Yoga isn’t a thing ‘to be done’, it’s a space to be

“Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.” - Lao Tzu

Written by Jen (Jennifer Tomkins) - our new community yoga teacher, who will be starting seasonal Slow Flow classes on Monday evenings from 17th November - 6.30pm :)

All proceeds from this class go directly to Abuelita's funds to support refugee women referred by MamaSuze CIC - an arts-based organisation run by an all-female team, created to build community and inspire women and children refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants.

For class information, click here.

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“It takes courage to say yes to rest and play in a culture where exhaustion is seen as a status symbol.” - Brene Brown 

I invite you to pause. 

Yes, now :)

Take a look at the hand that clicked on this link. 

The inside of it, the outside of it. Stretch it. 

And now look at your other hand, both sides. Stretch that, too. 

Let your shoulders drop. 

Take a deep breath down into your belly.

And release that out with a sigh.

And another. 

Do you feel a bit more space, somewhere? 

That space is yoga, and it offers you a place to rest, rebalance, and reconnect.

Your body is incredible. Its endless cycles of respiration, digestion, circulation, and excretion go mainly unnoticed as we go about daily life. And yet our sensitive biorhythms are easily disturbed, ignored, pushed away - particularly when we are stressed, anxious, tired. 

In so many ways, yoga is the antidote to modern life, a kind of magic, really. It can offer a lifeline when our energy and coping mechanisms are compromised, depleted, disconnected. It’s an opening up when it feels like the walls are closing in. 

This is why for us at Abuelita’s, yoga isn't a doing practice but a being practice. It’s a way to dismantle some of the barriers that keep us from connecting to ourselves, and connecting with each other and the world around us. 

Each Monday evening our Slow Flow classes will hold space for you to be: a space for you to slow down, a space for you to be curious, a space for you to accept things as they are. 

Being in slowness

External demands, our own expectations, and a culture that values progress above all else mean that it’s very easy for our scales to tip off balance. We need a bit of help getting back to equilibrium. A useful tool (in anything you’re doing, not just yoga) is to simply slow… things… down. 

It’s not always easy to do this when the culture we live in is go-go-go. But in slowing down to feel into our bodies, we can connect and open up to the most authentic parts of ourselves. For we don’t shrink when we go deeply within ourselves, we unfold into vast and interconnected spaciousness - a place of ease and peacefulness. 

Being in curiosity

Yoga isn’t about feeling a particular way, or striving for a particular pose (honestly, it’s not), it’s about being curious and present in our bodies at any given moment. In practicing this way we can be inquisitive about what’s coming up, rather than judgmental of it. 

It’s also an opportunity for play. In taking away the need to achieve, yoga becomes your space to explore, to discover what feels grounding, unusual, uplifting, uncertain, soothing - who knows what each practice will offer you. Being curious can help us to change our patterns, dismantle our preconceptions, and cultivate a sense of gratitude within. 

Being in acceptance 

When we feel exhausted, overwhelmed, or stressed, it can feel like something needs to be fixed, that we need to improve ourselves in some way. But nothing in us needs to be fixed: “It's no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society,” Jiddu Krishnamurti. The most beautiful thing that yoga helps us learn is acceptance of where we are at, and in doing so, we offer ourselves some much-needed kindness. 

Accepting where we are today, right now, can be hard. You might not be able to move how you did last week, you might not have the same energy, you might not be able to recognise exactly how it is that you feel at all. That’s okay. Whatever you notice, you notice. Connect with it, stay with it, breathe into it, accept it. 

When we practice slowing down in a society that is telling us to do more, when we learn to be curious rather than trying to control the outcome, when we accept ourselves as we are, we find a place of ease, gratitude, and kindness. 

For class information, click here.