Earlier this year, I spent six days on a yoga retreat with a wonderful teacher. Six days of movement, breath, reflection and time to pause. That experience inspired Being You, my six-week yoga course in Ringwood, in the New Forest. The theme of the retreat was “Becoming”. We were invited to explore the parts of ourselves we wanted to change and consider who we might become through our yoga practice. The image was of a butterfly emerging from its cocoon: a transformation, an unfolding, a new...

Introduction I have been teaching my own yoga classes for a year now, and it feels like the right moment to pause and reflect on what that year has taught me—and how it has changed me as both a teacher and a student of yoga. If you’re exploring yoga classes in Ringwood in the New Forest, or just beginning your yoga journey, this reflection might offer a small insight into me and my approach to yoga. Finding My Yoga Community I have practiced yoga for many years, but I never felt like I had...

The autonomic nervous system regulates functions that happen automatically — heart rate, digestion, blood pressure, sweating, and even the size of our pupils. These are not things we can consciously switch on or off in the same way we can decide to move an arm or take a step. What we can do, however, is influence the nervous system indirectly — particularly through breath, movement, and meditation. When we slow and steady the breath, move with awareness, or give the body time to rest, the...