Yogajoodledo

Oh yes...

Yoga is good for your bones!

So just a tiny bit of supporting evidence that settling into a regular, guided breathing pattern brings the body into a state of 'recovery'. This was one of my 'breathing yogis' during a 45-minute class, wearing a FirstBeat device to monitor HRV and Heart Rate (thanks to ). Fascinating to see how the graph changes. During the initial red section we're using gentle movement to open up the 'breathing muscles', so we're alert but gradually finding our way to stillness in body and mind. The green bit reflects the twenty minutes or so we spend in focused breathing (it can be seated upright or lying, either in Savasana or with legs supported, up on the sofa, the effect is the same), and shows how body and mind settle into rest and recovery. So good to see. 😄

Those fifteen minute 'Just one thing' podcasts were a game changer — so many small things you could do to improve your health and sense of wellbeing. Not least of all the standing on one leg while brushing your teeth to improve balance.

Michael Mosley: where and how to listen to his life-changing tips Mosley was a middle-aged everyman influencer whose interest was in the easily achievable. His zeal for positive impact will survive him, says our critic

😄 In a nutshell

A cartoon by Roz Chast, from 2017. http://nyer.cm/DznKs40

As it's Mental Health Awareness Week, this week's classes have been focusing on on finding movement even in stillness, through paying attention to the breath as it moves through our body. Amazing how just tuning in to that movement alone, the mind too becomes still. Yoga in action.

It was so good to begin my new yoga teaching schedule over the Bank Holiday weekend, at Eaglesfield Village Hall (Sundays 4.30pm) and Lamplugh Village Hall (Mondays 10.30am). Both amazing venues! Huge thank you to all my lovely yogis for making those classes such a joy to teach ;-) Message me if you fancy joining us.

All change for my yoga classes, starting next month! Excited to say that from early May I will be teaching at Eaglesfield Village Hall on Sunday afternoons (4.30pm) and Lamplugh Village Hall on Monday mornings (10.30am). So if you're in the area and fancy coming along and joining us, get in touch 🙂

Good to see more research being done into the benefits of a brisk walk – for just 22 minutes a day – to offset the effects of all that sitting down ;-)

Brisk 22-minute walk could offset harmful effects of sitting, study suggests People who sit for long periods more likely to die earlier – but moderate-to-vigorous activity can eliminate risk

Yoga is indeed accessible to everyone. Not just the young, athletic and bendy.

So, who can do yoga?

You often hear people say "I'm too inflexible to do yoga", "My mind is too busy to meditate", or "Yoga is too slow for me".

What do you say to those people?

We say. Yoga is for EVERY PERSON.

Let's let everyone know.

If you're interested in learning how your body and physiology respond to your lifestyle in terms of how your sleep, work, eating routine and exercise affect your heart rate and HRV, and general sense of wellbeing, then I recommend Sarah! The Firstbeat technology is fascinating.

Feeling tired, low in energy, like there's never enough time? Work-life balance all wrong? 😓

Firstbeat Life can give you individualised insights into how your body manages day-to-day stress and if you have enough recovery time and sleep to help manage these stress levels.

Not all stress is bad stress - we need it to get things done! But it is a problem when it intrudes on our family and leisure time and doesn't allow us to relax or recover.

Want to make changes? Visit my website for more information or contact me if you have any questions 👉 www.lordphysiotherapyandwellbeing.co.uk

New blog post, about some of the weirder practices listed in the Hatha Yoga Pradipika — alongside gems about steadying the breath to steady the mind, and yoga not being about wearing the 'right clothes' or simply 'talking about yoga' but about practice. Oddly, those weirder practices tend to get forgotten when we discuss what Hatha yoga is and isn't. Can't imagine why...

Long wet cloths and elephants. Really? ‘Slowly swallow a wet cloth which is four fingers wide and fifteen hands long in the manner instructed by one’s guru’, then ‘draw it out again’. Thus writes Brain Dana Akers in his English translat…

Brand new post on the brand new blog ;-)

Finding balance in Tadasana I love teaching Tadasana, also known as ‘Mountain Pose’. It’s so many things. Dynamic. Balancing. Grounding. Definitely meditative. Sometimes challenging. It connects us to our breath and bri…

Love that more research is being done into the benefits of yoga, particularly for the over-60s, but I do wish The Times would find other ways of illustrating yoga than the 'cross-legged on the floor in meditation pose'. Those open hips, relaxed knees and beautifully tucked feet just perpetuate the illusion that yoga is only for those who are young and bendy, and free from joint pain. Interesting read though, about the possibility that practising yoga can help reduce inflammation following cancer treatment.

Yoga could reduce risk of cancer relapse, say scientists Doctors should prescribe yoga classes to cancer survivors to cut their chances of relapse, attendees at a global cancer conference were told.Telling patients to

Soooo many Bank Holiday weekends coming up but if you're at a loose end on Saturday, you're in or around Cockermouth and you fancy getting away from it all for 45 minutes to just do some breathing, why not come along to my class? 11.00am. Amethyst Beauty. Get in touch if you fancy it.

Love this...

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Love this — exactly the sort of stuff we focus on in my classes. Good to see the science increasingly backing up these simple, ancient techniques — and what could be more simple than tuning in to our breath?

