While menopause is a universal experience, our culture rarely honours it as the psycho-spiritual life transition that it is.
Through the lens of yoga, menopause is a period of purification and transformation.
In yoga philosophy, this heat is known as tapas - inner fire of transformation - to burn away what is no longer needed. The emotional intensity that we can experience is the “fire of awakening” doing its work.
Menopause is a call inward……
Read MoreWe use the word triggered to describe a strong emotional reaction - anger, shame, fear, defensiveness. Quite often we avoid or deny or don’t take much notice of these reactions.
What if triggers are information rich signals from our nervous system ?
When we are triggered, it’s like a flashing neon sign saying “Pay attention - something important is happening here”.
The surge of emotion is not random, it’s actually data.
It can mean…….
Read MoreI’ve dabbled in Ayurveda for years, which is the “sister science” of yoga. After my trip to India in January, where I spent time in the “ayurvedic capital” Kerala, and a recent health scare, I’ve returned to studying Ayurveda with a deep devotion and reverence for its wisdom and healing intelligence.
Ayurveda offers a map for living in harmony with our changing bodies. It reminds us that we don’t have to deplete ourselves with strain or heat - but instead cultivate ojas, the subtle energy of vitality or the nectar of wholeness and integrity.
Ojas is what gives us our radiance, resilience, and juiciness. It’s built through nourishment, loving routines, and living in rhythm with nature…..
Read MoreAt first glance and especially as yoga has become more westernised, yoga and stretching can seem like they are the same thing, but the intentions and outcomes are actually very different.
A stretch class is designed to improve flexibility, mobility and posture.
It is an external practice focused on the body as an object and a desired outcome.
A yoga class extends far beyond the physical body, it is designed to nourish our whole being.
It is an internal practice that works on the whole system - body, mind, emotional well-being and nervous system regulation…….
Read MoreWe live in a busy world - one that seems to keep accelerating.
Everything is getting faster and faster.
But beneath our habits of busyness, rushing, endless to-do lists, and the constant push for efficiency and urgency …
What is the true cost?
The pull away from presence……
Read MoreThis week’s blog is inspired by Joanna Macy who passed away this month aged 96. Joanna was a visionary woman, a scholar of Buddhism, and one of the most influential voices in environmental activism of the last century. I first came across her work, The Work That Reconnects and Active Hope, over 10 years ago now and it has deeply informed my work and how I live my life…….
Read MoreI’m sure you have noticed that there are a lot of people talking about midlife these days and the reason why is because many of us can now expect to live until we are in our 80’s and 90’s, compared to the average life space of 60 to 75 years old in the 1960’s.
This now means that midlife is not the end of the story but a whole new season of living.
Midlife is considered to span from around the age of 40 to 65 years but is not necessarily defined by an age.
If you have reached midlife and feel like there is an inner shift happening - you are not alone…….
Read MoreThe big question here is - Is it that we don’t care or is it that we have forgotten how?
Maybe you can feel it too?
An underlying thread in modern life - that deeper care has been lost in the rush of it all?
Where’s the good service these days? Where’s the customer care? The after-care?…..
We don’t always realise that we are living in a state of extraction.
It can feel like “that’s just how life is”.
Fast and full and scattered.
A subtle hum of urgency that is always driving us.
Always moving and trying to keep up.
It can feel like pressure.
Tight.
Urgent.
This way of living quite often leads to burnout - and - it’s not our fault!
Most of us live in a culture of extraction without even realising it.
This is the water we are swimming in, so it just seems normal, but it is unconsciously driving us (and depleting us)…….
Read MoreThere is a subtle, yet powerful difference emerging in the world of healing, coaching, and service - and it’s one that deeply affects how safe, seen, and supported people feel in wellness spaces.
The difference is between Transactional Care and Relational Care.
One is rooted in performance and outcomes and the other is rooted in presence and humanity.
Let’s break it down….
Read MoreThere is a difference between judgement and discernment and in a world obsessed with positivity, I think it’s important to understand the difference. Especially when we are naming what is out of alignment and speaking our truth.
Judgement arises from ego and separation. It is about making the other wrong in order to make ourselves right. It seeks to protect the self through superiority, blame or righteousness. It is reactive and rigid and often rooted in unprocessed pain……
Read MoreThey say motion is lotion - and never has it felt more true for me at midlife.
As we move through our forties, fifties, and beyond, our relationship with our bodies begin to shift. Things start to creak and moan and we might feel stiffer in the mornings or notice that recovery from exercise takes longer.
But midlife is not the end of vitality and mobility - it’s the invitation to tend to our bodies more consciously.
With the average life expectancy in Australia now hovering around 85 years, many of us still have decades of living ahead of us. For me that’s another 30 years! That’s a long time to inhabit this body - and we want it to feel good and to carry us with ease, steadiness and vitality……
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