Last weekend I had the pleasure of leading another retreat. This time it was a weekend one, from Friday evening to Sunday afternoon, and it was held at Florence House in Seaford, East Sussex right by the sea.
Although short in days, a weekend retreat can seem to offer you the gift of time in various ways:
If you'd like to join me at my next retreat at Florence House do send me and email and I'll send you all the details - it's taking place from 14-16 October 2016 and costs £360, to include all yoga, food and accommodation.
Well that's all good and lovely, but what about when life doesn't flow smoothly? Here are some wise words from Leo Babauta about dealing things when the going gets tough....as it inevitably will at some point...
How to Handle the Difficult Times
By Leo Babauta from zenhabits.net
Sometimes, life just wallops us against the head, deals us with such a blow that it takes our breath away.
A loved one dies, you lose a job, someone you care about gets sick, your car gets totalled, or hopelessness hits you.
What do we do when the world around us crumbles, when we can’t seem to find a way out?
The times when things are falling apart are exactly the best times to practice mindfulness and compassion. These are the times we’re preparing for, in a way, when we meditate regularly with mindfulness and compassion, during the non-traumatic times.
The times when the world is collapsing are the richest areas of exploration, and when we need the tools most.
So the way to work with these times is this:
Stay with the pain. Don’t run from it, don’t try to do anything about it, but face it with courage.
Stay with the bodily feeling, dropping below your story, and smile at it, be friendly with it, have the braveness to just be with it like you would with a friend who’s hurting.
Do it in small doses if that’s all you can handle. Do it with patience, noticing that your mind wants to run. Keep coming back, and you’ll earn trust in yourself to stay with the hard feelings.
Eventually, you see that the feelings aren’t so bad, that you can stay with them and the world won’t end, that they’ll go away like a passing cloud, that these feelings and thoughts aren’t you but just passing phenomena. You’ll start to take them less seriously, see that they’re No Big Deal, hold them lightly, give them space in your mind.
When the world is falling apart, this is the time to practice.
Your questions answered....What is a mala?
On our weekend retreat my fellow teacher Suzie used a mala to help with the meditation we were doing. A mala is a string of beads used to help keep count during a mantra meditation (see my recent post explaining mantras here).
Malas have been used for hundreds of years to aid focus during meditation, much like prayers beads. Traditionally made from Rudraksha seeds, there are usually 108 round beads on the string (108 is an auspicious number in yoga). There is one slightly larger bead to which a tassel is attached - this is the guru bead.
Here's how you would use a mala:
Sit in a comfortable seated position, set an intention for your meditation and choose your mantra.
Lay the beads across the right hand, resting over the middle finger, with the thumb on the guru bead.
Recite your mantra, then push the next bead along until it's under your thumb and recite again. And so on, until you have fed all the beads through your fingers and arrived back at the guru bead - you have recited your mantra 108 times.
This week's recipe is .... Spring Vegetable Lasagne - the Jamie Oliver way
I made this dish for supper with friends recently. It was quite straightforward to do (even though it took a bit longer than the promised 30 minutes) and it tasted really, really good.There is cream in this recipe (single cream is around 18% fat as opposed to double cream which is around 48% fat - big difference!). I'm currently doing lots of reading into the benefits of good fats in our diets and, while I eat as healthily as I can most of the time, I feel it's ok to eat what you like every now and again and not worry about, or regret, occasional indulgences (such as a bit of cream in your lasagne).
This recipe makes a very large lasagne - enough for 6-8 portions. I used half measures of everything and served 4 with a salad and some roasted vegetables.
You will need:
A bunch of spring onions
6 cloves of garlic
700g asparagus
500g frozen peas
300g frozen broad beans
Large bunch of fresh mint
300ml single cream
1 lemon
300ml vegetable stock
500g cottage cheese
2 packets of fresh lasagne sheets (12 sheets total)
Parmesan cheese
Fresh thyme (or a pinch of dried thyme)
Here's how to make it:
This week's musical offering is Long Time Sun by Snatam Kaur. I played this in the Restorative Class at the retreat - so beautiful and so relaxing :-)
This week in the garden.... Everything is growing so fast and everywhere I look there is something that needs doing! I haven't managed to get outside for more than 1 hour to do a spot of weeding in my very overgrown cut-flower patch... sigh... However, I have booked myself in for a day in the garden on Sunday! Come rain or shine I will be out there and I will hopefully have a little bit more to 'show and tell' next week :-)
Although short in days, a weekend retreat can seem to offer you the gift of time in various ways:
- it presents you with the time to pause in your busy routine to focus on yourself - no cooking or other household chores to do - bliss!
