Cultivate Calm Yoga

Ever been to a yoga class and your mind was racing the whole time?

The more you try to relax, the louder the thoughts become.

And then, finally, your body and mind relax, and the class is over.

The state of our mind is directly influenced by the state of our nervous system.

If our nervous system is in fight/flight/freeze our mind will be agitated.

It’s only when the nervous system feels safe that the mind will settle - until then the negative thought spirals will continue.

And sometimes it takes 30-40 minutes for the nervous system to find safety.

That’s not a personal flaw - that’s the reality of modern living where demand exceeds our capacity and stress becomes relentless.

Deep Calm focuses on settling the nervous system with down-regulating breathwork and proprioceptive input.

Then, when the nervous system is settled, we can go beyond the surface layer of the mind and find that place of deep calm that’s always there.

That place where everything slows down, and you can connect back to your essence and feed your soul.

Curious?

Comment Calm

Photo credit @ akbar_mehrinezhad

Have you ever noticed that when yoga is a priority in life, everything else seems to fall into place?

Even when life is busy and demanding, a regular yoga practice makes it so much easier to cope.

Have you also noticed the flipside?

When life gets busy, and we miss yoga, everything seems that much harder.

I've experienced it myself, and I see it over and over again.

When yoga is regular, it's easier to ride the ups and downs of life, even surfing at the peak for long periods.

But when life gets busy, and yoga becomes less of a priority, our ability to surf the waves of life suffers, and the waves seem so much bigger.

It's no coincidence.

Yoga increases our capacity to deal with life.

YOGA SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE

We’re offering a number of 3 Month Yoga Scholarships for people who could benefit from yoga but can’t afford it right now.

🦋If you’re recovering from trauma

🦋If you have a health diagnosis

🦋If you’re a student or pensioner

🦋If you’re a single parent

🦋Or if you’re just having a hard time right now we would love to help.

Send an email to [email protected] and tell us a bit about your situation and how yoga can help.

All applications are kept confidential.

Yoga is a powerful tool for healing and just being in our sanctuary, slowing down and connecting to your body and breath will do wonders for your physical and mental health.

Please like, comment and SHARE this post so we can teach more people.

Monica xx

THE DOOR'S BEEN SHUT FOR TOO LONG

"Who bought the flowers?" a client asked me.

I did. I bought them "just because".

I was flossing after dinner (the dance, not my teeth), when my daughter asked: "Mummy, why are you dancing?"

I said, "Just because".

It's the same reason I look for the moon when I take the bins out, just because.

The relentlessness of life, bills, and chores can leave us stuck in a grind.

We spend so much precious energy on maintaining our homes, our careers, our relationships, our bodies, our finances that we can get stuck in maintenance mode, forever fixing and optimising.

But life isn't a never-ending project to be managed.

It's meant to be experienced.

That's why I smile when I see the dandelion growing through the cracks in the concrete.

Or the bougainvillea that colours the whole street.

One minute you're 22 and can take on the world. Then the next minute you know it's going to rain soon because your knee hurts.

I had a client tell me she looked in the mirror and said: "Who is this old person looking back at me?" I was just thinking the same thing that morning.

It wasn't that long ago that I got my first pair of reading glasses. Now I have a pair in each room.

We're getting a puppy soon. It will be chaos, and the house will be full of fur again. But I'm already feeling the anticipatory joy of the wagging tail and the unbridled enthusiasm for life.

Enthusiasm is contagious, and I'm hoping to catch it.

Joy doesn't wait until things are perfect.

Sometimes it takes us by surprise, taps us on the shoulder and says "here I am".

But more often than not, especially when we've experienced long stretches of joylessness, we need to open the door for joy to find us.

And the key to opening that door, that may have been shut for some time, is to take our attention away from ourselves for a moment and notice the world around us.

Joy is in the mess, in the chaos, in the mundane.

It's always there; we just forgot how to look because we've been scrolling for so long we no longer know how to be in awe of life.

Sometimes I'm teaching a yoga class, and everyone is moving and breathing as one.

It feels more than a shared moment in time; it feels like we're holding hands and going through this crazy life together.

We move and breathe together for an hour, then go about our day.

We often think about the big, defining moments of our lives, but in reality, it's a bunch of small moments strung together that form the fabric of our existence.

And we come together for an hour or two a week to share that existence, to weave that fabric and to create a positive ripple in our little pocket of the world.

The reason I dance after dinner, smile at strangers, or buy pretty flowers is because every time I look in the mirror, mortality slaps me in the face and reminds me of the times when there was no joy.

