YOGA AND THE MENOPAUSE
The menopausal period can be an intense and challenging time, but it also gives us the opportunity to listen to our body and its messengers – the hormones. This listening allows a deep transformation to step into your power and all that you want to be.
In my latest blog, I explore how yoga can assist you on your way here: http://www.emmacatto.com/…/yoga-and-menopause-emma-catto/
BEING A YOGA TEACHER IN COVID TIMES
Being hugely impulsive I started teaching my private clients on Zoom 5 days before official lock down. I got a call from one client the morning after the previous evening’s class. Their whole family had developed symptoms, so I knew I could be a carrier. There is a group of wonderful women in their 70s who I have taught weekly for 15 years. They haven’t missed a class. They all signed up to zoom without missing a heartbeat. None of us wanted to risk any germs being passed around and no one wanted to miss their yoga. It has been so heart-warming to see them regularly. We have adapted from 90 minutes once a week to 60 minutes twice a week. The first week was a little shaky with the technology but now it’s great to guide them to move, to stretch, to breath and relax. One said it was the “highlight of my week”, one said “this has become my therapy”. In a time of emergency it feels like much more of a relationship of mutual support, I am definitely supporting them and they are supporting me. We need and appreciate each other. This feels clearer than ever.
My bedroom has become my yoga studio. It’s the longest room in the house which means students can see me when I’m standing as well as sitting. My boundaries around weekends and evenings have become more blurred but with less childcare and travel time to consider this seems to matter less. My personal practice has become richer and I devote more time to it. I feel like I have this thirst for knowledge and this thirst to spend my time valuably. That might sometimes binging on Netflix (I loved sex education) or having a bit more sleep when I need it but it’s also doing things that I always wanted to do, that were niggling in the back of my mind that I should be doing. Not “should” in a judgemental sort of way but more in a yearning to feel really me sort of way. Like writing this blog. I love writing. I always wanted to be a writer. I even started a degree in journalism. But I had a break and then I was scared. Scared of being judged, scared of my self-judgement, scared of somehow getting it wrong. Well now life seems that much more precious somehow, I don’t mind. It just seems a shame not to try. I had the same attitude about social media. Social media to me is like a reality tv show (albeit with friends) hugely absorbing, even entertaining but afterwards feels like it’s stolen huge amount of time from my life. I didn’t want to be part of it. Now I love how people can offer things to the world, I am inspired by the wise words, honesty, generosity and kindness out there.
I love teaching 1-2-1 and small group classes. Its where my experience and strength lie. Since I’ve had my children I’ve minimised my public classes and concentrated on my private work. Private work is much better paid so means that I can make a living only teaching 2 classes a day (which is all I generally have time for in between doing my own practice and the school run) And I love my private work and the relationships I’ve forged. But I also realise there is some fear there. I like to please. I like to give people what they really need and in a big class with lots of different people you have to be bigger than that. You have to put yourself out there and show what you love and shine and that’s really it. It’s pure karma yoga, Bhagavad Gita style (2.47: “Do your duty but do not concern yourself with the results.”) That’s quite scary for someone who wants to please EVERYONE all the time. Yet in COVID times my fear matters less. I have started 3 Iyengar donation-only yoga classes a week. I have more time (no school run) I have people showing up who are teachers, beginners, injured, anxious. I love them all for showing up and I love showing them what I love so much. I am promoting these classes on social media. I am putting myself out them, something I never dared to do before. It’s exciting, scary, challenging and fun.
Some of my private clients don’t want online lessons. That’s OK. It is different. It’s taken me a little while to attune to people’s energy online. It’s a different vibe from teaching in person. Most people I can only see from one angle, although 1 couple I’m teaching set up 3 cameras, so I have a brilliant view from 3 different angles. And in some ways it’s amazing. Students I have taught for years are learning to set up equipment themselves (I told you I was a pleaser!), become more self-observant, communicate more easily verbally how they are feeling and I am noticing are relaxing a lot more easily. Their pace of life has slowed and it is nourishing for them. In groups where students like to chat or have a moan or a laugh, they now have to wait until the end of the session (they are often muted to cut out background noise). Their practice has become more absorbed and deeper. They are learning more, concentrating better and then again relaxing deeper. Other students/clients (really they are both) who I didn’t have time to teach more than once a week I can now see 3 even 4 times a week, and again their practice deepens.
