Yoga Brave

Jai Sri Krishna 🪷

Krishna Janmashtami is an auspicious and joy-filled annual festival for Krishna’s birthday this Friday 4 September 🦚.
At Living Peace Yoga, Toronto NSW, we’ve been celebrating with meditations from the Bhagavad Gita, chanting mantra, classes with joyful stories and music + a Dharma Talk on Saturday 5 September.

Join us at 9:45am in studio or online for the story of Krishna’s flute + mantra + readings from Chapter 12 of the Bhagavad Gita (The Yoga of Devotion) and a guided visualization through Krishna’s childhood village of Brindavan.
🙏🦚🪈Jai Sri Krishna 🪈🦚🙏

What if the teacher has been beside you all along? 🪷

This Friday marks Sri Krishna Janmashtami - the celebration of Krishna's birth.

One of the stories I love most from the Bhagavad Gita is the relationship between Krishna and Arjuna.

Krishna wasn't a distant guru who appeared at the last moment.

He was Arjuna's friend, companion and charioteer.

When Arjuna found himself overwhelmed on the battlefield, unable to see clearly what his Dharma was asking of him, it was Krishna who stood beside him.

He listened.

He questioned.

He taught.

And eventually, Krishna revealed his true divine form to Arjuna.

I keep coming back to this part of the story: Krishna was already there.

Perhaps the people, experiences and teachings that guide us don't always arrive looking like wisdom (or dressed like a Guru).

Perhaps sometimes the teacher is simply the friend beside us.

The person who asks the question we don't want to answer.

The experience that brings us to our knees.

The practice that helps us see what was there all along.

Yoga is, in part, the practice of removing the veil of illusion.

Perhaps, in the spirit of this story, we might simply sit with Krishna's mantra:

Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya
Om Nah-moh Bha-gah-vuh-tay Vah-soo-day-vuh-yuh

"I bow to the Divine.”

Not necessarily to ask for anything.

Just to become a little quieter.

To lift the veil.

To see what is already here.

Happy Janmashtami 🪷

Monday 🙌
6:00pm - Yin Yoga with Fy
Tuesday 🙌
9:30am - Gentle Hatha with Angelique
Wednesday 🙌
8:30am - Yin Yoga with Kylie
6:00pm - Nourish + Meditation with Fy
Friday 🙌
8:00am - Strong + Slow with Janis
9:30am - Bliss Out with Janis
Saturday 🙌
8:00am - Hatha Yoga with Kylie
Sunday 🙌
9:00AM - Foundations + Strength with Fy

WILD + FREE

I’ve been feeling a little more of this lately.

More playful.
More creative.
More relaxed.

And happier too.

I’ve noticed myself wanting to get outside more, follow an idea just because it feels interesting, laugh more (at myself mostly), make things, move my body and not take everything quite so seriously.

There’s been a feeling of having a bit more room to breathe.

I think some of it has come from working on the retreat.

I’ve been spending time imagining the days, finding the right people to be part of it, thinking about food and places to walk and swim and sit around together.

And every time I do, I feel my Prana lift.

It has reminded me how good it feels to make space for the things that bring us joy.

Maybe that’s what Wild + Free is really about.

Not running away from our lives.

Just remembering there are parts of us that love to wander, play, explore and breathe a little deeper.

I think we could all use a bit more of that.

I’ll be sharing more about the retreat this week. 🌿

In the meantime, here's the rhythm for this week:

Monday 🙌
6:00pm - Yin Yoga with Fy

Tuesday 🙌
9:30am - Gentle Hatha with Angelique

Wednesday 🙌
8:30am - Yin Yoga with Kylie
6:00pm - Nourish + Meditation with Fy

Friday 🙌
8:00am - Strong + Slow with Janis
9:30am - Bliss Out with Janis

Saturday 🙌
8:00am - Hatha Yoga with Kylie

Sunday 🙌
9:00AM - Foundations + Strength with Fy

A little Yoga Brave discovery…

After a chat with one of our students this week, I realised I had been merrily assuming you all knew about the Yoga Brave booking app.

But I hadn't actually been shouting it from Tadasana, so how would you? 😂

One of the practices of yoga is Svadhyaya - self-study, or simply paying attention to what is actually going on.

Apparently, this week’s lesson was mine.

So, in the spirit of paying attention…

Did you know there is a Yoga Brave / Momoyoga app?

You can see the timetable, book your spot, check your bookings and manage your classes all from your phone.

One less thing to remember. One less tab open. One small act of organisation amongst busy lives.

Download it for Apple or Android via the link in our bio.

And if I haven't told you something useful… please don't assume you should already know.

I'm still learning that one too. 😉

With love,
Fy

Our 2027 Retreat is almost ready to release out into the wild.... here's a few hints of what to expect.....

Come back to what is elemental.

Salt on skin.
Feet on earth.
Smoke from the fire.
The rhythm of the ocean.
Good food around a shared table.
A warm sauna after a cold swim.
A body stretched out beneath a Tasmanian sky.

