From my experience, yoga helped me to find the stillness within me. The stillness, quietness of my mind where my perception is clear and not coloured by my thoughts, emotions or feelings. That doesn’t mean I stop thinking–because that’s how my mind works through thinking, but I get a different approach to my thoughts, emotions and feelings. I almost step back and watch them.

During our life, we gather all the data like a computer on how to live in this society. We are being programmed on what is right and what is wrong. What does it mean to be a man or a woman, what does it mean to be a good employee or a bad employee, and what does it mean to be a mother or a father for some of you. And in the 21st century, we are being bombarded with information every day and we get to information overload.

Do you have moments when you feel you are on the edge and you feel if someone tells you something more, you will explode? It’s because we are identifying ourselves with those concepts, thoughts and emotions and our life becomes chaotic.
Very often I feel like there is a tornado inside of my head, and yoga allows me to stay still in the middle of that chaos. Allows me to find the eye of the tornado, the still point where you can see everything flying around you and yet you are not affected. And that’s the freedom. You act and not react to the external world, and your perception of life is changing. And you feel happy and fulfilled. And isn’t that what we are all aiming for?

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A couple of weeks ago, when we had the unexpected summer explosion, we were sitting in the garden with my friend, drinking tea and chatting as you do in the UK ? And something incredible happen. A little Robin sat on my lap and stayed there looking at me. He was constantly moving but his eyes were drilling me through. I was hypnotised. I stopped breathing and time ceased to exist… Those few brief moments seemed like a very long time. But in reality, they were just seconds. And just for a while, I felt this incredible connection and overwhelming joy. I smiled, I couldn’t stop smiling. For a few weeks my mind was distracted by worries about finances, constant price rises and how will I be able to sustain what I do. I was more and more moving away from my stillness. And in this one moment, everything went quiet. It was just me and Robin. It was probably a coincidence, but at that moment it felt like it was a sign from the Universe, telling me everything will be ok, just keep going… And just when I took a breath and told my friend to take a photo, Robin flew away. The connection has ended.
What’s the moral of the story? Whatever you take from this. But I sometimes think our life is like that perfect moment. But we get distracted, we don’t notice it at all, the beauty of the present moment. And instead of thinking about taking a photo or video, posting it on Facebook or Instagram, relaxing into it and enjoying would be a much better solution. Life happens in front of our eyes, how often do we see it? And yoga is here to help us connect again. Well, at least for me, that’s my experience.

I don’t know about you, but I have this tendency to always wait for “someday”. My most common saying is – I will start on Monday! I will stop eating sugar on Monday. I will start swimming on Monday. I will eat healthy from Monday… But what if Monday doesn’t come?

I had a really hard time with giving my full-time job and becoming a yoga teacher. There was never the right time. Then I decided I will do it when I get pregnant and I will work around the child. After 6 years of trying for a baby, I realised that it may not happen. And if I died, I would regret not trying at least to do what I love.

And that’s why I encourage you to start today. To start now. You can change your life every second. Because every second of your life might be a new beginning.

So start writing this story you always wanted to write, pick up the pen, open the laptop. Start painting, start creating, start sharing with the world your most unique gifts. Before it’s too late. And before you regret that you have not done something you always wanted.

There is no “someday”. There is only NOW.

I don’t believe in the New Year’s resolutions. And please challenge me if that worked for you. I would love to know your secret. Life is so busy, and I feel resolutions create even more pressure. So this year I have no resolutions!

For me, it’s more about implementing minor changes throughout the year. Realising my behaviour patterns and trying to break them. And if we implemented one slight change every month, by the end of the year we would have changed 12 different issues, no matter how small they are!

This month I spotted that I and my husband eat a lot of junk food when we watch movies. Instead of getting popcorn or crisps, we had some grilled sunflower seeds. How do you make them? You move seeds to the bowl and coat them in soya sauce, making sure all of them are coated. Then you spread them flat on the baking tray and grill them for about 3 minutes. The liquid will dry out and they will become crispy. So tasty and much better than crisps ? And popcorn? Is it terrible for you? If you use air instead of oil and go easy on salt and sugar, or even better, don’t use it, it’s a healthy snack!

Let me know what you think!

Happy New Year

Based on recent events, we talked a lot about fear last week.

Fear is an emotion like any other, sadness, happiness, or anger. Emotions are not bad or good, they just are, and we need to learn to stop judging them and starting to listen to what they have to say. Like any emotion, it’s not an enemy, it’s a message from the brain that something is happening, something we need to look at. And like any emotion, fear is energy. Observe what happens in your body when you feel it. The energy level is increasing. And what you do with it is up to you.

Most of the time we practice escapism from the fear – we are judging and living in duality. We classify fear as not comfortable and brush it under the carpet. What happens then, it creates a vortex of energy and sucks the energy out of us, without us being aware. Sometimes we are allowing unconscious fear to lead our life. Our mind may forget but our body is imprinted with all the experiences, memories, and emotions which need to be released.

What can we do to release the fear?

1. Identifying what are you scared of? Why is that? Which previous experience programmed your brain to respond to similar situations?
2. Asking yourself a question – what is the worst that can happen? Putting situation into perspective. For example, if I run out of fuel what is the worst-case scenario? Will I have to walk, take the bus, cycle?
3. Yoga, Meditation – become aware of patterns and releasing them. Yoga Sutras text says – Yoga is stilling the modifications of the mind. Fear is one of the modifications. I found Ganesha mudra very helpful too:https://www.yogajournal.com/poses/ganesha-mudra Physical yoga – asanas – takes us away from the thinking mind, it can release fear hidden in the body. It works on the body, mind, and energy. It can transform us if done properly. Sometimes it’s difficult to meditate or breathe if anxiety hits, I prefer to do physical yoga instead.
4. Accepting that it’s ok to be scared – noticing what happens to the body, becoming aware of the reaction of the body, breaking the pattern. There are no irrational fears. If you feel it, it’s real, but you also have the power to overcome it by creating space.
5. I found Humming bee breath very helpful with fear. I struggled with a lot of anxiety last year and it really helped me:
6. A. Sit in any comfortable meditative pose. You can also sit on a rolled blanket with your knees upward and the elbows resting on the knees.
   B. Plug the ears with the thumbs, resting the other four fingers on the head, or use the index or middle fingers to plug the ears.
   C. The lips should remain gently closed with the teeth slightly apart throughout the practice. Make sure the jaws are relaxed.
   D.Breathe in through the nose.
   E. Keep the mouth closed, exhale slowly and in a controlled manner while making a deep steady humming sound like that of a bee.
   F. Listen to the sound with the awareness focused in the centre of the head. The sound must be soft and deep, making the front of the skull reverberate.
   G. At the end of the exhalation, breathe in deeply and repeat
   H. Perform ten to fifteen rounds.
   I. When the practice is finished, keep the eyes closed and spend a few minutes observing the effects of the practice.
   J. The vibrations of bhramari produce a soothing effect on the mind and nervous system
7. And many more, which I hope to share with you in the workshop about anxiety.