In Zen they have the expression “beginner’s mind” (shoshin)
“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few.”
By being a beginner you are not trying to achieve a lofty goal, but to be open to what unfolds. To be in the present moment and meet that, greet that with interest, whatever it brings. It’s the same in yoga, BKS Iyengar talked about being a beginner each time you step onto your mat, to be with how your body and your mind is in that moment and to be present with that and to see what unfolds.
Our world has changed so hugely in the past few months and a bit like when I look at my growing up children or think of my dad sick and dying, I think, “How did that happen? How do things change so quickly?” But the reality is that things are always changing, our emotional and physical landscapes are never, not rarely, but never constant. People get sick and die. We all like to think it’s not going to happen to us yet and unless someone is very old and sick we are culturally programmed to think it’s too soon. But humans don’t just die very old, we die young, quickly and by accident too. And that is part of the natural order of the world. I realise more with each decade the huge unpredictability of life. Buddhist and yoga scriptures hammer home the importance of not clinging, not grasping just observing and being with what’s going on right now. In this way the COVID experience is a perfect opportunity for practice. More time to remember. Mindfulness is an act of remembering, remembering to come back to the present moment. This may be an opportunity to meditate more or practise yoga or Pilates or whatever you practise more. It may be a time to have a daily walk in the park that you normally never have time for and that’s lovely if those things make you feel good but most important it’s a time to let your mind quieten a little and for you to soothe your anxious mind (it’s OK, right now I’m OK, breathe in breathe out that’s OK), fuck I have no money no job no contact (that’s really hard, breathe in breathe out, it’s really hard for me right now, that’s OK to be sad, scared be kind to yourself), or to rest your busy mind with simple pleasures. Nature coming into bloom, bird song, eating something lovely. And keep taking your mind back to your breathing, so that your breath becomes an anchor in these turbulent times. In the supermarket queue, negotiating fellow walkers, dealing with tantruming toddlers and dodgy teenagers.
Even more of our communication is with our face, even more one dimensional. Even more use of screen that sometimes our heads and faces can feel too full. Take your awareness down to your feet feel them on the ground, feel your legs moving, stretching, relaxing, feel your pelvis heavy and releasing. I’m helping my students stay present, stay grounded and let their senses have some respite. It feels really valuable.
Beginner’s mind, staying present, staying in my body and appreciating what I have breath by breath. All I have learnt so far has taken me to this point. But isn’t that true with all of life?
DEVELOPING A SELF-PRACTICE DURING COVID TIMES
Lockdown is offering us a unique opportunity to retreat. We have fewer worldly distractions, no places to go or people to meet, and we can hardly go outside. In one sense our world has become much smaller, but now our inner world has the opportunity to become much larger.
It may feel tough if going to class is part of your routine and part of your self-care but now you have the wonderful chance to develop your self-practice. This is where the real treasure of yoga can be found. Maybe you’ve always wanted to try yoga or Pilates or meditation but have never found the time. There are so many books with wonderful sequences (for example Mira Mehta’s excellent book: Yoga – The Iyengar Way), and there are many great teachers offering online classes. I highly recommend treating yourself to a one to one class (or you could share it with your family/friends even if you’re not isolating with them) and let the teacher develop a sequence or a practice especially for you. Then you have something perfectly suited right to your level and your needs that you can practise until you see the teacher again. Some of my students have recorded their Zoom session so that they can use them for reference or to guide their practice. With one of my students I developed two half an hour sequences and now he practises them alternately throughout the week. This method also helps both teacher and student focus on what’s needed and what works so that the yoga becomes a practice of learning and growth and gives a deep inner satisfaction.