Three nights. Four days.
No rushing. No performing. No need to make anything happen.
Slow, soulful practises in tune with nature.

Just a beautiful piece of wild Tasmania, good people, good food and space to breathe.

Can't wait to share my island home with you.

Fy x

Kirtan returns to Living Peace Yoga on Saturday 29th August, 5pm - 6:30pm.

Why join Ginny, Greg and Richard Turner at Kirtan?

Because kirtan combines music with meditation and sacred mantras which have been chanted for thousands of years. Research now shows that chanting can decrease stress, anxiety and depressive symptoms, as well as increase positive mood, feelings of relaxation and focused attention. And, it can connect you to an eternal source within you which reminds you of your own power, peace and presence.

Hope to see you there!

I've recently moved through a period of what I would call melancholy. Not necessarily sadness. Not something I needed to solve.

Just… less light.

And rather than judging it as a failure, I've been trying to listen.

So when I feel the first little ember of hope, I don't make a grand plan.

I start small.

The foot cream that's been sitting there. I use it.

Fresh sheets on the bed. Yes!

Ironing an outfit before I go out.

A walk with the hounds.

Something nourishing (truly nourishing).

Coming to yoga.

Small acts of tending that say:

"I am here. I haven't forgotten myself."

Perhaps that's what practice gives us too.

Not another thing to achieve.

Just a place to notice where we are, breathe, move, and begin again.

If winter has left you feeling a little quieter than usual, perhaps you don't need to push yourself back into the light.

Perhaps you can simply tend to the ember.

🤍

What is one small thing you could do for yourself today?

Maybe you don't have to be ready.

I've been sitting with something since Sunday's workshop.

I first had the idea for the Myofascial Release immersion back in February.

And then I did what I sometimes do when something matters to me.

I studied.
I researched.
I questioned whether I knew enough.
I compare my level of understanding to the person who taught me. (anyone else do this??)

I wanted to really "feel" the practice before I offered it. I wanted to understand the science, the fascia, the nervous system, the acupressure points.

I wanted to get it right.

So I kept putting it off.

Eventually, I set a date and decided: this is happening!

I was nervous on Sunday. Especially when I saw some new faces in the room.

But as I took my seat, and settled everyone in, the nerves left, our AUMS connected us and we became one.

And I remembered something I already know how to do.

I can read a room.
I can read a body.
I can hold space.

This is my Dharma (my jam!).

The science matters. Knowledge matters.

But sometimes, in our desire to know enough, we forget that presence is its own kind of knowing.

The beautiful messages I've received since the workshop have been such a reminder.

People sleeping deeply.
People feeling relief.
People wanting to explore further.

Not because I had all the answers.

But because they had space to feel for themselves.

I've been thinking about a quote I have held with me for some time now:

"I am not here to teach you. I am here to love you. Love will teach you.”

I'm beginning to understand.

Maybe we don't have to be completely ready.

Maybe sometimes we simply need to show up with what we have, trust what we've embodied, and let the experience teach us too.

Do the thing.

Not because you're perfectly ready.

Because perhaps you're love for this thing is readiness enough. 🤍

Thanks to my teacher Mel McLaughlin for the amount of geeking out it takes for her to deliver incredible workshops for teachers!🙌

Sometimes the guru is the one you least expect.

Last Saturday morning, our Yoga Brave students arrived at the church hall for their usual practice… only to discover that the hall had been transformed for an afternoon function.

There was no yoga space.

No alternative venue.

No clever solution.

Just a group of slightly bewildered yogis, a very gracious teacher, and a situation none of us had planned for. We had to cancel the class.

Later, Kylie sent me a message:

“With Guru Purnima next week, today’s guru is the church hall - it teaches us how to graciously accept the unexpected with humour and forbearance.”

I laughed but also felt disappointment.

And then I thought… she's onto something.

Because this is, after all, the practice.

Not just the beautiful moments on the mat when everything feels spacious and settled.But the moments when something interrupts our plans.

When we're disappointed.

When we don't get what we expected.

When our carefully constructed version of how things should be meets what actually is.

Yoga doesn't ask us to pretend we're not frustrated. It asks us to notice what happens next.

Do we look to blame or understand?
Can we respond rather than react?

And perhaps most importantly, can we recognise that the teaching doesn't always arrive in the form we were expecting?

Sometimes it's a teacher.

Sometimes it's a difficult conversation.

Sometimes it's a change of plans.

And sometimes…

it's a church hall full of recycled cardboard, muddy bollards and someone else's afternoon function. 😂

With Guru Purnima here, perhaps we might look a little differently at the teachers already woven through our lives.

Some are obvious. Others are disguised as inconveniences. And some, if we're lucky, teach us to laugh, take a breath and begin again.

ॐ गुरुर्ब्रह्मा गुरुर्विष्णुर्गुरुर्देवो महेश्वरः। गुरुः साक्षात् परब्रह्म तस्मै श्रीगुरवे नमः।।

Om. To that beautiful and benevolent Guru who is Brahmā, the Creator, Viṣṇu, the Maintainer, and Śiva, the Great Lord through whom all things return to their origin.