whatever the weather we will be Cody and dry in the woodland setting. With your drinks included.
Natalie Smit-Ash and Isabel Brooks more details available soon!

We're afraid we have some sad news. We are devastated that Care Dorset, owned and operated by Dorset Council, have issued us with an eviction notice. It has come as quite a shock, and despite attempts to negotiate and provide solutions, both parties have refused to engage so far with us.

Care Dorset and Dorset Council state they want the space back to provide cooked meals at lunchtime. We have offered to provide those meals for them, and suggested they use an outside catering company. Both options would be considerably more cost effective than opening up the kitchen (which we estimate will cost in the region of £60000 per year to operate), and importantly would also allow us to stay too. There is also 2 other kitchen areas in the building. We were offered the redundant kitchen space after they ceased to provide meals due to financial pressures making the provision unviable. We are wholly surprised and confused therefore since budgets for local authorities are even tighter, and the number of people attending the Day Centre have markedly reduced.

In light of this, and of our need to highlight our plight in an attempt to change their mind to keep this vital and life and livelihood saving service going, we need your help:

- Sign our petition https://www.change.org/save-ferndown-food-bank
- Write to Chris Best, CEO Care Dorset at [email protected], and Cllr Spencer Flower, Leader of the Council at [email protected]
- Share our plight with friends/family/colleagues
- If you are a donor, please continue to support us as we continue our vital work. We will not stop.

Lets keep Ferndown and East Dorset Fed!

May we raise children to love the unloved things...
The dandelion, the worm and the spiderlings
Children who sense the rose needs the thorn
and run into rainswept days the same way we turn toward the sun

And when they're grown and someone has to speak for those who have no voice
May they draw upon that wilder bond...
Those days of tending tender things
AND BE THE ONES

Nicolette Sowder

We have had unprecedented demand this week for our Food Bank, hitting a record 61 people on Thursday alone. If you are able to support us, and those in need, with a donation of food or of pennies so we can buy in bulk at a cheaper rate, we would be so very grateful. Donations can be made in Tesco, Lidl ferndown, orchid house, coop funeralcare ferndown, or online.

Thank you, too, to all those who already donate and support us as we provide for the most vulnerable in our local communities. Our support is free of charge, and delivered with dignity and hope. Our food bank support extends to East Dorset, not just Ferndown, so if you live in East Dorset and want to support your community you will be doing so by donating to us..

Our neighbouring foodbanks - Wimborne, kinson, hope for food and Ringwood, are also struggling as the cost of living really bites this winter.

Lucky me! So looking forward to teaching these little creatives again this week!
Balanced, strong, breathing, calm and peaceful...

Balance..... My personal nemesis.
Some have issues with flexibility, suppleness, strength. Mine could be, as my classes are fully aware, is mostly my balance.
My teachers know this too! (Sophie Fastnedge !)
Nothing changes, and it's not something that worries me, if it was I wouldn't have trained as a yoga teacher. In fact its one of the things that I can laugh at myself over, it demonstrates my oh so imperfect self and allows others to accept their unique limitations in class too.
Would you feel embarrassed or egotistical about it ? Neither should have a place in a yoga class. Just do the stuff that makes you feel good, that makes you smile, test yourself sometimes if you really want to, but pushing your body into shapes isn't my way. Keeping two body parts on the floor is no yoga crime!
So ... balance.....some days I have it, some days I don't.
I've looked into core strength, calm and balanced mind....every day is different!
So don't wait till you think you're good enough to start, feel the fear and wobble with me.

No apologies for reposting this throwback photo.
It just fills me with joy....I can feel the laughs we had and the morning sun on our bodies. Practicing Yoga on the beach a few years back. Such happy classes on perfect early mornings. With my friend and accomplice
Bring on the spring !