So here are my top tips to developing a home practice:
• Consider whether you’re most happy practising a set sequence or if your energy varies throughout the week. Practising the same poses every day takes the thought out of what’s coming next, which can help your mind focus more on your breathing and remaining in a state of flow. It can also be really satisfying as you can monitor how your body changes. The Astanga Vinyasa method worked really well for me in my 20s and early 30s and lends itself particularly well to this approach. However, once I started having children it didn’t work for me at all. I was much more tired, my time was more limited, and I noticed that my needs and energy levels varied enormously throughout the week. Using the Iyengar method, I found sequences that specifically released tension in my stressed shoulders, helped me restore and relax when necessary, and grounded and energised me when that’s what I needed. Think about what you enjoy when you go to class. Do you like the predictability of what’s coming next or would you prefer to change things up and tune into your particular mood and energy each time you get on your mat?
• Consider the time of day you choose and how that influences your practice. In the morning you might want a more active practice to energise you for the day ahead. In the evening you may prefer a more restorative practice to relax you and prepare you for a good night’s sleep. Make sure you don’t practise immediately after mealtimes. Ideally you want your food completely digested before you start. If you can only practise in the evening after you’ve eaten, then choose restful poses and keep your abdomen relaxed.
• Schedule your practice time in your diary and stick to it as you would with any other appointment. If meditation is your aim its easiest to set your alarm twenty to thirty minutes earlier than usual and start your day with a meditation (or simply meditate as soon as you wake up). Sanctify this time by turning off your phone (very important!) and ask everyone you live with to make sure you’re not disturbed. Be realistic about your time commitment. If you think you can only spare fifteen minutes, then just start with that. Be content with what you do. You’ll be surprised at the difference you will feel just practising for fifteen minutes a day. Taking time to quieten your mind and be in your body is your way of telling your mind you value yourself and that looking after yourself is important to you. If once you’ve started you feel you don’t want to stop then keep going.
• Choose your practice space carefully. Ideally this should be somewhere you can close the door behind you and have some quiet time just for you. Turn off any devices (obviously the phone but don’t forget the radio, TV, computer etc), and keep it as clean and tidy as possible. You don’t need a lot of space (just enough for your mat) but make sure it’s a space you feel happy in and not full of distractions. If you have the room, you can make it extra special by lighting a candle and creating your own altar. This could be as simple as a candle or a bunch of flowers in a jug or a picture of a place or person that inspires you.
• Take the time to sit and be still at the beginning of your practice. Just a few minutes to close your eyes and draw your awareness inwards. To check in with your breathing, your body and your mind. Many traditions start the practice with an invocation. This is usually a Sanskrit chant giving thanks for the teaching and setting an intention for the practice. A general intention may be asking that the yoga practice helps us find balance in our body and mind. Just choose what feels right for you. Simply chanting three OMs is also a lovely calm way to start.
• Tune into what you need that day. If you feel anxious you may need to support your head in postures to help quieten your mind. Or if you have lots of pent up energy then sun salutations may be helpful to get things moving. Notice where your body feels relaxed, where it feels stiff, where you’re holding stress, and maintain that awareness throughout your practice.
• Be kind to yourself. One of the main guidelines of yoga is ahimsa (non-violence), and this begins with one’s self. Of course work hard and participate fully, but don’t do anything that hurts or could be injurious. This includes adapting your practice to your mental state, for example if your menstruating, unwell, or just tired.
• Always finish with savasana (corpse pose). Even if it’s just for five minutes, set a timer, be warm and comfortable, and close your eyes. You will enjoy and benefit from your practice so much more if you do this. It helps your energy to settle and allows you to absorb the benefits of the practice, and to feel the imprint of the practice so that you can take it with you during your day.
• Be grateful. Take a few moments after savasana to thank yourself. You can also thank anyone else who has supported you in having this time on your mat. But especially be grateful to yourself. You made it happen!
• Investigate other resources as well as your online personal teacher. There are many excellent books and blogs that can inspire you. And chat to your teacher and ask for advice if you feel stuck.
Enjoy your yoga! I hope through your self-practice you find the treasure and learn to love yoga as much as I do.
COMING OUT OF LOCKDOWN
I am finding coming out of lockdown in some ways much more challenging than stepping in. I want to take my lockdown lessons with me into this new world. As a private yoga teacher I loved being more settled, less rushed. I loved having more time to study, to practice. I loved going for walks with friends. I loved not battling on my bike through the rain and Hampstead hills to get to my class on time. I loved more family time, more intimacy and having the time to teach more.
