Month: July 2020

The very short version is they’ve been overtaken! Somehow I put them aside, and have moved on to handstand practice. It was a natural flow, rather than a conscious decision (or maybe I just ran out of variations so my body compensated!)

Either way, I must get back to it. Saying that, I haven’t completely stopped – some of you know I have a feet up trainer for headstand, and I do still use that as a tool for my core training. I’m still practising for headstands, just in a roundabout way!

I do lots of different types of core training, and I use feet up mainly for pike to headstands with holds on both. Then to widelegged / straddle pike, up to headstand and holds, along with the TRX (which then I can use to include mountain climbers for the obliques).

I try to use all of my tools and techniques to practise not just the thing they were intended for – it’s interesting to see how they all interlink! And headstands? How do you do yours?

As we should have been having our first yoga session tomorrow since March, I thought I’d share with you the fresh clean studio instead! It’s had a fresh coat of paint, new blinds, and got a new storage unit. I’m missing this extra beautiful space so much!

Huge thanks to Michele at White Tara for being busy during lockdown and making this happen.

Remember, we will be back soon! I’m reviewing general yoga starting in September, but who knows! Anything could happen, so please keep watching this space for updates.

I also want to thank everyone who’s been supporting me on Zoom, all of you who’ve been waiting for us to get back to the studio, and everyone who’s been patiently waiting for our our yin yoga and gong baths – sorry we’ve had to cancel and rearrange so many times!

However, if everything goes well our next gong bath will be on Sunday 27th September! Hope to see some of your faces in person, and we can share the amazing collective energy that is always there.

We will be limiting numbers to ensure mat spacing, and asking everyone to bring their own equipment. Please get in touch to reserve a space!

Namaste, love and light to everyone xx

As the Zoom classes continue, I’ve noticed how my yogis are becoming more body led. I’m always saying this in class, but it’s so easy to quickly look up to check what you’re “meant” to be doing, or where you “should” be up to. This is trickier on Zoom, and I love how my students are becoming more in tune with their own bodies.
Listening and moving in their own intuitive way – it’s an incredible thing to witness!

We are all different and even if two flexible people do the same pose, it would not look identical, due to all sorts of reasons like bone structure, or current issues within the body. It’s part of the beauty of being body-led; that two bodies can still do the same move even so.

How does it feel for you? Are you in tune with your body? Try to move intuitively today, and don’t compare it with yesterday. It’ll be different, and that’s OK!

Happy exploring, and don’t forget join me on Zoom!

As you know the yoga studio will be allowed to reopen on the 25th July. As I’ve gathered your feedback and thought in how vital it is to restart, I’m sorry to say that I will not be restarting in-person classes yet. I’ll review for September, and will be asking for feedback as we go along.

As we are only limited on spaces with guidelines it’s hard to keep this going at the present moment but all could change.

This means that Tuesday mornings will still be off, and Wednesday evenings will remain on zoom till further notice. Saturday mornings will stay on zoom even when we get back to the studio.

As one of my reflections was not to run around so much and spread myself too thinly, I’ve made the decision that sadly I will not be returning to Hughes Hall for yoga sessions.

It’s sad because that’s where my yoga teaching began and I’m grateful for that and some brilliant students. It’s a great college, and I will miss it for sure, but I have to remember my own wellbeing too.

I hope that the college gets to return to as normal as possible, as soon as possible, like the rest of us.

Keep an eye out for further updates, and keep doing yoga!

As you know whilst on lock down I dusted off my bike and cycled more than I ever had before.

As lockdown begin to relax, I went back to hairdressing work, as well as doing yoga via Zoom. I want to keep this cycling in my life while juggling my work life too.

I have done quite a few things for different charities over my life and I haven’t done an event for a while, though I’ve donated money or given food for homeless people.

I came across this cycling event and I thought why not? Yes, I’ve started the challenge late, as its meant to be April to August and I signed up on a Sunday in July, but I just have less time to cover 500km before the end of August!

Believe me, it will be a challenge to get all this in in my free time, but I love a challenge, and better still, it’s for charity. This event is not just to help me keep up with cycling, but to help raise awareness of dementia.

I know you may not have money to donate, but also remember every little helps. There’s no pressure, but if you can’t donate, it would be great if you could share my page for me instead!

Thank you so much for your support, and wish me luck!


https://cycle.thetreblechallenge.org/pages/ying-chan

Looking back on full lockdown, my main takeaway is to not spread myseldf too thinly. I don’t want to be running round all over the place, and lockdown made me pause and realise I was doing too much. I’ve considered my working schedule, re-evaluated it, and changed it.

I need to be strict with myself and not add hairdressing clients at the end of the day! (Every now and then is fine, but I was doing it far too much!)

Another thing I found was that I want to have more time to just stop and *be*. To learn that it’s ok to have nothing to do every now and then. Spend more time in and with nature – sitting in the garden or out on a bike ride. Time at home to do the fitness I want to do in my own time; not what I feel pressured to do or show on Instagram.

Do you have any lockdown reflections?

This is a daily morning ritual I’ve followed for a few years now. The ingredients change by season, but I keep it organic, and as you know I take Juice Plus. As you’ve read in my previous post, it gives extra nutrients and is not a supplement.

To be honest probably the the key ingredient, as it’s the only constant! Other common ones are spirulina and chica seeds, a bit of protein powder, and occasionally macca powder.

For the past few years, I’ve mostly made mostly green smoothies. I found trying to not mix too much acidic fruit together challenging to start with, but it did get easier.

I limit the fruit these days because otherwise the fructose level is too high for me. I find I use one or two pieces of fruit at most.

So now mainly it’s vegetables, like celery, kale, spinach, lettuce, sugar snap peas, and cucumber. Sometimes I also add fresh ginger in it!

And to make the mix into a smoothie, I always add filtered water rather than milk, so it’s not too heavy, and we stay hydrated with the water intake!

Happy making and drinking… what are your smoothies like?

Let’s firstly clear up a common misconception! Juice Plus is not a supplement – it’s extra nutrition, just in capsules.

So it doesn’t mean you don’t have to eat your fruit and vegetables! It gives us more.

Even if you eat a varied diet already, the fruit and vegetables we buy are not always as nutritious as they should be, because they are not picked as freshly as possible. The supply chain means they’re often picked much earlier, and stored longer before they make it to the supermarkets for us to consume.

The fruit and vegetables that go into Juice Plus are picked as soon as they are ripe to make sure there are the most nutrients, then taken straight to the factory where they are crushed. The resulting fructose is taken out, and put in to capsules.

I’ve taken these for quite a few years now, and it’s really helped me get my health back on track!

If you’re interested, have a look at http://www.yc32913.juiceplus.com

During lockdown, I gained my TRX certificate (suspension training)! It’s one I’ve been meaning to do but never got round to it. Having this time pressed upon me allowed me to complete the course online rather than in person.

I love this tool kit; it allows you to do so many different exercises, and has fantastic applications in yoga. It uses body weight, and can involve functional movement for the whole body, but the thing it works on the most is your core.

Finding this core stability in your body helps with strength and flexibility. We can gain these attributes when targeting all muscles, big and small!

TRX training is perfect for everyone, and you can use the strap anywhere – home or away, in the gym or a park!

I want to offer small numbers TRX yoga classes in the future – would you be interested?