I would say that Yoga has saved my life.
Growing up in the 60’s with parents who created a high level of stress for our family by moving every 6 -12 months, I became very introverted and shut down. Years later yoga was to became my sanctuary. Yoga opens us up on so many levels and helps us to overcome limitations which hold us back, or shut us down and stop us feeling enough.
My yoga style has changed a lot over the years. It was first and foremost about the physical practice and how it made my muscles and body feel. Then it came to mean more about being present with myself and being in the moment, my sanctuary to meditate and feel. Like an inner smile is perhaps the best way to describe it.
I’ve learnt to appreciate how this body that I once disliked has limitations that I admittedly need to work on, but not to the point of forcing it to look like a perfect selfie or instagram shot.
In earlier years I’ve stood on my head, turned myself practically inside out and pushed myself to over-perform, even with yoga. Luckily, these days, I care more about remaining functionally fit and mobile.
Our bodies are constantly changing and adapting to what we do or don’t do. I’m so pleased that I found Yoga and my body has adapted to being it’s best. My yoga brings strength, flexibility, stability, muscle tone and balance. I am looking forward to enjoying yoga for another 38 plus years.
Yoga styles
I was introduced to yoga in 1983 when, after working in gyms, I suffered numerous muscle strains from the impact of taking more than one aerobics class in a day and constantly working with heavy weights. I needed to find a solution.
I started with a style called Iyengar after Mr BKS Iyengar (1918-2014) one of yoga’s chief ambassadors and a style known for it’s detailed structural approach. Props were encouraged to enable one to access the more challenging poses and to hold the poses in good form and for longer periods.
I loved this teaching, for it complemented the body building, cardio workouts and aerobics I was doing. So much so that I gave away all other personal work outs and started attending Iyengar yoga classes 3-4 times a week. This was a blessing and the beginning of my journey towards a better balance in my life and learning more about myself, a journey I am still on some 38 years later.
I have experienced Ashtanga yoga, a physically demanding, flowing style guaranteed to make one sweat. The emphasis is on internal locks (bandhas) and a powerful breath (ujjayi). This style led me to learn and teach Power Yoga, which is a stronger version of the Vinyasa Flow that is the main stream everywhere now. I have tried Kundalini yoga which I like immensely for its use of strong core practice and use of pranayama (breath).
Restorative yoga is another of my go-to practices to self nurture myself. The use of props, e.g. blocks, bolsters and blankets allow one to stay in poses longer, giving a feeling of being held and supported, ideal for relaxation and rejuvenation. It is especially beneficial for nervous exhaustion and stress overload.
Balance
I use some movements from all these styles of yoga, along with dance and bodywork to guide myself and my clients to feeling more empowered within their own bodies. Yoga I feel saved my life because it gave me a sense of belonging, a sense of achievement, a greater purpose and has enabled me to learn so much about myself.
I was fortunate to have the time to follow my heart and seek out some great teachers, attend workshops and retreats all over the world. As an aside to yoga I have always loved to dance and have gotten to perform many styles of dance over the years. I feel that yoga has enabled me to remain mobile, agile and strong.
Yoga has given me a sense of balance, has enabled me to handle the stress that is a constant these days, has assisted me to handle depression, an overeating issue and the courage to leave a marriage that was not working out. I also feel that yoga and my interest in nutrition allowed me to have an easier time with menopause.
Soul practice
The practice of yoga aims at overcoming the limitations of the body, capitalizing on us being more than our parts. Yoga teaches us that the goal of every individual’s life is to take the inner journey to the soul. Yoga not only offers the end goal it it offers the means of getting there. It allows a sense of oneness, mindfulness or just a knowing, similar to the inner smile mentioned earlier.
I have always been interested in my health, my appearance and being the best possible me. I enjoy feeling vibrant and mobile and these days I am no longer the shy, awkward, introverted girl I was. I enjoy my time on the mat, be that for 10 minutes or 1 hour. I am inspired daily to do what comes naturally, through observation and the awareness of how I am feeling that day.
Yoga is not a panacea, but it is a powerful medicine for the body, mind and spirit. Above all, yoga is a path. The longer you stay with it and the more you put into the journey, the further it can take you.
“Words cannot convey the value of yoga, it has to be experienced”
Namaste Kim
Staying strong, staying the course.
