Movement Mindfulness Meditation

🪬 BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND….Retreat number 2! 🪬

After the popular demand for the first retreat, we are announcing dates for a SECOND RETREAT at the end of March!
For those who are new to their path of spirituality and want to dive deeper ✨

These 5 nights, 6 days will be a wellness journey in the spiritual town of Rishikesh 🇮🇳
The perfect sunny days will be spent engaged in activities that nourish the soul - yoga, breathwork, massage, music, and so much more. There will also be plenty of time to relax and explore the beautiful sites that make Rishikesh so magical ✨

You’ll be surrounded by a group of like-minded people, step into a new routine and come home feeling refreshed and rejuvenated 🍃

🗓️ Dates: 29th March - 3rd April 2023
🇮🇳 Location: Rishikesh, India
✈️ Closest Airports: Delhi & Dehradun
💵 Price: £999 per person all inclusive (double sharing basis - all meals, luxury accommodation, wellness sessions, excursions, airport transfers and so much more - flights not included)

💥 EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT of £200 for sign-ups by 3rd Feb (£799) 💥

If you’re interested in joining us on this journey and want more details, get in touch and I’ll send over further info.

Share this with a friend or partner 👫

Tel: 07577072636
Email: [email protected]

Sarita 💕

✨ WELLNESS RETREAT ✨

👩🏽‍💻 I left corporate 4 years ago to start something of my own but with little idea where I was heading. Rishikesh gave me a home when I felt I needed a break from London life. I gained peace, clarity, and direction from the energy of this place which is the reason I’ve chosen this location because it’s what I aim for each guest to experience.

🍃 We’ll start by grounding in nature with a few short, beginner-friendly hikes in Harshil Valley. Breathing the fresh mountain air, surrounded by apple orchards and clear skies, this Himalayan paradise will be home for a few nights.
☀️ The remaining week we’ll settle at a luxurious stay in Rishikesh, overlooking the holy river Ganges. We’ve got yoga, breathwork, massages and SO much more in store.

Some places in the world hold a certain energy that can only be felt. I can’t wait to host this 10-night RESET in this magical place and share with you one of the memorable trips of your life ✨

📅 Dates: 1st - 11th March 2023
🧳 Locations: Harshil Valley & Rishikesh
✈️ Closest Airports: Delhi & Dehradun
💵 Price: £1,799 per person all inclusive (double sharing basis - luxury accomodation, all meals wellness sessions, excursions, airport transfers
and so much more - flights not included)

💥 Early bird discount of £200 for all sign ups by 15th Jan (£1,599) 💥

If you have specific requirements or would like to focus on particular practices, I have a team of teachers and assistants on the ground in Rishikesh who can customise your itinerary to suit you.

DM me if you’re interested in joining and I’ll send over further info ✉️

Sarita 💕

SILENCE ✋

A few months ago in India I went on Vipassana which is a 10 day silent retreat - no devices, no speaking, no eye contact, no activities, no reading, no writing - literally nothing but meditation for 9-10 hours a day. To some this may sound crazy but with the pace of life the way it is, many more people are becoming curious about silence and stillness.

❓ Why is it important?

Think of your mind being like an internet browser with too many tabs open.
When life is constantly on the go it can be very productive and make us feel driven. But it can also eventually slow us down/burn us out or be used to create distraction from experiencing uncomfortable emotions such as unfulfilment, loneliness, emptiness etc.
Silence closes all the unnecessary tabs in our mind and hits the reset button to bring us back to balance.

What are the benefits?
✅ Better decision making - silence declutters your thought processes bringing clearer judgement
✅ Healthier brain - studies have shown that silence promotes cell development in the hippocampus
✅ Emotional regulation - the key to a more content life.✨ In silence your brain can process your emotions rather than suppressing them which can lead to outburst or mental/physical illness
✅ Increased self awareness - we can only change things we’re aware of. Silence allows you to observe what thoughts, emotions and triggers naturally arise in your mind and from this knowledge we can make conscious change

😓Vipassana was a lot tougher than I expected and I wanted to leave at several points but I knew I needed to face this challenge to make my mind more resilient.

