Allie Hill

Graduating YTT

          “Never get tired of doing little things for others.  Sometimes those little things occupy the biggest part of their hearts” – Anon   I’ve been AWOL on the blogging front over the past four weeks. There’s been a fair bit of ‘life stuff’ going on, and it all seemed to culminate…

Happy Birthday Yogahaven Clapham!

One year ago today, I walked into Yogahaven Clapham for their very first class at 6.45am taught by the lovely Sandra. Little did I know the impact that walking through those doors that morning would have on my life. To put things into context, I was not in a good place this time last year,…

Beginning YTT

Week One – Start from Where You Are It’s early on Sunday morning and I am woken up by rays of sunlight beaming through my bedroom window.  For a moment I wonder where I am then I remember I am in Morocco and it’s my first day of Yoga Teacher Training.  This will be home…

Yoga Teacher Training

In a few days I fly off for two weeks to begin yoga teacher training with my yoga home. It’s not something I’ve taken lightly.  I’ve thought about it so much.  I first started looking at teacher training courses roughly two years ago. And each time I would dismiss the idea pretty quickly.  For a…

Allie and Leon Climbing Kili – They Did It!

Last month I mentioned that two of my lovely yoga home teachers were climbing Mount Kilimanjaro.  Well… they did it!  And they broke through the fundraising target for their charity too so lots of children will benefit from the money raised.  I was moved reading Allie’s account of their experience.  Thinking of the mental determination,…

What is a ‘Yoga Body’?

I was recently chatting to someone I don’t know very well.  Through our conversation they found out I practise yoga.  Their response: “Really?  But you don’t have a ‘yoga body’.  I mean, people who are into yoga are usually kind of… thin.” Woah. Some people really don’t think about the impact their words can have.  …

Allie and Leon Climbing Kili!

Good Luck to my teachers Allie and Leon who are setting off on an incredible adventure to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, raising funds for the Village Education Project.  This is a wonderful charity working in the Kilimanjaro region of Tanzania to improve education and reduce rural poverty. Sending you both positive vibes all the way! xx

P is for Psoas…(?)

I was in Flow class the other day when just as we were moving into half-pigeon our teacher uttered the words, ”…working into the Psoas”.  My eyebrows shot up. The wha -? While I’ve become more familiar with terms like Mula Bandha (Root Lock) and Uddiyana Bandha (Upward Abdominal Lock), for instance (though I’m still…

Pulse Yoga

I’ve done weights before, but not like this! Yesterday evening I tried Pulse Yoga for the first time at my yoga home. As someone with several lapsed gym memberships to my name it’s fair to say that though I’ve done weights before, I have never loved the gym.  Yoga, I love.  Yet, I understand the…

Leela Time

‘Leela’ means ‘play’ in Sanskrit. I learned this at my yoga home because that’s the name of the style of Hot Yoga which is taught there.  ‘Leela’ is something that Stewart Gilchrist also touched on during his  workshop with us last month. At the weekend, we had some spontaneous ‘Leela Time’ when one of my…

Chakra-ising the Asana with Stewart

I think I’ve met a True Yogi. At the weekend I had the great privilege of attending a workshop led by Stewart Gilchrist at my yoga home. During a two and a half hour class titled ‘Chakra-ise the Asana’  Stewart taught us about the chakras (our wheels or nerve centres of power) in relation to…

What you focus on…

Well… less than week after writing about not being able to do headstands, I managed to do two <span within three 2015 days!  First in Astanga class then during an amazing master class at Yogahaven led by one of my favourite teachers, Allie Hill. With guidance and having the posture clearly broken down, step-by-step, I was…