The Breathe In Space

Contact Jo via email for more info!
[email protected]

What is meditation?
How do we go about it?
Why bother?

Did you know: meditation can reverse the effects of low level, long term stress? It can halt the progress of damage in the body caused by trauma and shock? It can change the shape and landscape of your brain? Physically!

I truly believe meditation should be on the national curriculum. It’s a life skill I came to as a young adult but I wish I’d learnt it sooner. I meditate daily. If I don’t, I notice a big difference in how my day goes. It doesn’t stop life happening, bills coming in, people saying things that hurt etc, but it does alter how I deal with those things.

Wednesdays at TBIS we now have a dedicated timetabled meditation session. For all levels of experience, we will come together, with the shared intention of soothing our minds and altering our internal landscape for the better. We will gather at 8:00pm and leave at 8:45pm, ready for a deep, uncluttered sleep and a new perspective.
One day at a time, meditation changed my life!
It can change yours too.
Book now at the website bookings page.
NB this is a non denominational group-all faiths welcome

The bandhas are locks or seals we create in yoga to ‘pool’ energy for certain areas of the body. There are 4:

Mula Bandha – the root lock.
Jalandhara Bandha – the throat lock.
Uddiyana Bandha – lifting of the diaphragm lock.
Maha Bandha – all three locks at the same time.

We often utilise them without realising! Think where your chin is in Bridge for example….or how we pull up the root in Mountain pose.

Learning these things enhances your yoga practice. Learning these things and actively including them makes your yoga practice yoga and not exercise. Remembering these things and sharing them with others makes you a yoga teacher 😉

Otherwise known as The Yogic Sleep, yoga Nidra is not to be confused with:
Meditation
Hypnosis
Body scan
Napping
Although it touches on all aspects of the above!!
A scripted session takes anywhere from 15mins to an hour and helps participants go to the ‘hypnogogic state’ whereby they almost fall asleep, but don’t, then do, then don’t again.
It’s very VERY good for your nervous system, for helping the body rest after stress or distress and is deeply healing for all.
We are embarking on a new autumn timetable from next week and….yoga Nidra is on it!! Thursdays from 8:15-8:55 is now TBIS nap time! And you can pop down to the session straight after a 1.5 delish yoga sesh with Vicki which starts next week too!!! You lucky lucky things! AND there’s a discount package! See you there yogis….

Ahhhhhh the TBIS cabinets 🥰
We love a bit of vintage here! Good job really, given our historic building!
Have you ever peeked in the cupboards?
They stock things to enhance your well-being-things like
✨meditation books
✨aromatherapy oils
✨home made body care
✨organic beauty products
✨crystals
✨Insence
✨air atomisers
and more!
And the stock will be rolling out onto stall tables on the afternoon of September 7th! From 1:30-5:00 you can peruse TBIS items, plus goodies by and and
AND book yourself a facial, tarot reading, reiki session, reflexology with or eft with OR join one of our workshops! The treatments are discounted and the workshops are FREE!

Meditation
If I had a pound for every time someone said to me ‘I can’t meditate’ I’d be super rich!
It’s the one aspect of yoga most find tricky
I do it daily and….its tricky daily!
That is kind of the point….
When we follow the 8 limbs of yoga meditation, or dhyana, comes after dharana, or focus.
I tell all my students this: first you find focus, THEN meditation ‘happens’. I’ve come to understand that meditation is a feeling, a beautiful state of being, it’s not really an action.
Focus on something long enough and you’ll ’lose yourself’ in it. That’s the state of meditation.
Dhyana means ‘effortless concentration’, so although it’s happening, we’re not forcing it. It just flows. As soon as you think ‘ooh! I’m doing it!’ In meditation- p**f! You’re not!
As with everything it takes practice. Daily. Try focussing on your breath, observing the thoughts as they arise, and doing it for five, ten, fifteen minutes. You’ll no doubt ‘slip into’ Dhyana, if only for a second! But that’s enough-just one second will rewire you for a calmer, clearer headed day!

Yin yoga!
What is it?
Why do it?
Who’s it for?
Isn’t that a bit….easy?

