I love to hear from children who listen to my Yoga Sleep meditations. Here are thank you letters from Jess and Josh, two young yogis based in the UK. The drawings of yoga postures are fantastic!
All of my Yoga Nidra tracks are available for streaming with iTunes, Spotify and TIDAL. Search under my spiritual name JAYADEVI. You can also purchase as CDs or downloads via my online shop.
The Christmas holidays and New Year can be hectic. Searching for the perfect gifts for everyone, completing work in advance of the holidays, Christmas parties, getting all of the food in, preparing food, making time to catch up with friends and family. We can become very frazzled and worn out. This holiday season is a perfect time to unplug from your devices and take a digital detox.
Do you find yourself spending endless hours staring at your computer or device screen? Get lost in endless links and find you have wasted hours surfing the internet. Take a break. Give yourself a rest. Get some exercise. Try yoga and meditation. Spend some time in silent contemplation. Spend quality time with friends and family. You’ll feel refreshed, you’ll have more focus, you will feel energised and less likely to become distracted.
By switching off your devices for an extended period of time you will begin to notice a better posture. An opening of the front of your body, shoulders moving back and realignment of your upper spine. Your energy will open up, you will interact more naturally with others, you will appear more approachable and you will be more present. This will lead to better eye contact, deeper conversations, a sense of relaxation and great empathy towards others.
Winter is the time for rest, rejuvenation, reflection, time to go within and to slow down. It is important not to take devices to bed with you. Looking at screens late into the evening and in bed prevents you from switching off properly and will affect your natural sleeping patterns. The blue light from screens suppresses melatonin in the body which makes us more alert as we are going to sleep. You may find you are getting enough hours sleep but it may not be a high quality sleep. If you normally use your phone as an alarm clock, buy an alarm clock. Over the holidays you may have the opportunity not to set your alarm and allow yourself to catch up on sleep.
Create bonds with others by having proper conversations. Gain insight into someone’s mind by having conversations. Conversations can be memorable and engaging, you will learn new things about others and yourself. Don’t jump on Google to find the answer, allow the conversation to develop as you explore the answers. It’s a lot more fun!
Even after a few days without technology, you are more likely to remember obscure details about others. Neuroscientists believe that this is because when people are more present in conversations, their brains are able to process and store new information more easily. With the many distractions of technology, our brains have been trained not to register seemingly insignificant details. These minor facts are actually very important in the process of bonding and learning about other people. Rather than taking endless photographs we can be present and in the moment, taking in the details and using all of our senses to absorb the information. We will have a greater recall of events when we are fully present.
When you are offline for a while, it gives you space to review your career or relationships. You may wish to address your habits surrounding your health, fitness and lifestyle. You can really focus on yourself and discover areas you wish to transform.
Stepping away from your devices can allow you to find new ways to be creative and achieve a state of flow. This time and space will help original thinking and big ideas. You may wish to try something new such as dancing, singing, making Christmas cards, baking a cake, creating gifts, mindful colouring in, silent meditation. The list is endless, don’t limit yourself and give new things a try!
Instead of checking your social media or email first thing, write down on paper three things that you are grateful for. Appreciation can make you a happier person and more positive. Doing this evokes positive sentiments, so when you’re feeling low reading over this list can be a great reminder of all the good things in your life.
Make the most of the great outdoors and lose yourself in green space. A day out without your phone can feel liberating. You will more fully absorb and appreciate your surroundings. Being in a natural environment does wonders for your clearing your mind. Getting out into daylight in winter can really help with our wellbeing and promote a more positive mood.
Try not to rely on Google Maps for every turn. Asking somebody for directions forces us to engage in human connection. It could put a smile on your face, and theirs – people love knowing they’ve helped someone out. Plus, you could get some inside knowledge of the local area that a screen digital map couldn’t tell you.
Enjoy the festive season. Have fun with friends and family. Experience great food and new places but please resist the urge to post every detail online. Switch off your phone and appreciate the present moment. Being present and mindful will make your Christmas even more memorable.
To keep your good digital habitats going into the New Year you could start a digital “swear-jar” with friends, family or colleagues. Every time someone checks their phone mid conversation, they have to put money in the digital “swear-jar”. This really highlights the amount that people use their phones while engaging with others. You can use the collection for a gadget free night out, you’ll be surprised how quickly you’ll raise funds!
Use this holiday period to balance and set new boundaries. Allow yourself to completely rest and rejuvenate. Take the time to gain control over your devices rather than the other way around!
Have wonderfully restful and peaceful Christmas and New Year.
As I prepare my final newsletter of the year and reflecting on 2015, I realised that I did not upload a post to update you all on the Yoga at Exmouth Beach Sessions that took place in the summer.
I scheduled two beach yoga sessions this summer as the previous year had been so popular.
Thankfully we had dry weather and even some sunshine (!) for both sessions. Many of you attended, some travelling a fair distance. A BIG THANK YOU to everyone that supported the sessions. You raised a total of £203 for the following two charities.