How to meditate the Tibetan way, beat stress and improve your gut A new study from the area shows meditation improves gut bacteria. Daniel Goleman, who has co-authored a book with a former monk-lama, tells Damian Whitworth how to get started and find calm

...Or you could just come along to a YogaJoodleDo breathing class on a Saturday morning, 11.00am, at Amethyst Beauty Cockermouth! 45 minutes of 'nowhere else to be, nothing else to do'. ;-)

Your reminder 🌻

Restorative Sequence: Menopause Relief by Leza Going through “the Pause” is no joke. Night sweats, hot flashes, mood swings, insomnia, and unwelcome anatomical changes are just a few of the things you might experience during this life change. While yoga cannot reverse the march of time, it can alleviate some of the

Well, it's been a while since I posted here apparently, but what better way to start up again than with the good Dr Chattergee? Already feeling frazzled in December? Finding it hard to find time for a little self-care in the pre-Christmas countdown? Well here's some handy 5-minute fixes to help you look after yourself and – guess what – they include a quick bop and an easy breathing exercise. Just sayin' 😆

My 5-minute daily health fixes: What the doctor swears by From getting outside for a few minutes first thing to a dumbbell routine in his PJs, Dr Rangan Chatterjee on his regular habits that have big benefits for health and mood. Plus: how little exercise can you get away with?

Excited to announce that from Saturday 16 July I will be running a brand new class at Amethyst Beauty in Cockermouth. We'll be drawing on Breath-Body-Mind techniques to focus on breathing better and feeling better. Classes are 11.00-11.45am @ £8. Message me or email [email protected] to find out more.😀

Do you have problems getting comfortable sitting on the floor? This supported version of crossed-legs pose is from Nina Zolotow's forthcoming book "Yoga for Times of Change." Sitting on a support with your back against the wall makes quieting practices, such as meditation and breath practices, so much easier—and more effective.

Loved teaching the first of my new 'Chair and Mat' yoga classes this morning, focusing on making the benefits and joy of yoga accessible to anyone. Still have space for one more, so if yoga is something you've always thought might not be for you — for whatever reason — and you're in the Cockermouth area, message me or email [email protected] to find out more. It might be the very thing you're missing.

And, BTW, if you imagine that chair yoga is just sitting around on a folding chair for 75 minutes, doing not very much at all, then you might be in for a pleasant surprise!

Oh, and all props are provided. You just bring you.

Practising mindful movements with the breath such as in tai chi, qigong or yoga... rhythmic, even breathing through the nose... humming while you exhale... (sounds like a YogaJoodleDo yoga class 😉 ) All simple ways to improve your breathing and your frame of mind. Sadly I note there are still some Times readers below the line who feel the need to make snarky comments. They don't know what they're missing...

How to breathe better 1. Take up Pilates, t’ai chi or yogaSit or stand with poor posture — hunched shoulders, a tilted pelvis and a curved lower back — and it will inevitably affect

This is so true and really resonates with me. A freelance career in advertising, never quite knowing where the next job might come from, how much money I'd have at the end of each month, left me with a habit of work, work, work often at the expense of everything else... rest featured, sure, but always with an element of guilt, that niggling feeling that 'I really should be working...' and it's left its mark. Thank goodness for yoga then... yet even now I have days when I have to haul myself to the mat. What I love as a teacher is being able to share this wonderful practice with my students... to see them fly through the door — sometimes having torn themselves away from family, work or friends at speed — then seeing them leave 75 minutes later, chilled, relaxed, smiling, set up for the next rush of life. We might only manage short bursts at first but rest is so important and the more we practise it, the more we can benefit from it.

The Underappreciation of Rest in Today’s Society Yet, despite all the proven benefits of rest, intentionally setting aside regular time for rest is a practice that has become undervalued and underappreciated in today's culture. We have become overworked, overstressed, and exhausted.

Love this expression 'keeping the rivers of health flowing'. So important as we age. And very much in tune with my own philosophy in my classes, of mixing movement with the more yin and restorative practices.

Yin Yoga: Keeping the Rivers of Health Flowing by Leza Ancient yogis and Taoists believe there is energy running through the body. In Sanskrit, it is called prana, in Japanese ki, in Chinese qi and in Tibetan lung. This energy is connected by pathways, or meridians, (nadis in Sanskrit), which we can think of as “rivers of

So true... mentioned this in Monday's class, when inviting students to notice how their breath and bodies felt after connecting to the breath through a few simple breathing and movement practices. Always amazes me how we talk about breathing so much in yoga but often during a class we forget about it entirely, even holding our breath in some poses (yes, guilty as charged!) Might only be tiny changes, but really love to see the difference it makes, week on week...

👊🏾 MONDAY MOTIVATION

A little Monday motivation for you from RBG.

Which small steps will you take this week? Let me know below 👇🏾

This really appealed to me, not just because I'm surrounded by some pretty damn big trees, both in our own garden and further about, but because – as those of you who come to my classes know – I'm pretty big on breathing. Next time you stand under a tree and gaze up at the branches, know that it's breathing away up there, just like you. That you are inextricably linked. And incidentally, that both of you are pretty bloody amazing.

Trees are vital. As the biggest plants on the planet, they give us oxygen, store carbon, stabilise the soil and give life to the world's Wildlife. They also provide us with the materials for tools and shelter. 🌱🌿

'One thing I've noticed about your classes... over the last couple of weeks... is I always feel realigned at the end.' Another beautiful testimonial from one of my students. Realigned, balanced, centred, rested even, call it what you will... that's what we're aiming for ;-) I have spaces available on a Monday (10.30am) if you fancy a bit of that and live within striking distance of Amethyst Beauty in Cockermouth.