Relax and Flow w/ Caroline

Are we at the mid point of the summer? It feels like it. Even though it feels like an endless summer. A few things from my roll. This will be the summer of heat, pilates, wobbles (on and off the mat), football and Nutella with bread sticks.

This morning, a student who's leaving London told me how much she'd enjoyed my classes over the last six months.

She said she'd been taught properly and learnt so much in a way she hadn't experienced in studios elsewhere — how inclusive and thoughtful it had been, as well as challenging. As an older, mid-size teacher, I won't pretend teaching always feels easy. It's often felt like a challenge, and I've kept going for exactly the reasons she described. I'll never know why some studios never gave me a regular slot (or not yet), but I'll know for sure why many have.

That's the energy I want to carry into what's next — there are a few things on the horizon (watch this space 👀). When I worked full-time in an office, every so often an author would send a thank you, and I kept those messages in a file for the harder days. I think I'll start doing the same here.

🌿 My early morning class is moving outside! 🌿

Tuesday mornings at 7am at LIM will now be out in the garden behind LIM1 (that's the space you enter through), while the weather's on our side.
Expect some vinyasa flow, alongside mindful connection with the space around us - the sounds, the coolness in the air, the natural rhythm of the morning. This morning was the perfect temperature - cool, fresh air, birdsong - just gorgeous for practice.

Starting your day with calm means you move through the rest of it with less reactivity. That's the intention here.

If you're joining, come find me out back rather than the usual spot!

⏰ One thing - please try to arrive at least 5 mins early so we can get settled before we start.
See you out there 🌤️🧘

I first experienced Yin Yoga at a retreat in Ibiza maybe 20 years ago. Well, I would say it was more of a holiday than a retreat -- half the group went to Pascha on the Thursday night with the promise that the following morning would be "very relaxing and you may want to nap afterwards anyway" as we would "do some yin".

It was very relaxing indeed.

I looked for it back in London and I found it in Norman's classes at Indaba. Right by my stressful job in central London. I got to go every week. What a blessing.

And then maybe 12 years later I did his training as my first round of yin teacher training and it was great. And I have attended a few workshops since too.

He's very recently self published this book. Seek it out it's worth it.

And seek norman out too. He's got a proper 200 hours training in yin coming which I would have done in a heartbeat if it had been around back in the day.

No two skeletons are the same, and that changes everything about how we teach.

Last August I visited the Kings College bone lab, studying real skeletal variation as part of my functional yin training with Jo Phee, whose work builds on Paul Grilley's research into how skeletal variation shapes the way poses land, not just in yin but across vinyasa and hatha practice too.
The angle of your hip socket, the depth of your acetabulum, the curve of your spine. These are not things you can stretch your way out of. They're just you.

But it goes further than bones. How much ballet or gymnastics you did before puberty, whether you're hypermobile, what you do off the mat every day, all of it shapes how a pose lands in your body.

Which is why cuing everyone into the same shape was never the point. And why smaller classes, especially at the start, matter so much. You cannot meet people where they are if you cannot see them.

Asana is also way more than the shapes we make, which is a whole other story. But if our students believe they don't have a yoga body, we never even get them through the door.

Yoga is for everyone. Some of us may make Asanas look easy and that is because it IS easier for us. We all work from where we are and that in itself is very much a part of the practice.

Humble warrior is one of my favourite poses to teach because it looks gentle but asks a lot. You need real stability through that back foot, length through the hip flexors, and openness across the chest from the bind. Then you fold it all inward.

The name comes from the Virabhadra mythology, the fierce warrior born from Shiva's grief. This is him after the battle, head bowed. Ferocity and devotion in one shape.

Not everyone will find this arm and hand position is optimal for them - the position of the acromion processor is particularly pesky for many of us - but the beauty is in finding the shape that honours and respects the wild variations within all our bodies but stays true to the intent.

What a weekend in my neighbourhood. No wonder our Soundbath last night was sold out. Looks like this lad could have done with the rest too...

Thrilled to announce this collaboration with

We are running a Midsummer Floral Crown making Worksop and soundbath at Hackney City farm.

No experience needed. Leave with your own unique design and the skills to make one again whenever it takes your fancy.

Then lay back for a special.guided meditation and sound bath from moi!

All the details in the link my bio!

May has been a very busy month indeed. From the Netherlands to Nighthawks Weekender (where I taught yoga and performed in about 30 degrees heat) and many hours of practice teaching and observations, plus another weekend of reformers trining at to two soundbaths with at and all my classes in-between. Everything*should* be a little quieter into the summer as work projects take over!

Midsummer energy.