✨ Silence is the most important aspect of my daily routine. It starts and ends my day with balance. I encourage you to find a technique that works for you and incorporate it in small steps into your lifestyle.

❓What’s 1 skill you can learn to reduce anxiety?

✨ Emotional regulation.

Tightness in your chest, nervousness in your stomach, your heart beating fast and your mind consumed in repetitive thought - have you experienced this?

We’re wired to feel deeply, but emotional regulation is a skill that can be developed so that we don’t let the feelings that a specific event creates consume us or let us lose control of our reaction. When we feel in control, we feel less anxious. This is also a vital skill for children to learn from a young age so as they grow up they can develop stronger mental resilience in the face of difficult situations.

⁉️ So how do you do emotionally regulate?

In my personal experience and scientific studies, meditation & breathing techniques are the key to developing this skill. The basis of the practices are to become sharply aware of your thought patterns, triggers and natural reactions; this awareness is key 🔑 because you can’t change something you’re not aware of.

My top tips for starting a meditation practice:
✅ Acknowledge the feeling don’t suppress it - my number one tip. We often get told to ignore our thoughts whilst we meditate and focus on one point. This is a very useful technique in many cases however, when the situation feels so intense that it is creating a physical reaction in the body, acknowledging this feeling, identifying its location in the body, naming the emotion and breathing through it is very effective
✅ Quiet place - the environment you sit in can have a big impact on your ability to relax and move out of fight and flight mode
✅ Don’t focus on sitting on the ground cross legged (the stereotypical image) - if you are more comfortable on a chair or sitting on a cushion etc. then do that. If your body is not relaxed your mind will be constantly distracted by the discomfort

(Continued in caption)

My mental health has had the biggest boost in the last year or so. Here are a few practical things I’ve implemented in my routine that have had a significant impact for me:

✅ Being outside - fresh air, sunlight and greenery are the most natural healers
✅ Dancing - this can be out with friends or in my room but it’s the best stress buster
✅ Prayer - not just asking for things but using this as a mode of showing gratitude (I pick 3 specific things and say them out loud to God)
✅ Lighting a candle every morning and night - this has been a more recent addition to my routine; I visualise the fire removing negativity from my surroundings
✅ Slow, deep breaths - so simple but so effective. Actively relaxing my shoulders and face muscles when I do this
✅ Social media break - I know this is a generic one but I found myself spending a lot of time on it and once I took a break for a month or so I was much more productive and overall that made me feel really good
✅ Faith - this one’s a bit harder because it required me to release control but with continuous practice it has been the most impactful. Note to self: God has a plan, trust it ✨

These have really impacted my life (once I introduced them on a regular basis) and I hope they can be useful for you.
Are there any practical tips you can share? I’d love to hear.

Happy World Mental Health Day 🌎

“You don’t need Givenchy you need Jesus.” 🤷🏽‍♀️

I loved this lyric the moment I heard it (thanks Jack Harlow]). A strange way to start this post but I found this catchy and unexpectingly deep.

It reminded me of the “I’ll be happy when” syndrome that many of us suffer from where society has conditioned us to believe that happiness can only be experienced when something is achieved externally. These goals include, a promotion, the right relationship, a Givenchy handbag…

Yoga in its entirety as a lifestyle (the 8 limbs) brought spirituality into my life and the understanding that placing my happiness on external goals will inevitably withhold it until that goal is achieved…and of course the list is endless and the feeling is temporary. The “Jesus” for me is a higher power or something you seek within through stillness or prayer which yoga promotes through breath and meditation.

The ironic part is that your brain performs significantly better when you’re positive; your creativity flows, you’re more productive and the learning centres of your brain are more active.
So happiness isn’t the by-product of being successful, it’s the fuel for being successful ✨

Happy International Yoga Day 🌸

PC:

Jack Harlow] .hotels

No yoga content today but yay to the first time I rode on my own! 💃🏽

I had major inhibitions getting on the scooty and riding for the first month. I used to be so tense my shoulders were so stiff when I got off! (Yoga helped here 👀)

Being back in Rishikesh has really disrupted this flow 😞 the roads here are up and down with steep hills and drivers are even more crazy! So today’s pretty much the first time I’ve properly rode in a while, just during the night while the roads are more quiet and I’m glad I haven’t lost it!