Well, it’s a form of yoga - like all others really - that stems from Hatha. So the postures and poses are fairly familiar. They just utilise props a bit more here and there or get held longer. And, they’re largely done on the ground.
Yin energy is introspective, reflective and quiet, hence the name, so it’s a great form for quieting the mind. I get a lot of folk say ‘oh that’s not for me, I prefer vinyasa because it’s the only way to shut my head up, to keep moving’ but that (over time) may exacerbate the issue! Our culture is very much about ‘keep moving’ to avoid trauma and stress. The truth is, toooooo much movement can cause trauma and stress! As always, it’s about balance.
If you get tight muscles, it might not be your muscles! Chances are it’s fascia tissue locking up or getting tight. Yin yoga holds the stretch to deepen the fascia release. The benefits physically help you loosen up and get more flexible, whilst mentally it enables you to wind down more fully. A strange phenomena occurs whereby holding the pose doesn’t invite a loud head, it actually gets it to shut up!
So it’s for anyone who can get down on the floor. Theoretically, you could hold postures from a chair, but at TBIS we get on the mat.
It’s as easy as you make it! Every posture-as in all yoga classes, whatever the variant - should be held by you in your way, for as long as you feel comfy. Yes, we want to stretch the body. No we don’t want to force the body.
Like the sound of it?
We have a NEW yin class starting Friday 6th September at 6:30pm Led by Jo, you’re in safe hands! Cosy, comforting, releasing - it’s the perfect tonic at the end of a long week!
Bookings via the website

Ah the headstand….many a new yoga teacher’s signpost that they’re ‘good’ or ‘not good’ at yoga is the misconception that they must be able to do this (or any other ‘tricky’ posture) to teach successful classes.
This is a fallacy.
However, doing a headstand is a joyful thing! So by all means learn how to do one!

Known as the King of Asana because it perfectly encapsulates and stimulates the masculine or fire energy within us, Sirsasana is the ultimate inversion.
Benefits include:
Improves blood flow to the brain and eyes
Aids focus
Flushes out the adrenals
Helps shift fluids built up in lower body
Aids digestion
AND it’s fun!!!

Oooooooh these shifts!
They’re turning things upside down for some, inside out for others: all in the right way, at just the right time. As always.

And all to bring balance.

Breathe. Nearly there!

Seems like a good moment to introduce the shifts taking place at TBIS!
Savour these!
From September:
Phiona takes Monday 11:45am class!
Jo takes Tuesday 10:30am class!
Courtney’s 5:30pm Wednesday class lasts a whole 15mins longer!
NEW meditation classes begin Wednesdays at 8:00pm!
Vicky’s Thursday 6:30pm class lasts a while 1.5hrs!!
NEW yoga Nidra class begin Thursdays at 8:15pm!
NEW Yin class at 6:30pm Fridays! AND double class package deal means you could do 6:30-7:30 yoga and then a sound bath for £20!!

See?! Shifts!!

These seem to be one aspect of yoga known by most people these days - which is a fabulous thing! That it’s now more recognised that we are made up of energy first and matter second is real progress! But the yogis knew it first! 😉

Chakras and the energy body are talked about in most holistic practices these days. From Reiki to Sound Therapy and everything in between, there’s some understanding of the chakra system.

Did you know:
We have more than the usually depicted 7?
Chakra means ‘wheel’ or ‘vortex’?
Chakras can be affected by food, the air you breathe, the words you speak and even the thoughts you think?
The chakras (roughly) correlate to the positions of each gland in our endocrine system?

In yoga we help balance our chakras with every aspect of the practice: the pranayama and asana in particular help regulate their functionality and rebalance them. Some classes will include chanting ‘seed mantras’ or sounds which further help their ‘spin’ settle into its natural cycle.

✨Join me in September for my next yoga courses✨

Monday 7.30pm to 8.30pm in Kingsthorpe, Northampton.

Sunday 10.30 to 11.30am online. The classes will be recorded and sent to those who can't attend live.

These classes include gentle, mindful yoga to help you connect to your body, relax, stretch, rest and renew.

They also include yoga nidra which is a guided meditation that can help you rest deeply, calm the mind, help you connect to your intuition and support sleep.

They are suitable for all levels, including beginners and all body shapes and sizes welcome in my classes.

Details and booking here,

https://www.yogawithemmakelly.com/yoga-classes-in-northampton.html

https://www.yogawithemmakelly.com/online-yoga-classes.html

This is the more ‘modern’ of the yoga texts (written in the 15 century….)
and ‘shines a light on’ the mystical practices of yoga and how to utilise them for your best life.
It, like the arguably more famous text, The Yoga Sutras, is a manual.
Translated into English in the early 1900s, the HYP is a foundational tool still referred back to and woven through the practises of yoga teachers today.
Have you read it?

Well well well! Look who’s riding on the coat tails of the MASSIVE energies of the last couple of weeks!
Just in!
These beautiful Friday night specials to take you through the autumn!
AND….a NEW Friday Yin Yoga class about to land too! AND you can book BOTH back to back sessions for just £20!
Pass me that fan…..