- it makes it easy for you to put your yoga practice first - the 4 classes are scheduled in and, although attendance is not compulsory, you'll probably show up on the mat for each one, do more yoga than you would normally do in a weekend and maybe take your practice to another level as you try some poses that might not be so familiar to you.
- the change of scenery (and I like to choose places to stay that offer a strong connection to the natural world) offers a chance to pause and take in the beauty of what the season, and the weather, has to offer - we notice more than we normally would, really looking at what's around us and savouring the experience.
- we make new friends and reconnect with old ones as we come together with our shared interest in yoga - there is lots of conversation and lots of laughter (although there are opportunities for quiet introspection and we did do a silent meditative walk along the cliff tops, paying attention to each of the 5 senses, which was interesting).
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| our light-filled yoga room |
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| silent walk |
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| we found a little sheltered cove |
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| my obigatory holiday headstand - with the Seven Sisters cliffs in the background |
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| Seaford Beach |
If you'd like to join me at my next retreat at Florence House do send me and email and I'll send you all the details - it's taking place from 14-16 October 2016 and costs £360, to include all yoga, food and accommodation.
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| a view of Florence House |
Well that's all good and lovely, but what about when life doesn't flow smoothly? Here are some wise words from Leo Babauta about dealing things when the going gets tough....as it inevitably will at some point...
How to Handle the Difficult Times
By Leo Babauta from zenhabits.net
Sometimes, life just wallops us against the head, deals us with such a blow that it takes our breath away.
A loved one dies, you lose a job, someone you care about gets sick, your car gets totalled, or hopelessness hits you.
What do we do when the world around us crumbles, when we can’t seem to find a way out?
The times when things are falling apart are exactly the best times to practice mindfulness and compassion. These are the times we’re preparing for, in a way, when we meditate regularly with mindfulness and compassion, during the non-traumatic times.
The times when the world is collapsing are the richest areas of exploration, and when we need the tools most.
So the way to work with these times is this:
Stay with the pain. Don’t run from it, don’t try to do anything about it, but face it with courage.
Stay with the bodily feeling, dropping below your story, and smile at it, be friendly with it, have the braveness to just be with it like you would with a friend who’s hurting.
Do it in small doses if that’s all you can handle. Do it with patience, noticing that your mind wants to run. Keep coming back, and you’ll earn trust in yourself to stay with the hard feelings.
Eventually, you see that the feelings aren’t so bad, that you can stay with them and the world won’t end, that they’ll go away like a passing cloud, that these feelings and thoughts aren’t you but just passing phenomena. You’ll start to take them less seriously, see that they’re No Big Deal, hold them lightly, give them space in your mind.
When the world is falling apart, this is the time to practice.
Your questions answered....What is a mala?
On our weekend retreat my fellow teacher Suzie used a mala to help with the meditation we were doing. A mala is a string of beads used to help keep count during a mantra meditation (see my recent post explaining mantras here).
Malas have been used for hundreds of years to aid focus during meditation, much like prayers beads. Traditionally made from Rudraksha seeds, there are usually 108 round beads on the string (108 is an auspicious number in yoga). There is one slightly larger bead to which a tassel is attached - this is the guru bead.
Here's how you would use a mala:
Sit in a comfortable seated position, set an intention for your meditation and choose your mantra.
Lay the beads across the right hand, resting over the middle finger, with the thumb on the guru bead.
Recite your mantra, then push the next bead along until it's under your thumb and recite again. And so on, until you have fed all the beads through your fingers and arrived back at the guru bead - you have recited your mantra 108 times.