So how to create more time in my new world. I will continue my online yoga classes for those who want them. I will buy an electric bike to get to my clients a little more easily. I will continue to carve out dedicated time with my youngest daughter, to learn, to exercise, to chill, to connect. I will keep encouraging my teenagers to cook supper. I will continue to be so grateful for their help. I will socialise less but it will be more special. I will continue to keep my mediation and yoga (asana and pranayama) as an anchor in my life. I will value myself to take time out of my day to do this. To take time out of domesticity, family life, to nourish myself whilst still being at home. I no longer have to escape the house to find some space but can find that inner space inside of me.
BREATHE VALUES – www.breatheyoga.co.uk
My other job is a director of the best private yoga and Pilates agency in London (and now thanks to zoom, the world). Here’s a little blog I wrote describing how we work:
We are often being asked if we want a Breathe app or want to automate website enquiries or even if we need someone to answer the phone to be on hand for prospective and existing clients. Well firstly chatting to people is Robin’s favourite part of the job. He loves connecting with people and getting to know what they want and need for their practice. He loves giving our hard working, well trained teachers the work that they deserve. He loves putting the two together.
But this isn’t all just a big love in. What makes Breathe work is that Robin understands yoga and pilates. He understands what its like to be a student (since the late 1980s) and a teacher (since the late 1990s). He continues to teach and to study. This experience enables him to listen to the students and understand what they really want and need, even if they aren’t completely clear. He understands the logistics of being a teacher and their different approaches and he can connect the teacher and student with the benefit that comes from having connected to both.
Emma the other half of the Breathe team interviews prospective teachers. She has been teaching and practicing as long as Robin but continues to teach full time and lives and breathes yoga. Emma meets the teachers, feels the energy they transmit, listens to how they connect and is taught for an hour by them. She then chats to Robin about her experience and together they build a profile for each teacher.
We are so happy when we have an enquiry. Not just because it’s a sign our business is growing but because our teachers business will also benefit and ultimately because we know a new person will get to enjoy the benefits of a home practice, will feel more alive and in touch with themselves and therefore the world around them. This is the spark that feeds us and enables the magic of connection to occur. This is why Robin will always talk personally to our clients, why only one of us will interview our teachers and why we will remain connected and bespoke rather than automated and mass produced.
SAVASANA
Savasana – do we need it and what’s the point?
For many savasana or corpse pose is their favourite part of a yoga class, for others it’s an unnecessary imposition on their time and for others its just so darn difficult to be still. Some people twitch, some snore, some stare resolutely at the ceiling, some cry, some wiggle and look around and others look like they have reached nirvana (even though they are wondering what to have for dinner).
So do we really need the 5 or 10 minutes to lie down at the end of the class or has the teacher run out of things to say?! Savasana gets a big yes from me. And like any other yoga posture it has to be learnt, it has to be well positioned, practiced with different timings, practiced without any timings at all, refined, practiced with different supports (for the head, the chest, the legs), explored and refined again.
If you always conk out with a snore within seconds this is usually down to 2 reasons. Either you are chronically fatigued and need to grab every bit of shut eye that you can (not unusual at all) or your mind is so busy that it would rather escape than relax. For the fatigued, the easiest solution is GO TO BED EARLIER (OOH sorry I though I was talking to my teenagers), but generally sleep more, rest more, allow yourself to stop more. For those with a busy mind (and those minds usually have lots of positive aspects too – they tend to strong and focussed in doing mode) you just have to keep practicing. Those busy strong minded students may find it helpful to listen to guided meditations to help train their mind or may just need to be talked through the savasana a little more. If that’s you, then tell your teacher that you’d like more guidance in this posture.
My only caveat with savasana is that if someone is grieving, acutely anxious or going through an emotional trauma then lying very still on your back can be triggering. There’s simply too much space and time and not enough containment for all those big emotions. In that case it may be better to sit up, to open your eyes and to ask for more support either emotionally or physically. Sometimes just expressing what you need and knowing that you are in a safe place to cry and to be with those difficult feelings can be very healing.