We have:
✨sound baths
✨ceremonial circles (Octobers Samhain and Decembers Winter Solstice will be EPIC!)
✨Reiki, Rest & Restore
✨singing bowl specials

What’s your fave?! Heck, do ALL as part of the big chill for £45 a month! Or the TBIS ultimate membership which lets you attend ALL classes and Friday specials for just £65 a month!

I need a nap….

Recently this has become a topic of much debate in yoga circles.
Do we appropriate by using Namaste as a greeting or ‘sign off’?
Or do we appreciate?
As an educator first and foremost I make sure whenever I use aspects of Yoga not immediately ‘matching’ my white skin, British background and (to all intents and purposes) Christian lineage that I make VERY sure people know WHY I’m using them.
Do I use namaste in every day life? No.
Do I use it at the end of yoga classes I teach? Yes.
Why?
Because, translated, Namaste means ‘the light of my soul recognises the light of your soul’ and I think that’s beautiful. Better than ‘cheers for coming’.

Namaste is used to show respect. Yoga cultivates respect. Namaste means we see each other beyond our physical. Yoga is good for more than just the physical. Namaste reminds us that we are all one. Yoga leads us to discover we are all one.

Do we have to use it in yoga classes? No. Is it yogic? Yes. Does everyone have to say it? No. Is it discussed and taught rather than just ‘done’ in my studio? Yes.

See you on the mat, yogis 🙏🏻🧘🏽‍♀️✨

Genuinely how I feel when I try and explain these little beauties!!
The Gunas - or threads - are the alchemical energies which form EVERYTHING in the universe.
We tend to experience them as mood alterers and types of mass, or quality of consciousness.
Yoga philosophy says:
all things in the universe come from one underlying layer, known as Prakriti.
From this, 3 qualities emerge as possibilities: darkness & chaos or inertia, activity, passion & drive or boringness, harmony & contentment.
Awareness of which state you’re in and subsequent manipulation of it means greater self awareness, connection to the wider universe and ability to heal.
NOW do you think Yogas just about crow pose?!

New leaves
My fave sight on TBIS’ plant life! Thriving & happy, just like us!
Many people comment on the healing environment TBIS offers. The building has a very beautiful energy, for sure. We also curate our spaces to feel homely, welcoming and relaxing. Someone recently said “I’ve been to yoga in gyms and other studios, but the environment here matches the yoga principles somehow.”
It’s true!
Our only expectation for you when you visit is that you immerse yourself in your practise or holistic treatment and relax.
An email went out to our mailing list asking your thoughts on what we offer and how we might make it even better. Loads have come back - thank you! - and it’s so heartwarming to hear how much you love TBIS. Let us know what we might improve too, though! We’re always open to new growth.
Just like the plants 🌱

Santosha is one of the ‘Niyamas’ in yoga (the observances which can help us cultivate a better life) It translates as ‘contentment’ which seems like a nice thing to be told you must do….until you contemplate when you actually do it!
When ARE you genuinely content? And how long for? Do you, for example, feel content without a ‘prop’? Can you feel content when things aren’t as you like them? Can you be in the present moment, every moment, without worry about the future? Or dwelling on the past?
Tricky isn’t it…?!
Yoga helps! It teaches the participant to slow down, take in how they’re feeling in the moment, how their body feels, what the breath is doing, where their thoughts are.
Eventually, with enough practice, moments of Santosha appear.
And then, after even more practice, santosha is attainable off the mat too.
Interestingly, the Yama’s and Niyamas come even before we’re encouraged to ‘do’ yoga though. So being content is something we’re encouraged to seek regardless of asana and pranayama (see my other posts on these!)
Some say practising gratitude can help cultivate santosha. Others say mindfulness. None say ‘fierce attachment to things you own’ though! How do you cultivate contentment?

Hey hey!

You’re Invited!
Calling all ytt wannabes!

You are cordially invited to attend a taster yoga teacher training session at TBIS!

Want to know more about ytt? Want to see how I teach, what kind of things you might learn?

Never been to the studios and curious about the TBIS spaces?
This is for you!
Saturday 17 August at 9:45am you’ll be able to feed your curiosity and taste a little of what it’s like to train! AND ask real life trainees a little of their experience!

Simply reply ‘yes please’ and we’ll pop you on the list! You’ll only need an hour too, so plenty of time to get back to your Saturday routine. And it’s FREE!
See you on the mats!
We look forward to meeting you!