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| my mala beads |
This week's recipe is .... Spring Vegetable Lasagne - the Jamie Oliver way
I made this dish for supper with friends recently. It was quite straightforward to do (even though it took a bit longer than the promised 30 minutes) and it tasted really, really good.There is cream in this recipe (single cream is around 18% fat as opposed to double cream which is around 48% fat - big difference!). I'm currently doing lots of reading into the benefits of good fats in our diets and, while I eat as healthily as I can most of the time, I feel it's ok to eat what you like every now and again and not worry about, or regret, occasional indulgences (such as a bit of cream in your lasagne).
This recipe makes a very large lasagne - enough for 6-8 portions. I used half measures of everything and served 4 with a salad and some roasted vegetables.
You will need:
A bunch of spring onions
6 cloves of garlic
700g asparagus
500g frozen peas
300g frozen broad beans
Large bunch of fresh mint
300ml single cream
1 lemon
300ml vegetable stock
500g cottage cheese
2 packets of fresh lasagne sheets (12 sheets total)
Parmesan cheese
Fresh thyme (or a pinch of dried thyme)
Here's how to make it:
- Preheat the oven to 200°C.
- Heat the oil in a very large saucepan.
- Finely slice the spring onions, crush the garlic and fry gently for a few minutes.
- Trim the pointed tips off the asparagus and put aside (they'll be going on the top of the lasagne later). Trim the other end and slice into small pieces. Add to the pan and fry gently for 5 minutes.
- Add the frozen peas and broad beans, season with salt and pepper and add the chopped mint leaves.
- Stir in the cream (but keep a couple of spoonfuls aside to mix in with the topping later) and the grated zest of half a lemon.
- Cook gently for a few minutes then mash everything up using a potato masher to create a bit of texture. Cover with the vegetable stock and bring to the boil before adding 250g of cottage cheese.
- Stir and cook gently for a few more minutes.
- Then remove from the heat and spoon a quarter of the mixture into a large, deep dish. Layer a lasagne sheet on top of the mixture, followed by a generous grating of parmesan cheese.
- Repeat the layers of vegetable and lasagne sheets until you have used all of the filling and then top with a final sheet.
- Mix the remaining 250g of cottage cheese with the remaining cream and spread over the lasagne.
- Drizzle olive oil over the asparagus tips then place on top of the lasagne.
- Sprinkle on some thyme, some more parmesan and a final drizzle of olive oil.
- Bake in the oven for around 15 minutes until the topping has browned and you can see it bubbling. Check halfway through that the lasagne isn't too dry and the edges aren't curling up. If it is, add a little water and press the edges back down again.
- Serve with a salad.
This week's musical offering is Long Time Sun by Snatam Kaur. I played this in the Restorative Class at the retreat - so beautiful and so relaxing :-)
This week in the garden.... Everything is growing so fast and everywhere I look there is something that needs doing! I haven't managed to get outside for more than 1 hour to do a spot of weeding in my very overgrown cut-flower patch... sigh... However, I have booked myself in for a day in the garden on Sunday! Come rain or shine I will be out there and I will hopefully have a little bit more to 'show and tell' next week :-)
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| A shot of my diary for this weekend |
A bit about anatomy... spotlight on the psoas muscles
I often talk about the psoas muscles in my yoga classes, and how important it is to stretch them out, especially if you sit for a large part of the day. But I find it quite hard to describe these muscles as they're deep within the body, right up close to the spine descending down through the pelvic bowl to join to the inner thighs. As you can't see them at all or manipulate them with your hands getting an idea of their situation can be a little elusive. I've just come across this great graphic (from www.bandhayoga.com - a great website if you're interested in anatomy) which shows you the psoas muscles (collectively called the iliopsoas) in clear detail - I hope it helps you picture it now. Below it are pictures of two postures which are really good for stretching the psoas muscles out - do them regularly and you'll improve your posture,stabilise the spine and therefore ease low back pain.
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| 1) psoas major 2) psoas minor 3) iliacus 4) iliopsoas (at tendon attachment to the lesser trochanter) |
Finally, here's an inspiring video showing how you don't need anything to be a certain way before you start yoga. I often hear people say 'I'm too stiff and inflexible to do yoga'. I try and tell them that, if they just start from where they are and keep practicing the poses, the magic of yoga will happen - transformation occurs as a side-effect of a regular practice.
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