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July yoga class updates

Morning all! Just wanted to post a few updates about yoga classes going forward. Since the government announced the various business openings, including hair salons, I’ll be shifting classes slightly:

– Monday 29th June will be the last Monday class – no future Monday classes planned

– Saturday 4th July – NO CLASS

– Online Saturday classes will resume on the 11th July, from 8-9am. Please note the new time!

– Wednesday Zoom classes will still be 6.30pm for an hour. They will move back to the White Tara Studio when it is deemed safe to do so.

From the 1st of July, all classes will be £7 each.

Thankyou for your patience as we learned how to do online yoga together! I hope you can still join us for lessons, and that we can meet up in person one day soon.

Stay safe and well, and remember to find a bit of time to just be still and present.

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The perfect granola

Another vegan recipe I love to make, with loads of variations depending on which ingredients you like (or can get hold of!). Great for breakfast with your favourite milk or yoghurt!


Ingredients

1-2 cups nuts (your favourite, or a mix)
1/2- 1 cup seeds (your favourite, or a mix)
1-2 cups rolled oats
3 tablespoons coconut flakes
2 teaspoons chia seeds
A couple of pinches salt
3 tablespoons coconut oil
3 tablespoons agave nectar (or you could use honey if it doesn’t need to be vegan)

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 140C and line a baking tray with parchment paper
2. Heat the coconut oil and agave nectar in a saucepan over a low heat
3. Add all other ingredients to a bowl and stir to combine
4. Add the wet ingredients into the bowl of dry ingredients and mix well
5. Pour the mixture onto the lined tray, and spread evenly
6. Bake, stirring regularly, until the granola is slightly golden all over

Leave to cool, and store in an airtight jar.

Enjoy!

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Meditation

Isolation has given me time to self enquire via meditation, and write blogs (maybe I should do a meta blog about blogging one day!)

As you probably know I practice trancendental meditation, but I’ve also taking time to follow guided meditations from my yoga teacher, who I’ve just done an online course with.

It’s given me time to delve deeper than usual and work through my most vulnerable feelings and emotions within myself. I had already done some of this before, but I got busy again with work and life, and meditating got put to one side. It was good to take time to really honour my emotions and work through them. I enjoy doing this, and love how I feel afterwards. I’ve done lots of different types of work on myself over the years; various therapies, all types of healing, homeopathy, and obviously yoga!

But sitting with my deepest feeling, and listening without judgement is not easy! (It might sound simple but it’s not!). I thought I had listened, or not judged, but no, I hadn’t! Sometimes I found I had only started, but barely scratched the surface. I spent time peeling back the layers to get to the core, and I have to say it’s blown me away. Intense feelings washed over me, but I was able to dedicate the time to process them, and appreciate what my body and mind were going through. I love that I feel I can move forward now!

I know I’ll always be working on myself, and it will be neverending! Plenty of things will pop up in life, and even as I deal with them, more new things arise. The good thing is that this gets easier the more you do it! You learn to keep more space within, and not fill yourself to bursting point!

Take time, feel what’s needed and breathe!

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We all need a hairdresser right now!

Some of you may not know that as well as teaching yoga I’m a hairdresser with a seat at Bamboo on Mill Road. As the lockdown starts to lift more, I’m starting to book clients in for their hair to do done.

Over the past few weeks I’ve been busy in the background trying to get ready to start working back in the salon. One aspect of this is ordering PPE for myself and clients.

I’m thinking of the environment as much as I can to get back to work by limiting the plastic. The disposable towels and gowns are biodegradable, but sadly not everything can be this way.

The hand sanitiser and my workstation and tools cleaner has no scent or harsh chemicals in it, while still being hospital grade. It’s won’t harm your pets once on your hands in case they like to lick you!

The PPE is not only for mine and your benefit, but others who are in the salon at the time. Thinking along this line, I have also bought a no-contact thermometer, which I’ll use on entry to the salon. Face masks need to be used and worn properly, and I’ll be able to sell one to clients who don’t have their own.