I have been teaching a few lovely classes at Ferndown Fitness and the classes are not for members only !
Mondays ...
12.30-1.25 Adult beginners level Yoga
1.30-2.25 Chair yoga.
Wednesday ...
12.30-1.00 Breathe and Relax (meditation and mindfulness selfcare)
Open to my current classes and to the gym members.
Book in by calling

These amazing tweens.
They fill my heart with hope. That's what working with children gives you.
You bask in their enthusiasm, vitality, energy, humour, drama, creativity, growing strength, growing confidence, growing kindness, growing joy in life.

It might not last for many hours but their hearts remember the moments.
We practiced partner yoga at and as so often happens, they run with it. What better way to encourage the idea of endless possibilities than to physically move into crazy places, lose some inhibition and find your control before learning to relax.

It's a tall order, but it's possible.

While I sign off for this year, after a blissful rest in the far west, I am sending the peace and love 🕊️☮️ of this Christmas season to all those in my yoga community in 2023. From 3 year olds at Parley pre-school to 93 year olds at Magna Care Centre. A special wish of peace to the women of enthralling courage from Ukraine.
To the devotees of yoga in my adult classes in Parley School, and gorgeous children of Little Lotus Yoga and Riffs Youth centre. The Centre at Heatherlands, at Ferndown Fitness Gym and Ferndown Upper school 6 th form.
You've been utterly amazing to know and be with.

To the fantastic teachers I've trained with this year, work with and hope to meet soon in the sparkly new year!
Foremost Natalie Smit-Ash . My trusted heart.
Samantha Wills , Sally Villain , Fiona Penfold , Hayley Wilson Alex Winter . Love you girls !!!!💞 The many more special yoga teachers who, befriend, entertain, inspire and educate me from Dorset and further afield. Divya Kohli ! Ellen Lee , Col Hardman Laura Green Kelly Amba Cooper . Thank you !

So, I wave lovingly to those in my late Thursday night class as it is now closed. A million thank yous for your loyalty, massive amounts of fun and a special kind of serenity too over the years. An emotional parting choice for me.

Such a huge body of work, poetry and music by this hero of modern literacy. So sad to see it's over.

Wintering. Yoga classes to warm up with. To deepen your breathing, to calm your nervous system. Take time out to invest in yourself to loosen up your body and unwind your mind. We can't hibernate but we can slow down and step away from the chaos. See you on your mat !

Wintering. Yoga classes to warm up with.

Cwtch up with a cosy night of Christmas Candlelit Yin and Restorative Yoga.
In addition to my usual timetable I am running a one night special on:
Friday 15th December
at Parley First School
We will experience deep stretching through to deep relaxation in these two slow and gentle styles.
There will be a few tasty treats too during this 2 hour class and essential oils to compliment the seasonal cheeriness.
I am taking bookings now.
07762991479
Initially, priority will go to current classes.

Betsy's Children's Yoga book of the week in my unsurprisingly Halloween themed! But this Christopher stays true to himself! A book which would probably be banned in some states if America, such is the way of the book banners.
It's beautiful little story of a pumpkin who survives some very unkind behaviour and teaches a moral lesson of going your own way.

If Shirley says it , it must be true!

Betsy's book for children's Little Lotus Yoga this week is All the Colors of the Earth by Sheila Hamanaka.
A beautiful book illustrating the beauty of all colours and cultures of humanity are reflected in the natural world. Acceptance, tolerance, enjoyment. Betsy is a passionate supporter of BLM

🩵🧘🏼Yoga classes 🧘🏼🩵

Excited to be back at Riffs Youth Club from Tuesday teaching ages 9-14s. If your child attends any of the Ferndown schools, or further afield , and would like to give yoga a try ... give me a call. It's non competitive, it's inclusive, it's the best trip to calm while having fun.
For less than coffee and cake !

So looking forward to having some yoga fun and yoga calm with these most happy of faces! Starting our term this afternoon at Parley First, where my heart resides!
Monday and Wednesday after school ... Today we will be Dancing like Giraffes !
I have a few spaces for this term.....years 1-4.
Please feel free contact me for more details.
07762991479

Hilarious!

'Mass killing' report in Chapel St Leonards was yoga class Police say the call was made with "good intentions" after a meditation class was mistaken for bodies.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-66742339