So why relax at the end of a class? What’s the point?
As will all yoga asanas (postures) the benefits are multi-dimensional. I like to think of it as time for your body and mind to absorb the imprint of the yoga work that you have just done so that you can take the benefits back into your life. This may simply, but profoundly, be better posture, more space in the body and the mind, a realisation of where tension is held and from where it’s been released. A little more subtle, it gives time for the nervous system to relax. This is particularly true after a very active class.
There develops a quietness, a stillness of body and mind that allows the perception of internal sensations that may normally elude us. These sensations may include the perception of an inner flow of energy or consciousness which opens us up to greater possibilities beyond the physical. As you relax an additional layer of tension may be released allowing you to experience blissful feelings.
As these feelings are sustained the external world and even your own mind and body fade increasingly into the background and your inner world, your seat of higher consciousness and its connection with universal consciousness becomes more apparent.
This feeling of oneness, a non-attachment to the mind and body, and a state of inner bliss and a realisation that we are part of something bigger are not lofty ideals but important parts of our spiritual evolution and human revolution. They allow us to be more at ease in our own ever-changing body and mind. To be kinder, more generous and more compassionate to each other and to our home, Earth.
IDEAL MORNING ROUTINE
I’m often asked about the ideal time to do one’s practice, whether that is meditation or yoga or both. Of course, there are lots of lofty and wonderful ideals. First thing in the morning when your mind is quieter and your body creakier, before supper when the mind may need a little unjumbling and the body may be more willing or may be even stiffer from a day at a desk.
Firstly, if you live in London (or any other busy place), if you have kids, if you have a job, if you look after people, if you have bills to pay, then be kind to yourself. Be grateful to yourself that you have your own practice. If you are making the time in your busy life to honour your inner world, to nurture some mental calmness and some physical ease, , then be deeply grateful. The real treasure, and moments of clarity, are during that time of self-practice, of inner exploration, when it’s just you and your mat or meditation cushion. So, firstly, less worry about getting it right and ticking it off, and more gratitude to yourself for finding time and making space.
There are a few general rules which you can bear in mind when working out your routine (and I do mean routine). Put your practice slot in your diary and highlight it. If life gets in the way of course move it but don’t delete it. Don’t practice when you are very hungry, or when you have just eaten, or when you’re very tired (unless you are doing a practice to help you sleep). You simply won’t enjoy it so much or be able to concentrate so well. Practising yoga with undigested food in your tummy can make you feel sick. Don’t rush your practice. Just do less but do it well. Maintain your focus and absorb yourself in the sensations. Your body is more mobile after it’s been moving around for a while, but your mind will be less settled. If you’ve been moving around a lot or working out, you may become stiffer. That’s OK too. Just observe and notice and work with what you have. Accept each day and each moment as a new experience and, most importantly, enjoy what you do. Take time to notice how it makes you feel and how you can take that into your life, and if it is not working change it.
Notice if your mind wants to scold you if you miss a day or do not fulfil your target time. Make that observation part of your practice too. Practice kindness to yourself and bring that same kindness into the world. That’s the most important practice of all.
OFFICE YOGA
I’ve been lucky enough to pick up a few extra classes during Covid times. One that I’m particularly enjoying is a new office group. They all used to have a lengthy commute, but on the other hand they shared office space, meeting rooms, water cooler moments and the odd drink after work. This of course changed dramatically during lockdown to sharing the odd Zoom meeting. But nobody minded working from home, the company saved a lot on office rental, and everyone enjoyed not having to commute.
However their boss (who is a student of mine) was still very aware of the importance of doing something to bring everyone together and of the mental and physical wellbeing of his employees, so we started weekly yoga classes on Zoom. It’s a small company and it’s wonderful to see how happy everyone is to see each other. At first, it seemed to be one of the few times in the week that they would take a break from their desk and chair, but it does encourage them to be generally more active in their days, to move around a little more, and to take mini breaks. They love to move and stretch and find moments of quietness and relaxation.
Gradually they tell me they are going for more walks at lunch time, incorporating some of the stretches into their day, and becoming more aware of their posture. They are finding it easier to relax. And they are still really pleased to see each other!