I love learning new skills (even if they’re random and I’ll never use them back home) 🤷🏽‍♀️

(I wish I actually looked this chill driving 🌝)

A night of possibilities ✨

A very special night for those on a spiritual path. The alignment of the planets today has created a strong surge of energy in the universe.
Maha Shivratri is a celebration of the marriage of Shiva and Shakti so the perfect time to rebalance and realign (like balancing your yin and yang energy ☯️)

This increased energy is best used for introspection and self reflection. Here are things you can do to make the most of this special night:
✅ Rest in the day so you can stay awake between 6pm-6am to experience this period of potent energy
✅ Eat light food so you don’t feel sluggish
✅ Meditate
✅ Do pranayama (in particular Anulom Vilom and Bhastrika)
✅ OM chanting
✅ Dance to keep yourself awake
✅ Journal as a powerful tool for self reflection
✅ Don’t lie down, sit with an erect spine to allow the energy to flow upwards - very important! 💥

This will be my first experience of celebrating Mahashivratri all night. I will be holding a session tonight on Zoom to celebrate together with yoga, meditation, pranayama and chanting. DM if you’d like to join x

Just a happy tree in my happy place 🧘‍♀️

Science says: “Show me and I’ll believe you.” 👨‍🔬
Faith says: “Believe me and I’ll show you.” ✨

Is it just me or does this saying make you smile?

Maybe it’s being brought up in an Indian household where belief in God is generally the norm but belief in a higher power has been my closest companion.

As humans we have an incessant need to plan and know what our next step is going to be and any sign of not having control can leave us feeling anxious. Even from childhood it’s the norm to plan what job we want, what age we want to get married, how much we want to earn, etc. Although there is nothing wrong with this, it sets the tone that life needs to be planned and often ‘going with the flow’ can be seen as having a lack of direction.

Although having a life plan has its benefits, it can tunnel our vision and also make us less resilient to situations that may occur not according to the plan. Having strong faith in a higher power has meant there’s been less urgency to have everything mapped out as you have solace in the fact that things will pan out the way they are meant to. This of course doesn’t mean not to work towards your goals, it just means realising there is more than one path and straying away from the plan/not having a plan is okay.

Many times the most beautiful experiences happen spontaneously 💕

Although easier said than done, living in the moment has brought me the most happiness. Whilst I’ve been in India the last 4 months I’ve been asked many times so what’s next? When are you coming home? I didn’t have an answer then and I still don’t have one now.

Everything that has panned out so far here has been exactly what I’ve needed for my growth and somehow always leads me to the next opportunity. The freedom from constantly needing a plan and just going with the flow has made this time the happiest I’ve been. But it’s no longer that fleeting feeling of happiness that comes and goes with the change in circumstances or environment. I ofc still have times where I’m irritable, sad, angry but that underlying feeling of happiness remains constant and this I can fully attribute to having an unshakeable faith in God.

One of my favourite Rumi quotes sums this up perfectly:

“When I run after what I think I want, my days are a furnace of distress and anxiety;
If I sit in my own place of patience, what I need flows to me, and without any pain.” ✨

Importance of morning light exposure ☀️

It’s very common for us to look at our phones the moment we wake up and get caught up in a web of WhatsApp messages and Instagram scrolling before we’ve even fully opened our eyes. I’m a big advocate of holistic living and incorporating simple practices into our daily life for better productivity and long term good health. Yoga is of course one of them for me but there’s so many more that are accessible to all, quick and free!

Exposure to morning sunlight is one of these that can significantly impact your mood. Sunlight isn’t just a cheery way to welcome a new day, it’s a real physiological need.

Benefits include:
✅ Increased serotonin production - feeling more calm and positive
✅ Less affected by stress through the day
✅ Better sleep - results in better mood the next day
✅ Boost in vitamin D - healthier hair, skin, nails + lots more
✅ Regulates circadian rhythm - the body clock that maintains sleep/wake cycle and important functions such as hormone release, eating habits and digestion

💭 This also explains why people generally feel lower in the winter when there is less sunlight exposure.

