Monday to begin your week – retreatful stress-busting tips to keep your feel-good-energies flowing

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Take us dancing naked in the rain! Here in Ibiza, we love the rain that replenishes our terrain and offers time to retreat inside.  Rather than grrrrrrroaning about the weather, why not allow mother nature to offer her cloud-covers as signs that it is time to to step back from the rat race, to be with yourself, reflect on your goals, dreams and life aspirations.   Amidst the grey the sun can still shine through within you, get cosy and… rather than becoming board….  create a vision board!

Nurture yourself in December…. take your pedal off the accelerator

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The Art and Science of Letting Go – 3

As winter-time cools our part of the planet with its wet and windy fingers, be gentle with yourself to allow your body (and mind) to acclimatise to the slower, darker season. 

Do you feel like you are lacking in the earlier summer energies? 

This is actually a natural mental and physical way to be at this time of year.

Here are 5 top tips to stay in seasonal harmony.

(1) Instead of facing yourself with big “to do” lists and big life goals, focussing on day to day effectiveness will achieve much easier rewards.
(2) Rather than pushing yourself to go out and network or “show your face” all the time, why not enjoy the longer darker nights for hot baths infused with sensual essential oils.
(3) Book a massage that will flush out toxins, boost your immune system and keep your body feeling bright.
(4) Invest in a hot water bottle that you can use to pamper you kidneys, especially at night and cover up your lower back, so that your organs can stay vital.
(5) Allow yourself to retreat from “having to” do and achieve everything and explore Yin Yoga where your body and vital organs can enjoy “receiving”.
And why not join us, lovely Ibiza ladies, for our cosy “Yoga Womb” winter yoga sessions for women with Susie and Larah who will help you nourish and revitalise your whole being.

Top Tips for living in greater peace – The Art & Science of letting go 2

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Top Tips for living in greater peace

The Art & Science of letting go 2

Have you had the pleasure of travelling in the remoter parts of South East Asia?

Have you experienced the peaceful presence of the peoples of Cambodia, or Thailand, Laos or Myanmar?

How inspirational it is to be in the company of peoples who, rather than having a “hot heart”and living a life fired up by emotional wrangling, come from a different cultural background where a calmer, quieter, state of mind, creates a more peaceful way of being.

For many Westerners, searching for ways to retreat from the “heat” of pressing matters and “”stressful”goals and responsibilities, yoga and meditation are offering pathways into this more peaceful state of life. Yet even with the most experienced teachers, it still requires us to transform the hot head & hearted habits through the discipline of practice. Which in itself, is both nourishing and fulfilling.

We have much to learn however, just by carefully witnessing, “modelling”if you like, the ways that Cambodians, for example, approach everything that happens in day to day life.

1* Walk quietly and gently through life – physically leave a lighter, more subtle footprint

2* Retreat from the need to be noticed all that time. Notice if you always feel the need to leave a lasting impression, Why not explore a more subtle way of just “being”in social scenarios, rather than commanding the attention of your social groups, experiment with being a “fully active listener”with as much eye-contact as you can. Enjoy the extra energy this brings.

3* Take a moment for a calm and balanced greeting before continuing conversations, this will help you get into a gentle and natural rapport which enables your communications to flow more

4* Listen to how quickly you respond to words that you feel are challenging, people that you find irritating or provocative, Retreat from the need to be right all the time. Take 3 deep breathes to consider your response before offering the most peaceful (or neural) answer. How does this transform your energy and way of feeling?

5* Keep saying thank you. For whatever comes your way. In doing so you are neutralising any antagonistic thoughts and feelings that either you or the other person may be having. It does not mean you have to agree with the other person, yet this does create a space for more positive ideas and responses to come to mind.

Find more peace of mind and body in retreats in Ibiza this winter-time….  email info@ibizaretreats.com with your request for the perfect peaceful retreat.

The Art and Science of letting go – 1

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The art and science of letting go…. week 1: Accepting the truth of the moment (and loving what is)

Help pain and discomfort fall away… by letting go of wanting to make things perfect and loving what is.

Do you often feel disappointed by others behaviour?

Is your relationship rocking like a boat on stormy waters?  is it feeling exhausting, trying to stay upright?

What could you life be like if you could honestly let go of the need to be right?

What we resist persists…. the more we hold on to wanting things to be different than the way they are, the more we are fighting against the natural flow.  As we become older, our physical body exemplifies the inner-workings of our mind. When carrying a world of responsibilities on our shoulders, the tension and, eventually, more chronic pains can create blockages that hold us more permanently in that position. Life often asks us to keep the ship upright because we are afraid of change.  However, change has to happen to free the energy for new growth and transformation.  By being strong all the time, sticking up for our values and our beliefs, we can find ourselves continuing along life paths that have long since served their means.  Being able to step back from challening situations and view them as they are, creates a new space for acceptance and with this, the space to be more relaxed in our body and mind. Try this whenever you feel yourself arguing with, or against, a situation.

* Notice how much effort and energy you are putting in to holding a situation together, trying to make things perfect or pushing the bad stuff away

* Look down and imagine a circle that is a calm and peaceful colour on the floor, about 30 cm to your right.

* Now step into this circle and make the choice to physically step into a NEUTRAL zone, where there is no such thing as right or wrong and notice how you can look at this situation differently

Shifting our physicality helps us shift our mentality into a wider, clearer place.  From this clean neutral space of calm, ask yourself:

? What is more important for my wellbeing? Being happy or being right ?

? What has to happen for me to just be with what is ?

This does not mean that you have to agree with things that feel deeply wrong or insulting. Yet it does give you back your emotional space and power to be able to agree to disagree.  And notice how this step, in itself. helps you live and breathe more lovingly.  Loving yourself and your inner-being and being true to the loving force of nature that connects, at a sub-atomic level, the very essence of them, with you.

Byron Katie, author of the book Loving what is  and creator of the work, challenges you in this Youtube clip, to dare to look within and question your inner-truth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eCkglFy7TE

And why not join us to feel good about letting go by loving what is…  with Go with your Flow Yoga Retreats in Ibiza or one of our Yoga and Life Coaching Just Stop! Retreats

Honour your kidneys with these top tips to banish those winter-kidney blues!

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We all suffer that little low patch during the transition from summer sunshine to the darker days of winter! But try boosting your kidneys with some key yoga poses to ward off those winter blues and fight off those chills.

First of all – before you do anything, imagine your kidneys nice and warm. Either by visualising yourself in a lovely warm place, or even by placing a hot water bottle on the base of your back whenever you feel a little cold or just to give your kidneys some attention!

Yoga can help your body mind and spirit in many ways. But in general, a holistic yoga practice stimulates a healthy flow of energy and fluids around the kidney area, synovial fluid, lymphatic fluid as well as the production levels of blood and urine. Breathwork also helps to nourish the kidney area with fresh oxygen – flushing out out all the old stuff!

Certain postures put pressure on the kidneys can also help to flush and cleanse these organs. Add any twists, forward bends and backbends to your practice. And if you are new to yoga or don’t have a practice as such – just use your intuition… twisting your body massages the organs, and forward and back bends stretch and oyygenate this area… enjoy!

We especially love the legs-up-the-wall pose, Viparita Karani, with a hot-water-bottle firmly placed at the base of your spine to warm the little kidney friends from behind.

And don’t forget your diet… There is more and more evidence to suggest the link between the ‘superfoods’ and their antioxidant properties to keep us healthy. Pack your winter diet full of these key items to keep your kidneys smiling… red peppers, garlic, onions, apples, berries, berries and more berries, grapes, cabbage, cauliflower, fish and egg whites!