It wasn't that long ago I was in a deep pit of despair, and now I'm so grateful I'm not there anymore.

If this has made you think about joy, or how to open the door to it, then yoga might be on your list.

Most of our clients start yoga with us to get more flexible.

But they keep coming back (many of them for over a decade) because yoga makes them feel so much better.

In one week, a study of over 300 yoga practitioners* recorded a 13% increase in positive affect and a 47% decrease in negative affect (negative affect is a psychological term for a range of emotions, including anxiety, stress, irritability, tension, and fear).

Yoga is proven to help with stress, anxiety and depression. That's why the Commonwealth Government has reinstated private health insurance rebates for yoga - it works!

And if you're looking for a down-to-earth studio without the mirrors, selfies and fancy clothes, come find us.

We can help you get your joy back.

Image credit: Pure Dog and Cat Photography

*Reference - Narasimhan L, Nagarathna R, Nagendra H. Effect of integrated yogic practices on positive and negative emotions in healthy adults. Int J Yoga. 2011 Jan;4(1):13-9.

My daughter was scootering down the hill when she had a spectacular stack.

I awkwardly ran to her (if you know me, you know I can't run, it was more of a bear shuffle).

Miraculously, she got up with a smile on her face and no tears.

Until she looked at her favourite pants and the hole in the knee.

She wailed, and just to be clear, the pants had spared her knee of any graze.

I said, "Aren't you lucky your favourite pants protected you?"

I gave her a hug and expected her to get back on her scooter.

She was still crying.

We were about 3kms from home, and I didn't fancy piggybacking her the whole way.

I said, "What's wrong?"

She looked down and said, "What will everyone think of me?"

My heart sank for her.

She named the thing I always struggled with as a kid (even as an adult).

That horrible self-censoring, not doing the things we want to do out of fear of what others thought.

So I pulled her in close and said, "Can I tell you a secret?"

Her eyes widened; she LOVES secrets.

I said, "Have a look around, all these kids here, they're not thinking about you. They're thinking about whether they'll get ice cream for dessert or what they want for their birthday."

She smiled a little.

I added, "All the grown-ups are far too caught up in their own thoughts and worries to even notice you."

I said, "Look around, no one is watching."

She smiled, got back on her scooter, and we zoomed home.

I wish I knew this secret when I was five.

The fear of judgement is what makes us conform to what we think is "normal".

It's what silently drains the spark from our soul, until we wake up at 40 and realise we don't even know what we want in life because we've always based our decisions on what others will think of us.

So let me remind you: when you're at yoga, no one is watching you and no one cares what you're wearing or if your bum looks big.

Seriously, people fart in class and no one cares.

It doesn't matter if you're a bit wobbly and need the wall for support.

It doesn't matter if you mix up your left and your right.

If you enjoy something, go do it.

It doesn't have to be yoga: go dancing, sing out of tune, pick up the paintbrush, take a chance and do something that makes your soul sparkle again.

Life's too short to worry about what others think of us.

And if you've been putting off yoga because you're worried you're not good enough, this is your sign.

Come join us at Cultivate Calm.

No one is watching, promise.

People often ask me about the best yoga poses for chronic muscle tension.

But chronic muscle tension is not caused by a lack of stretching.

The real cause is stress, and that stress is often emotional

Every time we bottle up our anger, suppress our resentment, or tell ourselves we're "fine" when we're not, we store tension in the body.

Those unfelt emotions don't go away.

They show up as aches and pains that no amount of stretching fixes.

They ruin our sleep.

They keep the mind churning with rumination and endless thought spirals.

They make us impatient and easily frustrated.

Don't ask me how I know...

Over time, they drain our vitality, and we feel restless, edgy and unable to sleep.

Yoga has a unique way of dealing with the emotional stress behind all that tension.

We use specific movements and breathing patterns to clear the stuck emotions from the body, so you feel lighter, calmer and more yourself again.

You don't need to "explore your feelings" or analyse why you feel the way you do.

The movement and the breath do the work.

If you're curious about clearing stuck emotions, or you're just sick and tired of feeling uptight and anxious, you'll love the Energy Spring Clean workshop TOMORROW (Wednesday, public holiday).

We'll release the pent-up stress and tension of the year, so the winter heaviness and sluggishness can dissipate too.

You'll leave feeling calmer, clearer and more grounded, with the mental space to connect back with what actually matters to you.

It's beginner-friendly, and there are no down dogs or planks.

Just moving, breathing, and plenty of rest.

Link in comments

We’ve all heard of time management and the endless hacks to squeeze more into our day.
But something I’ve been experimenting with is energy management.

