Yoga with Helene

Isn’t it time you booked your next holiday? I don’t know about you, but I’m only really happy when I know where I’m going next. Not sure what it says about me, but that’s the way I am.
Happy with a ticket to somewhere. (And most of the time it is “just”going to France!).

The summer is not over and you’ve probably spent it with your family, children partner etc, it is a holiday, and it’s not… You know what I mean…

What I am offering in October in Hossegor is a holiday just for you. Where you can look after yourself, do what you want, no meal to prepare, no deciding where to go, when to go, everything is decided for you.
But you can also decide not to do anything.
A holiday to muse around, to walk, to watch the sunset, to sleep, to read, to swim and eventually practice Yoga too.🧘🏻‍♀️
A holiday to return home feeling recharged, healthier and happier.
If you have any doubt, any questions, you can always comment info and I will get back to you.
The group is small, welcoming, fun.
You come as you are. You leave with a lighter spring in your step.
Les cours seront en français le week-end.

This is a recognition to our failures and missed opportunities. This is for all the young people yesterday who did not get what they wanted and feel their life has stopped. For everyone who has failed in some way, someday. That’ll be all of us then!!
Because everyone fails at some point. It is hard, it makes us doubt ourself, it can be devastating.
18 year old me wanted to be a doctor and work in Africa with “Médecins sans frontières”. And she miserably failed her exams, twice!!!
It was so hard and I did not know what to do with myself for a long time. But my life would be very different if I had succeeded and stayed studying medicine in Bordeaux.
I would most probably not have ended up in London and built the life I have now.
I am not saying it was good or bad. I am just saying that it just was. When we fail, or don’t succeed in what we wanted to achieve, how we react to it is in our hands and our hands only. We can collapse (and I do think we are entitled to feel miserable for a while!), or react and try to see what other avenues it has opened.
Not all fails or near misses are the same of course. Not all of them have the same consequences.
But the way we react to them is ours and ours only. And when we feel we have lost control of our life, keeping in control of the way we react to it can feel very empowering and soothing.

This morning I did a “marche aquatique” in the Hossegor marine lake with the lovely Josephine from Ocean Move • Hossegor, France . I absolutely loved it! As I grow wiser and… older, I am coming to the realisation that any fairly soft, gentle activity in the water is what my body needs, my mind craves.
So for the retreat in October, I think une marche aquatique will be on offer one morning, or evening. And for the ones who do not like cold water, I have some wetsuits 😉. But fear not, it will be optional!

The other pictures are photos I took yesterday of the house where we will be staying. I did not take too many as it is occupied and did not want them to think I am a vo**ur 🤣🤣. Last pic is just a random massive seagull on the beach!
Ça vous dit la marche aquatique en octobre? Joséphine est top et j’ai adoré la faire ce matin avec elle. Je crois que si je pouvais j’en ferais tous les jours!! 🌊

These 2 beauties are so fierce, un-predictable with their up to 10m filaments and very allergens. Proper painful when you are caught! They were on the beach the other day. I did not get caught. But I heard stories… Just a reminder that beauty is not synonym of kindness! Admire but for afar! And that sometimes, we have to look beyond the appearances! I hope you are all having a wonderful summer, fun, exciting, calm, joyful and loving.

This young beauty is 18 today! 🎂. You make me so happy, so proud, so complete. You are clever, thoughtful, organised, funny, sorted, articulate. You have character and won’t let anyone stamp on your opinion. I am in awe. I love you so so much. Enjoy your life! Have soooo much fun this summer.

Prendre du temps pour soi, s’accorder quelques jours pour faire une pause, une vraie, parce que le yoga est juste une excuse et un moyen de s’arrêter et faire le point.
Faire le point sur ce que l’on a fait, accompli, faire le point sur ce que l’on veut pour les semaines ou mois à venir. Prendre soin de soi physiquement et mentalement.
Du samedi soir 24 octobre au lundi matin 26 octobre: 5 séances de yoga, des marches, des couchers de soleil, des baignades (pas obligatoires!), du farniente au bord de la piscine chauffée ou dans le salon… vous allez faire un véritable « reset ». Une remise à niveau des gauges d’énergie et d’amour pour vous-même. Pour plus d’info envoyez moi un message ou allez voir sur mon site.

Yesterday I went off line from about 1pm to 8pm. Airplane mode. Proper human connections with no digital interruption or notifications or even the wait, the expectation of receiving an answer or some news. Nothing. I suggested to the participants of the retreat to do the same and to put their phones offline for the whole time, if possible, even when we were not practicing yoga. The whole afternoon. And typically it is when you do not have something that you start missing it. Or realising the effect it has on you… when we came back from our silent walk in the gorgeous west gardens of Hatfield house, my body had a slight clenching at the thought of having to check my messages and thinking I would have to deal with them. And then my body did a little internal dance realising that I still had a good 2 hours offline. 2 hours to chat and give my undivided attention to the lovely ladies surrounding me. What a relief it was! Curious isn’t it how those phones can bring us so much stress and yet we use them more and more, we can’t seem to get rid of them! Or at least consume less! I felt spacious and calm and bit like the first 2 pictures of the carrousel. That spaciousness and calm is worth it. It is worth it because it allows our imagination to blossom, our thinking power to flourish, our mental health to get better and really that is worth an hour or two spent doom scrolling… therefore my intention for this summer is less scrolling, less time spent digitally and more real human connections. Will you follow me?

Are women really better than men?
I was watching the political news program “Have I got news for you”, last night and one of the guests said that we should remove all men from power.
Imagine if it had been said about women. Or about black people, or white, or Muslims…
Oh yes men have done and are still doing pretty horrible things. But if women had more power, were in power, would we be better? How can we say yes. Or no.
Some women have done amazing things when in power, others… not so much.
I am a woman, I am a feminist as in I defend women’s cause but not by putting down and attacking men. I am also a mother of a boy, and a wife. I know many “ordinary” men who are very decent. Most of them are, don’t you think?
So is it men who are bad or is it power that makes you bad?
But my point here today is that putting people against each other does not help our society. It does not help with our cohesion, our “vivre ensemble”.
The manosphere exists and is a terrible thing but I don’t think we will eradicate it by claiming we want to get rid of all men or by putting them down.
We need each other, don’t we? We need mutual respect, communication, exchange, real connections that can only help to understand each other. Blaming all men on national tv does not serve any purpose other than trying to be popular.
How is this post related to yoga you may wonder. It has everything to do with yoga. Ps: pictures absolutely random! 😚

I love teaching teenagers yoga. It gives them that little space where they can relax, be themselves with no pressure or judgement. Nothing to attain or achieve. And they get to learn about yoga philosophy they can then use in their life, like practising Ahimsa, non violence, or Santosha, gratitude. But many more concepts too. And they get to move their bodies in a safe way, sometimes strong, sometimes soft. They get to observe and notice. I am organising a session special exams in May for the 2nd year in a row. For teens doing their GCSE or ALevel but also young adults at university. A moment to learn techniques to destress, relax, focus, through strong postures, movement, breathing exercises. Open to all abilities and bodies.