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Dear Yogis,
WE ARE OPEN! We’re so excited to open our doors again in Lee and Catford, it has been so great to see so many of you taking back to the mat, we hope you see that it’s a safe, clean and welcoming environment and can really be a sanctuary away from our hectic lives. Planning an hour into our week can be really important, whether it’s restorative or dynamic classes, we have launched a great timetable for the summer. We’ve also cut the capacity by 50% with more space between mats so it’s a great time to practice with more space and lower numbers.
In this week’s newsletter we have a studio update so you can see how we are getting on and we outline our guidelines to keep you safe.
Our teachers are so happy to be back, they have shared what they are loving about being back at the studio and why they can’t wait to connect with you all again.
As we face another time of change, we look at some coping tools for when you feel like you are losing yourself. We welcome new teacher Fleur to the family.. and Aina shares her yummy crumble recipe and Francesca has a playlist to chill to on these beautiful summer nights.
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THE LATEST FROM THE STUDIO
The doors are open, our teachers and
team are ready to welcome you (safely) back to your mats.
Our Summer timetable for Catford & Lee Studio is LIVE and ready for you to book here:
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Will still have an online offering and will also be streaming some classes live.
It’s a transitional time and things will be fluid. We will be changing to meet the needs of the community as we all adjust to a new way of being. We would love to hear from you if you have any suggestions during this time. Please email us.
A great suggestion we had was to bring a large pillow case so you can use our bolsters for studio yin and restorative classes! (The bolsters will also get disinfected after use).
The below infographic highlights our safety measures and our full guidelines of how we are keeping COVID safe can be found here. |
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WORDS FROM OUR TEACHERS
Our teachers share their excitement for
heading back into the studio and teaching again in person
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I am looking forward to teaching back in the studio as I’ve really missed that connection that we get when sharing a space to practice.
I love our community and although
it was amazing to be able to still teach from home, it’s just not the seeing people in little boxes as it is
seeing everybody as one.
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The Yoga House team have been amazing the whole way from lockdown to re-opening with getting us all online and supporting all the teachers however they can. The commitment in the face of all the hurdles has been inspiring. It is the community that makes Yoga House special – Dan
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Happy re-opening 🥳’ to the havens that are the Yoga House studios!
I’m excited for the wonderful vibrations, created by our positive, smiling students, the sumptuous environment and the plants 🌿(and to not bumping by foot on the sofa every time I teach a 3 legged dog!) – Imir
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Throughout lockdown I have reflected on how grateful I am for the community that I am part of, and how teaching online has enabled me to stay connected to others. Now I feel so grateful to be able to return to the studio and connect with everyone in real life! I’m looking forward to being able to hold a space again for people to move, breath and rest and I can’t wait to get back to the Yoga House community! – Alice
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Im so excited to finally be teaching back in the studio as I love the energy of people moving and breathing together.
Also teaching in the beautiful space of Yoga House that I always inspires me – Aina
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I feel excited to see my students and be able to connect with them on an energetic level in person. I am looking forward to seeing actual bodies and be able to verbally cue adjustments rather than on the zoom link. I love being in the beautiful studio space and can’t wait to be there again. And it’s time to start to reconnect with a new normal and start taking baby steps towards that – Laura
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It was lovely to be back teaching. So warm and welcoming and really grateful students. Small and intimate class as it’s summer and the first week back but truly great to be back in a space where I feel I can be me, in a down to earth loving community. In all my 5 years teaching I haven’t felt more welcome and valued than I do at YH Catford – Francesca
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SOUND BATH IS BACK
Junior & Kasia
Gong + Alchemy Bowl Sound Bath
Sunday 16th August | 6.30pm | Lee Studio
A magical hour of Gong with Junior and Alchemy Bowls with Kasia.
Don’t miss it.
Early bird prices sold out very fast, we have some slots left £20 (15% off for members).
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Bring your blanket and pillow to make
yourself super comfortable and enjoy this sound journey.
The next SOUND BATH will be in September
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SUNDAY YOGA HOUSE LIVE
We hope you are enjoying our Sunday Yoga House Instagram Live Sessions as much as we have been. We have some great sessions coming up this August:
9 th August | 11.15am | HIIT for Yogis with Henry
23 rd August | 6.15pm | Hormonal Balance with Zannie
You can catch all our previous sessions – Gong Baths, Sound Bowls, Nutritional Talks, Meditation, Chat with Sustainable businesses on our IGTV channel. |
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CHECKING IN ON YOUR MENTAL HEALTH
Times they have been a changing! As social creatures of routine our grounding and comfort has been truly shaken. The spiritual folk of the world say life’s challenges are blessing to show our power and resilience. Our studio favourite Ganesha (the elephant god) is said to be the remover of obstacles, but he is also the placer of these obstacles. Ganesha is also the Hindu God associated with the first chakra, the Muladhara Chakra. This is our grounding chakra, it connects us to the earth, to our ancestors and our true being. The world is currently in a first chakra melt down.