August 2021
Here we are in another lockdown in Qld, Australia. The only good thing to come out from these enforced lockdowns is that we have more time to learn from our mistakes and to start to make better choices for our future health care.
At this time it’s still our right to choose how we look after ourselves and the lengths one wants to go to. I have made it my life long passion to learn about healthy habits and to choose natural foods and products. I feel so grateful that I have not followed the medical system and its band aid approach to illness. I take only supplements and clean foods to enhance my health and well being.
I choose to make healthy choices in my foods daily and have upped my fresh air opportunities, getting out on either the bike or on foot for a minimum of 30 minutes a day.
With so much fear about from local media and in the community I believe that we should be learning to relax and de stress more, be that restorative poses, meditation or breathing sessions.
The bottom line is learning to listen to the body, tuning in, placing your attention onto areas, breathing into it and sensing what is going on in that area. Stay open to what ever comes up for you, it may be a memory or an image or thought. Like all things done constantly, we get better at it and I try to use this sense of self particularly while exercising.
If you are just starting out on your transformation, start slow, build your confidence daily, see the bigger picture, know your why and above all put yourself first. !
Expand your boundaries, have fun and live life to the fullest.
Namaste.
My Journey into Yoga
I would say that Yoga has saved my life.
Growing up in the 60’s with parents who created a high level of stress for our family by moving every 6 -12 months, I became very introverted and shut down. Years later yoga was to became my sanctuary. Yoga opens us up on so many levels and helps us to overcome limitations which hold us back, or shut us down and stop us feeling enough.
My yoga style has changed a lot over the years. It was first and foremost about the physical practice and how it made my muscles and body feel. Then it came to mean more about being present with myself and being in the moment, my sanctuary to meditate and feel. Like an inner smile is perhaps the best way to describe it.
I’ve learnt to appreciate how this body that I once disliked has limitations that I admittedly need to work on, but not to the point of forcing it to look like a perfect selfie or instagram shot.
In earlier years I’ve stood on my head, turned myself practically inside out and pushed myself to over-perform, even with yoga. Luckily, these days, I care more about remaining functionally fit and mobile.
Our bodies are constantly changing and adapting to what we do or don’t do. I’m so pleased that I found Yoga and my body has adapted to being it’s best. My yoga brings strength, flexibility, stability, muscle tone and balance. I am looking forward to enjoying yoga for another 38 plus years.
Yoga styles
I was introduced to yoga in 1983 when, after working in gyms, I suffered numerous muscle strains from the impact of taking more than one aerobics class in a day and constantly working with heavy weights. I needed to find a solution.
I started with a style called Iyengar after Mr BKS Iyengar (1918-2014) one of yoga’s chief ambassadors and a style known for it’s detailed structural approach. Props were encouraged to enable one to access the more challenging poses and to hold the poses in good form and for longer periods.
I loved this teaching, for it complemented the body building, cardio workouts and aerobics I was doing. So much so that I gave away all other personal work outs and started attending Iyengar yoga classes 3-4 times a week. This was a blessing and the beginning of my journey towards a better balance in my life and learning more about myself, a journey I am still on some 38 years later.
I have experienced Ashtanga yoga, a physically demanding, flowing style guaranteed to make one sweat. The emphasis is on internal locks (bandhas) and a powerful breath (ujjayi). This style led me to learn and teach Power Yoga, which is a stronger version of the Vinyasa Flow that is the main stream everywhere now. I have tried Kundalini yoga which I like immensely for its use of strong core practice and use of pranayama (breath).
Restorative yoga is another of my go-to practices to self nurture myself. The use of props, e.g. blocks, bolsters and blankets allow one to stay in poses longer, giving a feeling of being held and supported, ideal for relaxation and rejuvenation. It is especially beneficial for nervous exhaustion and stress overload.
Balance
I use some movements from all these styles of yoga, along with dance and bodywork to guide myself and my clients to feeling more empowered within their own bodies. Yoga I feel saved my life because it gave me a sense of belonging, a sense of achievement, a greater purpose and has enabled me to learn so much about myself.
I was fortunate to have the time to follow my heart and seek out some great teachers, attend workshops and retreats all over the world. As an aside to yoga I have always loved to dance and have gotten to perform many styles of dance over the years. I feel that yoga has enabled me to remain mobile, agile and strong.