FAQs:

When? ⏰
Aim to get exposure to sunlight within the first 30 mins to 1 hour of waking up

For how long? ☀️
Ideally for 8-10 mins every morning

If there’s no sun? 🤷🏽‍♀️
Even if there is no visible morning sun and the sky is overcast as long as there is light through the clouds this will be beneficial. If you wake up before the sun or it’s very dark outside then wait to do this when it becomes light. (If you live somewhere that has weeks on end of little light, there are certain artificial lights you can buy that can mimic sunlight).

Can I get sunlight exposure through the window? 🧐
No because of the filtration of some rays of light by the window

Can I get sunlight exposure in the afternoon instead? 🤔
Exposure to any daylight is better than none but the effects of morning sunlight is more beneficial as the rays are not harsh at this time and the point of the morning time is so your body knows it’s time to get up and alert - back to the importance of regulating the circadian rhythm.

(Caption cont’d in comments)

Hari Om Tat Sat ✨

Do you ever look back and wonder where the days/months went? Reach a destination and forgot how you got there? Finish your meal and not realise how it tasted?
Our brain has an autopilot function so it’s able to make simple decisions using little energy and instead saving its energy for more mentally taxing things. But the autopilot function has overflowed into areas of our life that require more thought and this is coming at the expense of our happiness.

While living in autopilot we are unconsciously making most of our day to day decisions. The days turn into months which turn into years and we look back and wonder why there is a lack of excitement and fulfilment. We have become accustomed to living our life by default “life happening to us” rather than with intention, using the power of the present moment to influence how our future unfolds.

I’m a believer in small, baby steps to achieve lasting change. As a teacher of yoga, I share how your daily practice is your chance to begin this change of moving out of autopilot mode towards more conscious action. Each arm movement, spinal wave, leg lift done with awareness. Each breath, each passing thought being observed. In this way we are drifting away from moving mechanically and towards moving with awareness and it is here where true change lies.

The aim of yoga is to take what you learn on your mat and apply it to your life. What you learn for 1 hour in your day will have little affect unless you apply it to the rest of the 23 hours. This is the way that yoga can bring about transformation in your life. As with anything, consistent practice will create lasting change.

I’m back to online teaching again with this emphasis on encouraging movement with awareness - movement of the body and movement of the thoughts in the mind 🧘‍♀️ get in touch if you’d like to join the classes to start your journey towards more conscious living.

Hari Om Tat Sat - the only truth is what is now 🤍

Student-teacher relationship 👯‍♂️

In my experience of teaching it’s been clear many people turn to the practice of yoga during a time of difficulty or unease. This is understandable as yoga is widely discussed to reduce stress and increase mental peace.

The relationship between a student and teacher can play a significant role in the students experience of the practice and their healing.

One of the things I value most about teaching is building that bond with a student (really missed this during online group teaching!).
A teachers role is to provide guidance and support in the students practice both physically and mentally. Holding a space for a student to feel comfortable and safe is important in order for their practice to positively progress.

I’m a big believer that many of the things holding us back physically are a result of an obstacle in the mind. So the aim of asanas is far beyond the physical, they are a vehicle for you to tap into the mind. It’s my ethos as a teacher to create a practice for my students which allows this. It’s through this process that those who turn to yoga for solace truly find it 🤍

This is a photo with my first teacher who set the tone for me as both a student and teacher ✨

Yoga & Chai event 🧘‍♀️☕️

Combining two of my favourite things, yoga & chai!

Join us for a relaxing Sunday to reset & wind down ✨

Connecting with nature in the outdoors, I’ll guide you through a gentle yoga session followed by a guided chai meditation with a delicious cup of Masala Chai Teabags].

What to bring:
- Yoga mat
- Water
- Jumper (in case it gets chilly/to cover your eyes)
- Money if you’d like to purchase a tube of chai to take home!

Details:
- Date: Sunday 25th July
- Time: 3pm - 5.30pm
- Location: Rickmansworth Aquadrome
- Price: Free
- Parking: Car park on site

To book a space, please DM me or nirmalaschai.