It’s hard for all of us in the industry as there are no real guidelines to follow, so I’m doing everything I possibly can to make this work, and I really appreciate your cooperation at this time.

So as soon as we get green light I’m ready to just start. The date at the minute is the 4th of July all being well.

I started to get in touch with my clients at the start of June, when the lifting phases were announced.

I am (understandably!) going to be busy, but we’re not going to be silly in the salon. There will be fewer people in per day, and we are allowing longer time to clean and get ready in between each client. We won’t be seeing other clients while colours are developing unless a stylist is not in to work, to keep your experience 1:1.

There will be appointments only (i.e. no walk-ins),and rebooking and payment will happen at the work station to have fewer people in the reception area.

It will be a big change getting back to work, and hopefully will feel more natural once everything gets back to its new normal, what ever that may be.

I understand it will feel strange for a while (for me too!), but I hope by doing this it puts your minds to ease to come and get your hair done, for a feel good factor if nothing else. We definitely all need that right now!

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Fresh flower loose “leaf” tea!

As I’m relearning about Chinese traditional medicine I’m also going back to my roots. I’ve been gifted by having this upbringing of herbs, medicinal soups and natural medicines. There’s so much to learn, and I’m finding I know very little, but I’m willing to learn and take in everything I can absorb!
 
I’m rediscovering my dried fresh flower bud tea… I’ll share what I know about two of the flower bud teas I’ve recently tried again.
 
Rose flower (Mei gui):
Helps regulates chi/energy and blood (In traditional Chinese medicine, chi is also blood flow). Stagnation of chest and liver. It has a cleansing action on the body by clearing heat, drying dampness and promoting elimination via urination and bowel movements. It detoxifies the body and replenishes the chi and blood.
 
Chrysanthemum flower (Guk faa):
Clears heat. Relieves wind-hfrom the liver channel and clears the eyes. Cools heat of the liver and kidney due to Yin deficiency. Relieves patterns of liver Yang rising.
 
They’re good for all, but they it does depends on your body and make up: we are all different, with different elements. We need to balance where we are individually, and we’re never at exactly the same place or stage in our lives!
 
Try them and let me know what you think! Another thing to try is rubbing the used buds on your face when they’re cool after finishing your drink – great for the skin!
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Online courses

One nice thing is actually having the time commit to and do an online course.

I’ve signed up for a course to learn about acupressure points. I’m really interested in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), well, all forms of alternative and holistic medicines to be honest! They’ve been around for years, and it’s fascinating how they’ve endured.

Our bodies have the ability to heal themselves given the right attention; I know as I’ve experienced this myself. That’s a story for another day!

In the first session I learned the points to soothe tension in and around the head area, which can help with so many things like insomnia and burnout. It’s a good way to regulate the tension and let go.

After practicing on myself the first night, I slept so well! The tension around my neck and jaw softened so much. All this just from the acupressure points – wow!

It’s based on the meridian lines: different organ within our bodies to help chi/energy flow more easily, which makes us feel better!

I will be incorporating in to my yoga classes going forward, as I’ve found the benefits of this and would love to share it with you.

I’m grateful for the time to be able to learn from this great knowledgeable teacher, and also having time to process the information and try things out!

Looking forward to working with you on this!

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Lockdown birthdays

It seems that most of my family, including me, have had or will have a birthday in lockdown, including some big ones!

It’s sad you can’t celebrate with family, or go and do what you would normally do. I would have loved to go away, but this year I actually would have been working (hairdressing!) as we planned to take the following weekend off. It would have been the long bank holiday weekend – at the start of the year I promised myself I’d take one Saturday completely off work a month.

I planned to meet up with old school friends near my actual birthday, but it was rescheduled to a future Zoom date. It’s a strange way to see everyone, but still good to try and celebrate on screen

The following evening we were due to be hosting a yin yoga and gong bath. I love these events as they bring so much lovely collective energy together, and they’re a pleasure to do. It’s been postponed, and I’m hoping we’ll be able to run the next one, currently scheduled for summer solstice in June. But sadly to be on in July now.

Happy birthday to these who have or had it in lock down!