In light of what’s been happening in the uk I thought this might be an aspect of yoga to consider.
Ahimsa translates to mean “do no harm”
Not with words, actions or thoughts.
Part of the ‘yamas’ in yoga philosophy (the restraints), ahimsa is just one of the ways you can be yogic without getting in a yoga mat.
Part of eastern religions like Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism and Jainism, ahimsa, or ‘non violence’ is the bedrock of the core belief that we are all one.
If you do harm to others, you do harm to yourself.
This was core in Ghandis ethics on how to create great change whilst adhering to his principles.
In yoga, many people believe it’s simply ‘be gentle’ or ‘be vegetarian’, but it goes a lot deeper than that when you consider us all ‘part of the whole’. It’s the same as the teaching ‘love thy neighbour’.

Try it today and see how you do….It’s easy not to hit out physically. It’s manageable to control how you speak to others (how do you speak to yourself though?!) but how easy is it not to think ‘violently’ or ‘aggressively’? Can you show love and kindness even when you disagree with someone?

I’m very proud to have been selected as a haven for rest and self care for carers in our community.
If you’d like a spot, contact via the poster direct to
We’ve got quite a range of activities and workshops planned for you! All designed to ease stress and tension. I look forward to welcoming you all!

The what now?!
The vayus!
Or winds…..
Not THAT kind of wind, no….
The five types of Prana, or life force energy.

In yoga, breath is everything. In life, breath is everything. As per the previous post in Pranayama is control of the breath. As prana is contained within the breath, as we control Prana, we control all 5 types of it. With me so far?!

Basically, the five Vayus are the different aspect of our life force and how it moves through us.
Inwards/upwards
Downwards/outwards
Centre to the outer
The flow through head and neck
& from the outer inward

This is why pranayana isn’t just breathwork! We’re directing life force energy, we’re harnessing our inner power, we’re empowering ourselves and our bodies. And - bonus! - we can activate the energy flow which leads to enlightenment. This is why it’s so exciting to know your yoga! Want to know more? Sign up to study it! YTT starts September!

The next one!
When’s the course start? How do I pay? What if I stop half way through? How much yoga do i need to know about already? What kind of yoga will I be able to teach? What’s on the syllabus? How long are the training days? How much paperwork is there in between? What do I need to do to pass?
If you have these questions, more, or different ones, on all things YTT at TBIS, join me for an online natter at 7pm Thursday 8 August! To book a spot just email or call and I’ll ping you the link! It’s absolutely free and I absolutely promise there’s no obligation to book onto training! And yes, we discuss chair and kids yoga too! You got sooooo many options for extending your love of yoga!! &a

Cat Cow or Marjaryasana and Bitilasana is one of THE most utilised movements in Yoga and beyond.
Excellent for:
Mobilising the spine, increasing lung capacity, strengthening the wrists, elongating the neck, creating a bandha (lock) at the throat, opening the base chakra (at perineum), stretching the chest, aiding focus, calming the nervous system, regulating the heartbeat, lowering blood pressure and more! it’s no surprise every class you go to will likely include it.

When to breathe?!
Inhale as head comes up (and bottom!) and exhale as you round the back and tuck the head down. Think ‘bellows’ and squeezing your tummy and chin squeezes air OUT
Can you do it pregnant?
Yes, but don’t ‘dip’ the back, keep the lower back straight and lift the head, then round down into cat.

What if my knees hurt?!
Do it seated! You can mobilise your spine in the car/cow ‘wave’ just as well sitting or kneeling!

Like it? Want to learn more about why we do it? When I’m a class we’re recommended to do it? What the energy of each part of the movement stimulates? What other chakras benefit? Then sign up for yoga training! 6 months for just philosophy and theory, 12 months for practical application and teaching! Email jo for more info. [email protected]

New Blog Post! It’s been quite the year……

New Blog Post Lammas lament

Triangle pose
One of my faves (before the slipped disc!)
Trikon= three corners or triangle
Asana= posture or seat
Benefits: stretches hips, lengthens spine, strengthens core and legs, reduces stress, stimulates ‘as above, so below’ energy, represents Holy trinity of Soul, Mind, Body and brings them into harmony
Careful if: you have a bad back
Cautions: don’t fully extend hand and arm down to ankle on the ‘leaning’ side, this can twist your hips and put pressure on the lumbar spine. Use a block instead, or, even better, rest at around knee height - you’ll get all the benefits without putting pressure on yourself.

Love stuff like this?! Join Jo Wednesdays for Yoga Immersion OR sign up to study yoga! Full teacher training AND six month non teaching certs available!

As one cohort comes to an end, the next gets ready to begin! Will you be with them?!
All you need is
* a love of yoga
* 2 years experience in classes
* a desire to deepen your practice
* a commitment to study across a year, two Saturdays per month
* pay upfront for 10% off or monthly as part of a payment plan!
Email Jo for details: [email protected]
Fully accredited & CPD points too!

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