I will schedule Yoga at the Beach for summer 2016 and will let you know the dates as soon as they are confirmed.
Nepal Earthquake Appeal
On Saturday 25 April a massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Nepal. It severely shook the lives of at least 8m people and left many homeless. Nepal’s major cities, including the capital Kathmandu, have been badly damaged and rural areas near the epicentre have been completely cut off by avalanches.
DEC member agencies and their partners are working urgently to provide emergency shelter, food, clean water and blankets. Once immediate, life-saving needs are met they will work with individuals, families and communities to support them to rebuild their lives.
Ramana’s Garden Children’s Home
Ramana’s Garden Children’s Home in Rishikesh, India is home to over 60 at risk children and a free school for over 160 students from Ramana’s Garden and local underprivileged families. The school provides classes from kindergarten to eighth grade. Below is the thank you letter received from Ramana’s Garden Children’s Home.
We are back from a truly wonderful retreat in Spain, the week was packed with joy, laughter and fun. Below is the week in pictures!
Feedback from our guests:
“Really loved the space created. Particularly appreciated the suggestions for daily practice which I will take away. Enjoyed the discussion in the studio in some sessions and Friday morning interactive session excellent, liked having time to ask about postures and learning from other people’s questions in the group. Thank you Thank you Thank you”
“The place & people were very enjoyable & a good mix of personalities. You two have been very accessible and welcoming.”
“Thank you Julie and Jackie for a wonderful week, full of joy and fun. It has been very interesting to experience different types of yoga practice and different teaching styles. I feel I have learned a lot and have been convinced that I can include daily yoga practice into my usual routine. You are both excellent inspirational teachers and I appreciate your hard work planning the sessions and all the smooth organisation. Thank you again for your patience and kindness.”
“Good caring and friendly group – I felt very comfortable being part of it. Thank you Julie and Jackie for making the retreat such a pleasurable experience. What a fantastic experience thank to you two. Thank you thank you! Yoga will never be the same again.”
Co-hosted by Julie Bladon / Jackie Dorrian
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I’ve just finalised my new Yoga Nidra flyers for 2016. A big thank you to my designer Nia for this great design. Get the 2016 dates into your diary!
Here’s a re-post of my Yoga Sleep article that appeared in Inspired Times.
“Goodnight sweetheart! Jayadevi shows us how Yoga Sleep (Yoga Nidra) can kiss our soul by sinking us into a deep, sublime relaxation.”
See my article in the Autumn edition of Inspired Times Magazine (Autumn 2013).
Click here to read:
Inspired Times Welcome Page Autumn 2013
Inspired Times Article Yoga Sleep (Yoga Nidra) Autumn 2013
Enjoy! Namaste.
“Self-care is not selfish or self-indulgent. We cannot nurture others from a dry well. We need to take care of our own needs first, then we can give from our surplus, our abundance.” Jennifer Louden
Life can be busy, demanding and stressful. With ever increasing demands from work, family obligations and life in general, we may feel the consequences of not taking adequate care of our physical, mental or emotional health. We can end up feeling drained, depleted, stressed and out of control.
For some, self-care may seem like an impossible luxury. You may be running at a thousand miles an hour, never catching up and the thought of self-care may even seem selfish to you.
Self-care is not a luxury, it is ESSENTIAL. We cannot operate from an empty vessel so ignore any warning signals from your body, mind and spirit at your own peril. If we do not take the time to fill up our vessel, we will have far less to offer others including those closest to us.
If self-care is being avoided, your body-mind-spirit will start to flag up this lack. Initially the signals may be subtle but if ignored, over time, the messages will get louder and louder. You may experience anger, frustration, fear, impatience, lack of energy, illness or injuries.
The key is to understand when we feel unbalanced and to identify self-care strategies that work for you. We need to understand what helps to restore and nourish us. This may be different for each individual but developing your self-awareness can help identify what works for you.
Here’s a list of self-care activities. See what resonates with you and add anything that makes your heart sing. We have a deep inner knowing so take the time to connect with your heart to understand what your body, mind and spirit are calling out for.
Go ahead and find out which self-care strategies work for you. These may change over time but make a start.
Here’s a gentle reminder: Take care of yourself today.
“Taking good care of YOU, means the people in your life will receive the best of you, rather than what’s left of you.” ~ Carl Bryan, Tennis Coach
“Self-care is a divine responsibility” ~ Danielle La Porte
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We have TWO PLACES remaining for this retreat. Get in touch if you’d like to join us!
Aloha Yoga is really excited to be hosting a yoga retreat at Tara Casa, a beautiful country house set in the quiet village of La Magdalena, Spain.
Come and join us for a relaxing week of daily yoga, great food, a good programme, therapies, local tours, excellent company and sunshine. You can book your place with a £100 deposit and pay instalments up to June 2015.
If you wish, you can pay the £100 deposit to reserve your place and then monthly instalments to spread the cost!