Yoga has given me a sense of balance, has enabled me to handle the stress that is a constant these days, has assisted me to handle depression, an overeating issue and the courage to leave a marriage that was not working out. I also feel that yoga and my interest in nutrition allowed me to have an easier time with menopause.
Soul practice
The practice of yoga aims at overcoming the limitations of the body, capitalizing on us being more than our parts. Yoga teaches us that the goal of every individual’s life is to take the inner journey to the soul. Yoga not only offers the end goal it it offers the means of getting there. It allows a sense of oneness, mindfulness or just a knowing, similar to the inner smile mentioned earlier.
I have always been interested in my health, my appearance and being the best possible me. I enjoy feeling vibrant and mobile and these days I am no longer the shy, awkward, introverted girl I was. I enjoy my time on the mat, be that for 10 minutes or 1 hour. I am inspired daily to do what comes naturally, through observation and the awareness of how I am feeling that day.
Yoga is not a panacea, but it is a powerful medicine for the body, mind and spirit. Above all, yoga is a path. The longer you stay with it and the more you put into the journey, the further it can take you.
“Words cannot convey the value of yoga, it has to be experienced”
Namaste Kim
The Simple Steps to Better Hormone Health
Sweaty, Bloaty, Forgetful, Sleepy, Itchy, Bitchy, and Psysho.
What have these symptoms all got in common?
They are the 7 dwarfs of MENOPAUSE.
I deal with the desire of women to banish their belly fat, and to deal with these and many, many, more symptoms females can experience when they are no longer balanced in their hormones. Up to 80 % of women suffer from symptoms like these.
Using the latest research and proven methods to see where our hormones levels are and to work together to rebalance them is the first step in feeling more like we should.
By women educating themselves about what is happening throughout their menstrual cycle and keeping a daily journal to become more mindful of their digestion and elimination, the type of exercise they are choosing and their daily stress levels, they can make positive changes for the better and help to banish the 7 dwarfs of menopause.
What is menopause?
Menopause is a term that refers to the end of menstruation, the result of the natural decline in the hormones estrogen and progesterone produced in the ovaries. After years of preparing and releasing eggs the ovaries eventually reach a point where they end their monthly routine.
Once a woman has gone for 12 consecutive months without a period, then she is considered menopausal. Menopause may signal the end of fertility, but it also is the beginning of another new and potentially rewarding time in a woman’s life. It’s a gateway to our passage of power, a time of choice and should be about finding out what we really want. It’s a time to take charge and shape the remaining chapters of our life.
The menopause years are normally around 51, peri menopause years from age 40 -51 and pre-menopause years before 40. In rare cases menopause can occur as early as 30 and as late as 60.
It is the hormonal imbalance, the changes of estrogen and progesterone in our monthly cycle that create the highs and lows as we transition towards menopause. Eventually estrogen levels drop off at approximately 40 to 60 % of its pre-menopausal levels and progesterone can fall close to zero.
Being 40 plus is a time to re think, it’s a time to develop a new set of rules.
What worked at 20 or 30 something does not work at 40 plus.
You do not have accept any of the uncomfortable, painful symptoms of hormone fluctuation that many women experience. Start planning for an easy transition through menopause and enjoy the process and journey to being a wise woman.
Old Belief
Contrary to the old medical belief that viewed menopause as part of inevitable ageing, I like what Dr Christiane Northrup has to say, from her book The Wisdom of Menopause, she writes; “At midlife, more psychic energy becomes available to us than at any time since adolescence.”
How you think and live day to day can ultimately impact your livelyhood and the outcome of your menopause journey.
Set goals and know what you want to achieve, then commit to a healthier future.
Holistic Health and well-being.
I use yoga to support the health and spiritual awakening of menopausal women during this important transition and the years that follow. Yoga reduces the effects of menopause’s hormonal and glandular changes taking place during this period.
Yoga supports and encourages this natural movement to look within, rather than seeking answers and validation from others. It helps us to develop a detached state of mind, an inner awareness leading to life-long habits.
Namaste
Kim
Living With Stress
Now, more than ever, we need to learn how to cope with stress and know what are our individual stress cues are.
Scientific evidence is showing that stress fuels some of the biggest health problems of our times, including heart attacks, strokes, Type 2 diabetes, depression, and osteoporosis, as well as autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis (MS) and rheumatoid arthritis.