And no, I don’t mean coffee, supplements or going to bed early.

In Yoga, our “energy body” includes our breath, nervous system, emotions, and vitality.

It’s the layer between our mind and body that determines whether we feel calm and alive, or flat and frazzled.

You know that feeling, good mood, good energy, optimistic, ready for anything, and you’ve probably felt the opposite too, bad mood, low energy, when even small things feel hard.

Energy management is focused on transforming our inner state so that we have the motivation, confidence and energy to tackle any challenge.

Energy is never created or destroyed, only changed, and in Yoga, that’s prana, our life-force energy, always present, just shifting form.

When we feel anxious, down, exhausted or flat, it’s not that our energy has disappeared; it’s simply become stuck, blocked, or misdirected.

I’ve had my fair share of challenges over the last 18 months since my breast cancer recurrence, and I’ve had PLENTY of opportunity to experiment with my energy (I felt sh*tty for a long time, and nothing was working).

I’ve been using breathwork, movement and meditative practices to transform my energy, and it’s been working.

Suppressed emotions are often the root cause of our low moods.

But the emotions that we don’t want to feel don’t go anywhere; they remain trapped in the body, and we feel it as muscle tension, fatigue, anxiety and insomnia.

When we don’t allow ourselves to feel, we get uptight, rigid, controlling, prioritising work, bills, and productivity over pleasure, play, and creativity.

And all work and no play doesn’t make a good life.
If you want to learn how to work with your energy body to clear the heaviness and lethargy of winter and create space and lightness for spring, then join me for my Energy Spring Clean on the Ekka Holiday.
It’s beginner-friendly, no planks or downdogs.
Just dynamic movement, powerful breathwork, lots of rest and visualisation.
Join me next Wednesday on the Public Holiday
👇
Comment ENERGY and I’ll send you the link

We've all heard of time management and the endless hacks to squeeze more into our day.

But something I've been experimenting with is energy management.

And no, I don't mean coffee, supplements or going to bed early.

In Yoga, our "energy body" includes our breath, nervous system, emotions, and vitality.

It's the layer between our mind and body that determines whether we feel calm and alive, or flat and frazzled.

So when I talk about energy management, what I really mean is managing my inner state.

You know that feeling when you're in a good mood and have good energy, you feel optimistic and that you can tackle any challenge.

And you've probably also experienced the opposite, when you're in a bad mood and low on energy, even the smallest things feel hard.

Energy management is focused on transforming our inner state so that we have the motivation, confidence and energy to tackle any challenge.

We know from physics that energy cannot be created or destroyed; it can only change form.

Well, from the Yoga perspective, prana, or life-force energy, is always present; it just moves, shifts, and changes form.

When we feel anxious, down, exhausted or flat, it's not that our energy has disappeared; it's simply become stuck, blocked, or misdirected.

I've had my fair share of challenges over the last 18 months since my breast cancer recurrence, and I've had PLENTY of opportunity to experiment with my energy (I felt sh*tty for a long time, and nothing was working).

I've been using breathwork, movement and meditative practices to transform my energy, and it's been working.

Suppressed emotions are often the root cause of our low moods.

But the emotions that we don't want to feel don't go anywhere; they remain trapped in the body, and we feel it as muscle tension, fatigue, anxiety and insomnia.

When we don't allow ourselves to feel our emotions, we can end up becoming uptight, rigid, and controlling.

We tend to prioritise work, bills, and productivity over pleasure, play, and creativity.

And all work and no play doesn't make a good life.

If you want to learn how to work with your energy body to clear the heaviness and lethargy of winter and create space and lightness for spring, then join me for my Energy Spring Clean on the Ekka Holiday.

It's beginner-friendly.

There'll be no planks or downdogs.

Just dynamic movement, powerful breathwork, loss of rest and visualisation.

Join me next Wednesday on the Public Holiday

👇

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One of our members recently received a few hundred dollars back from her health fund for her yoga membership.

That’s right.

After several years of being excluded, yoga is now eligible again under many private health insurance extras policies.

And Cultivate Calm Yoga is now an approved provider with most private health funds.

Some insurers may require a referral from your GP if the yoga is being used to support a specific health issue such as stress, anxiety, depression, high blood pressure, back pain, menopause or obesity.

Of course, every fund and policy is different, so it’s worth checking directly with your health insurer to see what you’re entitled to.

If you do have cover that includes yoga, we’re happy to provide a tax receipt with our Yoga Australia number so you can submit a claim.

A nice little bonus for calming your mind.