The week is led by two qualified and experienced yoga teachers, Julie Bladon (Jayadevi) and Jackie Dorrian (Jagdambe Ma), who will teach yoga classes in a variety of styles including Akhanda Yoga, Yin Yoga, Classical Kundalini Yoga, Sivananda Yoga and Yoga Nidra. This mixed programme is perfect if you are starting your yogic journey and wish to explore different styles or if you are more experienced and wish to immerse yourself in your practise. Whether you wish to travel as a group or solo, this will be the perfect week for you.
We understand that life can be busy and stressful so this week is a perfect opportunity to take care of self, replenish, rejuvenate, relax and to have time to “just be”.
We truly love what we do and would love to share a week of yoga with you in the beautiful sunny region of Murcia. Read More >
My summer programme has well and truly kicked in! My diary is packed with yoga retreats, festivals, classes, workshops and writing. I’m in the process of writing an e-course which I will start filming in a couple of week’s time. It’s a really exciting development and I can’t wait to get this course up online.
In my busy schedule I am a making sure that I take time to get out to enjoy the summer. This includes regular walks at the beach, yoga practice, meeting up with friends at local cafes and taking time to catch up on some reading.
“Spiritual Ecology – The Cry of the Earth”, a book of essays edited by Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, has just arrived. I’m enjoying dipping into the various essays written by elders from around the globe such as Thich Nhat Hanh, Vandana Shiva, Satish Kumar, Chief Oren Lyons and many others.
“This book is important to the survival of humanity. We must reconnect with Mother Earth and treat her as a source of life instead of a resource to be plundered. Everyone must read this book, understand it and live it if we are to leave anything to our children and grandchildren.” ~ Hanne Strong, founder The Manitou Foundation and Earth Restoration Corps
The first essay I have read is “In the Time of the Sacred Places” by Winona LaDuke. Winona is an activist and voice for Indigenous consciousness devoting her life to protecting the lands and lifeways of Native communities. In this essay she talks about the importance of sacred sites and how place belongs to our deeper understanding of spiritual ecology.
For many years I have been interested in Indigenous cultures and their connection to Mother Earth and sacred places.
“Since the beginning of times, the Creator and Mother Earth have given our peoples places to learn the teachings that will allow us to continue and reaffirm our responsibilities and ways on the land from which we have come. Indigenous peoples are placed-based societies, and at the centre of those places are the most sacred of our sites, where we reaffirm our relationship” ~ Winona LaDuke, “In the Time of Sacred Places”
The essay highlights a selection of cases where the land has been named and claimed for the empire and desecrated for mineral rights and financial gain. Some cases go back to the 1850s and others are in most recent years for example Eagle Rock, known as “the home of the White Wolf and the High Place”, a sacred site to the Anishinaabe and other peoples for centuries. Rio Tinto Zinc, a UK based mining company through their subsidiary Kennecott submitted plans to mine the copper deposits adjacent to this sacred site. It has been a seven-year battle and the Michigan regulatory authorities ruled against the tribes, the water and the sacred site, stating that “the site could not be sacred or did not have spiritual significance because a place of worship must be a BUILDING”.
The state, on these grounds approved the mining permit. In response, the leadership of the HoChunk Tribal Court noted, “consultation should include learned tribal members who are the leaders of our ancient societies. Their knowledge spans the time prior to Christianity and Christopher Columbus. It is this understanding that makes who we are. There is no other place where tribal people can gain this understanding….”
This is the difference between world views – where one society, an industrial society, views a rich ore body, and another society views this as a source of great spiritual and cultural wealth.
It has been a seven year battle for the sacred site and now a petition to the United Nations for intervention under the declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to not only protect their sacred sites but to be protected from minerals exploitation which will destroy their life ways. A separate petition to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, by the National Congress of American Indians requests, “that requirements be imposed on Kennecott Eagle Minerals to mitigate the negative aesthetic impact of the proximity of the mining operation to Eagle Rock and that members of the various Native American communities be provided unfettered access for traditional use of the sacred ceremonial place”.
The Anishinaabe and their supporters who care for this land and do not wish to see the threshold of the world’s fresh water poisoned, have continued to gather and pray at and near Eagle Rock – amidst its strength and in the face of greed and destruction.
We can learn much from these Indigenous peoples and these cases illustrate how far we need to go in order to restore the health and wellbeing of Mother Earth.
I’d highly recommend Spiritual Ecology and I’m looking forward to diving into the other essays within the book.
Visit my Events page to find out What’s On over the summer.
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What a wonderful weekend retreat at Bala Brook, celebrating the inaugural International Yoga Day and the Summer Solstice. We are filled with gratitude, love with all the heart opening. Such a truly magical and powerful weekend. Thank you to everyone. Namaste
Vision Boarding Workshop
Aloha Yoga Massage Room
Yoga Class
Closing Ceremony – Om Healing Bath
Aloha Yoga Summer Retreat 2015 – Relaxation!