What do we do? Firstly, we can’t fix the world’s melt down just yet, but we can work on ourselves and we must. Being trap in our heads leads us to forget our true nature. We become filled with fear instead of hope and wonderment. As we learn to quieten our mind, return into our bodies and our light begins to shine again. And as we shine, it encourages those around us to shine too.
There is no one fix for everyone. We have to try, experiment, explore and find the tools we need, when we need them. A hammer won’t chop wood.
Here are some ideas for your toolbox…
Breathing
When we are feeling the tension rise, breath in through the nose for five and exhale through the mouth for 10. Continue if it feels good. These five breaths will activate our rest and repair nervous system and release relaxing chemicals through our body.
Orientation
As your anxiety creeps in, feel your feet on the ground, look around your space. Take in the walls, the furniture, the colours and all that you can see. Know that you are safe right now.
Touch
Place one hand on your heart, the other on your belly. Feel your chest and torso lift and release with your breath. Take your hands to your arms and press up and down, like a mini massage. Repeat on your legs.
Nature
Get outside (if you can). Feel your feet on Mother Earth and breath in Father Sky. You can take your socks off and explore the ground below. See the natural patterns in nature and how they make you feel.
Move
When we experience a stressful event, the autonomic part of our brain switches on, stress hormones are released and we respond with fight, flight or freeze. In nature, animals fight or flight (run) from their stressor. We humans normally freeze. This freezing causes that stressful event to be stored in the body as tension. Tension is what leads to disease.
In yoga we relax our mind and body and move in a connected way to release this tension.
Connection
We are social beings. Loss of human connection is one of the main causes of depression. It is important to be a part of a community and to find your tribe. As we slowly come out of lockdown, it’s important to know what you are comfortable with and find your connections.
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TEACHER SPOTLIGHT
Welcome > Fleur Mondanipoor
Fleur is an experienced yoga and Pilates teacher who has been teaching in London since 2012. She is a passionate teacher who always teaches from the heart. Her classes are fun, fluid and help to release emotional and physical tension. Fleur has a keen interest in anatomy and physiology and each of her classes are well thought out and beneficial for both body and mind. Each yoga class has motive and intention and comes with a message of mindfulness. Fleur also teaches pregnancy yoga and her aim is to empower women at one of the most important times of their lives. Her Pilates classes specialise in helping people recover from injuries, gain strength and stability. Pilates is subtly incorporated in each of her yoga classes to enable students to build core strength and to practice safely. She is always looking for ways to grow as a teacher and therefore she has enrolled in a yin yoga teacher training course, so watch this space.
Fleur teaches Tuesday | 7.15pm | Slow Flow | Lee Studio
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COOKING TIME
Aina shares her family recipe for
Apple & Blackberry Crumble
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40g butter
750g eating apples, peeled, cored and chopped
2 1/2 tablespoons of soft brown sugar
350g blackberries
2 tablespoons of ground almonds ( you can also use porridge oats if you haven’t got ground almonds)
Crumble Topping
150g plain flour
a generous pinch of salt
100g cold butter , cut into cubes
85g demerara sugar
25g porridge oats ( I put an extra handful as I like a bit of crunch from the oats).
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Method
Put the oven to 175/180 C (depending on your oven)
Melt the butter for the fruit filling in a large pan and saute the apples with the sugar for about 5min. Stirring occasionally.
Finally stir in the blackberries.
Sprinkle the base of a 20cm round, glass ovenproof dish with the almonds or oats.
Spoon the fruit mix on top.
To make the topping mix together the flour, salt , sugar and then rub the butter in with your fingertips . Finally add the oats.
The crumble mix should now feel quite crumbly.
Sprinkle the crumble mix over the fruit and bake in the oven for about 35min.
Enjoy on its own or with cream, custard or ice cream.
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And finally, after a number of requests, we’ve added 22 more annual memberships to the pricing page. Members who are currently frozen can also switch to this plan and many of you have done so already. The annual membership gives you the best price, as a one off payment of £780 (which works out at £65pm), 15% off all workshops and sound baths + a month pause to cover holiday etc. (one consecutive month pause). These memberships are a great way to get back into yoga and pilates with access to the whole timetable across both studios. Start date can be added at checkout if you wanted to start at a later time.
THANK YOU FOR READING OUR NEWSLETTERS
We are here for you, please get in touch and keep practising.
LOVE from the YOGA HOUSE team
& Kasia x
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