We can’t wait to meet you!

Sarita & Priya 💕

It’s been 2 years since I qualified as a yoga teacher. Unlike many, my goal was never to train to teach but instead to train to have the knowledge of how to manage my own studio(s). The thought of teaching a room of people and taking on the responsibility of their physical and mental health made me really nervous.

I felt it was meant to be that during my first teacher training I met .tassa . When I told her I had no intention to teach she couldn’t understand why and was insistent that I think about it. After several conversations it really stuck with me and the seed was planted (Evi I owe you a lot ❤️).

I went to Rishikesh for another teacher training and for part of the assessment we had to teach a class to the other students. I remember thinking that if the class went well it was a sign that teaching was for me and if not then I would stick to my original plan (weird I know, but I really believe in signs 👀). Even though I was really nervous, the class went smoothly and the response and feedback gave me the confidence I really needed. This completely changed my future plans and what I saw myself doing career wise.

Teaching yoga comes really naturally to me now and I can’t think of anything else I’d rather do. As much as this won’t be the only thing I do, teaching will always be a part of my life because the level of fulfilment I get from seeing my students progress and heal is indescribable. Especially since Covid, human connection has never felt more important and this job allows me to break down emotional barriers and build deep connections with my students, a part of the job I really value.

I believe communication and understanding is the key to happiness and I feel grateful that this role allows me to be so open and give others the comfort to do the same. One thing I always felt when working in corporate was not being able to authentically be who I was or express what I felt.

I left the corporate world with a business and money focused mind but I left my experience in India with a passion and purpose.

Happy International Yoga Day 💛

I hope this practice can impact you just as deeply as it has impacted me.

The most consistent routine I’ve built through the lockdowns has been my yoga practice which has been such a strong part of strengthening my physical and mental health. Now that most of us are post lockdown, the challenge is to maintain these healthy habits so they become a fixed part of our lifestyle 💪🏽

Join me for regular classes through May where we focus on stretching, strengthening and toning the body and bringing more ease to the mind through meditation and pranayama 🧘‍♀️

£30 for 36 classes with recordings available when you can’t attend live 🎥

Class schedule:

Timetable:
Mon, Wed & Thurs - 8am & 6pm
Sat & Sun - 10am

Class types:
👯‍♀️Monday - Strengthening/aerobics class
🧘‍♀️Wednesday - Traditional gentle yoga (hatha/vinyasa)
☀️Thursday - Surya Namaskar (traditional & variations)
🧘‍♂️Saturday - Traditional yoga (more challenging)
🧎🏼‍♀️Sunday - Slower & deeper stretch yoga

Message me for more details.

We begin SATURDAY 1st MAY 📅

One year online teaching anniversary...🧘‍♀️

Teaching online means you’re doing the whole practice with your students; demonstrating the alignment, holding the postures, explaining the breathing etc. I’ve found this so beneficial for my own practice as being a demo for your students means you have to be extra aware in your own body as they rely on you for specific audio and visual cues.

I’ve seen a progression in my practice like never before and the lockdowns have also instilled a new level of consistency which is definitely a key part of progression.

I started off unsure about this transition to an online way of teaching but it’s worked out so well for both sides ✨

✨ FREE YOGA SESSIONS ✨
UNLIMITED FREE classes online from tomorrow until Wednesday 31st March.
The schedule includes a variety of sessions to incorporate stretching, strengthening, toning and cardio (and most importantly all classes include meditation and pranayama).
Class types:
👯‍♀️ Monday - Aerobics/strengthening class
🧘‍♀️ Wednesday - Traditional yoga (hatha/vinyasa)
☀️ Thursday - Surya Namaskar sequence (traditional and variations)
🧘‍♂️ Saturday - Traditional yoga (but more challenging)
🧎🏽‍♀️ Sunday - Slower and deeper stretch yoga
💥 OPEN TO ALL LEVELS 💥
Timetable:
Mon, Wed & Thurs - 8am & 6pm UK time
Sat & Sun - 10am UK time
Message me for the Zoom details to join. Next class tomorrow 10am!
Sarita 💕