 With the to and fro of students leaving/tourists arriving, June has been a frenetic month here in Oxford. There’s something about the extra few hours of daylight, the need to make the most of the sunshine, and the excitement of summer that I find to be a little….uprooting?! I was feeling this quite potently the last few weeks, I was struggling to focus on anything fully and losing a grip on my practise. So I made the theme for myself and my classes ‘grounding’. My most sustaining and rewarding practises are where I feel both energised and stabilised by my movements. I can channel what my mind and body needs and move safely in tune with where my edges are that day. The easiest classes aren’t always the gentlest, but the ones where you just do what you really need in that moment. Real flow comes when we are involved in our movements, our breath, ourselves. Feeling grounded means feeling connected to all those things, but how do we find our bedrock in times when everything off the mat is in full haywire-summer-swing? The more i’ve explored this theme the more ways I see to access this experience of being grounded:
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Check your alignment with our handy little guide!   'Tis time to update you guys on how the charity work is going. If you get our newsletter (subscribe) then you get regular updates on how we are meeting our quotas. But for a more in depth, where we are at, why, where we are intending to go read on dear friend!
Firstly, let me introduce myself: My name is Bella, I'm a recently qualified yoga teacher and the new marketing intern for Yoga Quota. I am going to be writing a few posts for yoga quota about my own personal yoga journey, so let me tell you a bit about how I came to practice yoga...  Struggling and unable to cope During my late teens, I was struggling and depressed. Overwhelmed by anxiety, unable to cope with the pressure of exams, looming university applications, and problems at home. I became desperate for a solution to my problems, and turned to medication. I was put on anti-depressants for about a year, and unlike other people I knew, it didn’t seem to work for me. I knew I needed something else. It wasn’t until I was diagnosed with an “incurable” neuro-otological disorder called Misophonia at age 17, that things began to change. I was introduced to mindfulness meditation by my mum and my audiologist as tool to help me cope with the disorder. For the first time, I began to feel a little more stability in my life, my practice calmed me and helped me to see life a little clearer, less clouded by my anxieties and emotions. I continued with this practice and managed to make my way through my sixth form career fairly successfully. However, although my ability to function had improved greatly, I still struggled often with the effects of Misophonia and the consequent anxiety. And then I found yoga. |