Of course, we wouldn’t be where we are now, if our early ancestors hadn’t had a well honed stress response system to survive the daily stress from becoming some animal’s dinner.
It was survival of the fittest or smartest that has bought us out of the cave man days.
Stress is not all bad
Our bodies need a certain amount of stress to get going daily, It’s our built-in protection system. The sympathetic nervous system (SNS) is activated by a fright, also known as the fight or flight or the “stress response” because it helps us deal with stressful situations. The body shuts down all unnecessary systems to enable us to fight or run faster, out of harm’s way. This is fine for short bursts, but most of us can’t manage to stay in this state for extended periods of time.
The other system that complements the SNS is the parasympathetic system (PSNS), this is known as the “rest and digest” or the ‘relaxation response” because it creates a restful state of optimal function for health and healing. When in this state, our heart rate and breathing slows, allowing our body to rejuvenate and restore its self.
If we are in constant fight-flight mode, even during our sleep cycle, our bodies don’t have time to wind down and restore because it thinks it’s still under attack. When this is the case, our built in protection system can turn on us and cause disease.
This is a good time to calm our systems with some yoga poses and some slow deep breaths.
Relax with me
Cortisol Dangers
Cortisol, the primary stress hormone, can be linked to extra belly fat, (storing for later). Elevated cortisol levels have been linked to increased risk of disease, depression, lowered bone density and memory loss.
Not coping..Try some or all…
Have a tribe
One nice aspect of social media is that there is always others going through similar issues that we can reach out to.
Some times a problem shared is a problem solved.
Namaste
Kim
The importance of good Habits October 2020
Having spent the last few months writing and sitting in front of my computer, like many others, I know the importance of getting off my backside and taking a stretch and drinking more water. This is also where I do a few yoga poses and breathe a few fully conscious breaths. I find this makes all the difference to my body and state of mind. At least for another hour… It’s the little things we do over the course of the day or our lives, for that matter, that add up to show the benefits over time. What are your habits saying about you?
2020 How will this new year play out ?
The beginning of a New Year… it holds so many dreams and goals for us all. The best way forward is to not live in the past, but to grow from our pasts. I have to say that 2019 was not what I had dreamed or had goals for.
The plans I had made to work on a cruise liner, didn’t eventuate and I found myself overseas with no plans and no home to return to. But the world is our oyster as the saying goes and I used the time to read and train up with yoga and to set more goals and to live some dreams.
One thing about being out of one’ s comfort zone is that you need to go with the flow even more, try new things and have good habits when you can..
October 2020 ….Little did any of us know what 2020 had in store and how life as many knew it would changed so dramatically.. My ideas to start more online offerings has become the norm for many yoga teachers and workers.
I have started recording more yoga sessions and now have my own You Tube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDI4NjB-hcSXJgxwpFm3R3g?view_as=subscriber and also write articles for another web page ( Collective Wisdom Global ).. My health interests and continued learning are still my main focus and I am looking forward to sharing with others in person or on calls.
Self care fitness and my journey.
Yoga is a means of preventative medicine. It is more than 3000 years old and it is still with us today because it does provide us a path to better health and greater peace of mind.
As more and more scientific research on the physical effects of yoga are being conducted, it looks better and better.
People of all ages are taking it up to relieve or assist numerous issues.
Yogis have taught for thousands of years that the materialistic life is not the true road to happiness or inner peace.
That if we are not happy with our current situation, we need to make changes to our lives either big or small to find that inner peace and happiness. I had to do this in January 2016, after my marriage ended after 29 years.
I had been protected and held close for so long that I had lost me. I felt shut down on so many levels. It has been scary, it hasn’t always been easy. But the past 3 years have been about reinventing me and about my growth. I intend to share that journey here, because 3 years ago, I felt lost, naive and vulnerable.
It would have been nice to have had a map to follow, but each of us are on our special journey and there are many paths one can follow to find peace and happiness (our Dharma). Yoga can help us expand our consciousness and unveil the purpose for our life here on earth.
Namaste. (The light in me, honours the light in you.)
Kim’s tips for wellness
How to get more living foods into your daily intake. Vegetables have powerful levels of carotenoids and other nutrients that help prevent age-related diseases! We have some amazing recipes for you.