All of Yoga

The Yoga Solution

Yoga is so much more than the physical practice. This podcast explores all of yoga; what meditation is and the benefits, the roots, history and philosophy of yoga, how simple concepts can help us live a more peaceful life, and how to approach the physical aspect of yoga in a safe and beneficial way. If you’re brand new to yoga and wondering what it’s all about, or you’re an experienced yogi looking to learn more about all of yoga - this podcast is for you.

  1. 5d ago

    63. Should you lower your cortisol before bed?

    😴 I love Yoga Nidra! Join my free 7-day Yoga Nidra challenge, starting 19 October. A different guided practice each day, in your own time. Save your spot here  --- Cortisol is a baddy of the wellness world. "Lower your cortisol… Balance your cortisol… Avoid foods that spike your cortisol." But cortisol isn't simply a "stress hormone" that we need to get rid of. It's an essential hormone involved in energy availability, metabolism, immune and inflammatory activity, and it follows its own daily circadian rhythm. So what should cortisol be doing at bedtime? And if you're lying awake at 1am with a racing mind, does that mean your cortisol is 'too high'? In this episode, we'll explore: what cortisol actually is and what the HPA axis has to do with itwhy high cortisol isn't automatically a sign that something is wrongthe natural daily rhythm of cortisolfascinating newer research suggesting that the morning rise in cortisol begins before we wake upwhy cortisol would normally be lower towards bedtimewhat disrupted cortisol rhythms may have to do with sleepwhy trying to "control your cortisol" can be an unhelpful way to approach sleephow yoga can help create a deliberate transition from doing to resting Rather than being a health metric measure (or worry about), I want to take some of the pressure off - if better sleep is the goal, you don't need to lie in bed wondering whether you've successfully lowered your cortisol. Instead, you can work with your brain and body to tell them: The day is over. I don't need to keep doing. It's time to rest. 💤 💤💤  If you'd like some help doing exactly that, try Sleep Deeply Tonight: A Bedtime Nervous System Reset. It's a long sleep practice designed to be played when you're already tucked up in bed. I'll guide you through breathing, body awareness and nervous system relaxation, and there's absolutely no need to stay awake until the end. Listen here. Simply get snuggled up, press play and let me do the rest. --- 💤 free challenge: 7 days of yoga nidra I love Yoga Nidra! Come and practise it with me for seven days. Each day, I'll send you a guided Yoga Nidra to practise - different lengths, different focuses, different intentions. You don't need to know anything about Yoga Nidra, nor be "good at meditation", you don't even need to be able to clear your mind! You just need to get comfortable and let me guide you. 🗓️ starts mon 19 October  💻 online & self-paced 😴 save your spot here --- 👋 work with me 💛 1:1 therapeutic yoga Personalised support for anxiety, sleep issues, stress or back pain. Take a look here   🌻 therapeutic workshops and retreats Small, supportive sessions focused on anxiety, deep rest or back health, blending yoga, breathwork and evidence-based education. Come join us here    🦋 vinyasa flow 200 hour yoga teacher training A welcoming, practical, neuroscience-informed training for people who want to teach yoga, or just learn more about it. Dive in, ...

  2. Sep 6

    62. Being a wreck when 'everything is fine!'

    Ok, so this is where we are.  From the outside, everything in your life 'looks fine'. But on the inside, your tummy is tense, you're gripping your jaw, and you've got this feeling that you've forgotten something... or that something is about to go wrong.  This episode explores all of that through the lens of allostatic load... which is like this:  👉 Homeostasis - stable internal environment Allostasis - maintaining that stability through change Allostatic load - getting towards the end of the ability to adapt.  All your systems work through allostasis, including your nervous system. And when life just keeps on coming; even if there's nothing dramatically wrong (everything is fine!) if your systems don't have time to recover after adapting, it can take effect.  So, give this episode a listen to understand more deeply, and then, ideally, take a moment to work out what your brain and body need to help recovery.  In this episode I mention about how yoga philosophy has a similar view on this, too: The five layers (koshas) of you. Listen here or be guided through a yummy Yoga Nidra for the 5 layers of you here 💛 You've got this!  --- 💤 free challenge: 7 days of yoga nidra I love Yoga Nidra! Come and practise it with me for seven days. Each day, I'll send you a guided Yoga Nidra to practise - different lengths, different focuses, different intentions. You don't need to know anything about Yoga Nidra, nor be "good at meditation", you don't even need to be able to clear your mind! You just need to get comfortable and let me guide you. 🗓️ starts mon 19 October  💻 online & self-paced 😴 save your spot here --- 👋 work with me 💛 1:1 therapeutic yoga Personalised support for anxiety, sleep issues, stress or back pain. Take a look here   🌻 therapeutic workshops and retreats Small, supportive sessions focused on anxiety, deep rest or back health, blending yoga, breathwork and evidence-based education. Come join us here    🦋 vinyasa flow 200 hour yoga teacher training A welcoming, practical, neuroscience-informed training for people who want to teach yoga, or just learn more about it. Dive in, ...

  3. Aug 30

    61. Always in a rush

    You're whizzing around the supermarket,  tense and I'm silently swearing at this slow person in front of you. Rushing to get home, to cook, to get on the phone, then to get off the phone, to put the laundry away. Except... there isn't actually any urgency. I've had several conversations recently, both personally and professionally, with people whose lives have become less busy because they've retired, changed jobs or deliberately created more space in their lives. But. They still always feel like they're in a rush. Sometimes our old habits take a minute to catch up with our shiny new circumstances. So, if you're used to whizzing about, thinking about the next task and always squeezing more into the day - slowing down doesn't automatically happen when life is a little more spacious. That phrase "old habits die hard" is popular because it's true, it describes this quite brilliantly. If you'd like to be guided through taking a beat to stop rushing, I have a two-minute meditation on Insight Timer to guide you to slow down. Bookmark it and pop it on whenever you feel that temptation to rush. You can find it here 💨  --- 💤 free challenge: 7 days of yoga nidra I love Yoga Nidra! Come and practise it with me for seven days. Each day, I'll send you a guided Yoga Nidra to practise - different lengths, different focuses, different intentions. You don't need to know anything about Yoga Nidra, nor be "good at meditation", you don't even need to be able to clear your mind! You just need to get comfortable and let me guide you. 🗓️ starts mon 19 October  💻 online & self-paced 😴 save your spot here --- 👋 work with me 💛 1:1 therapeutic yoga Personalised support for anxiety, sleep issues, stress or back pain. Take a look here   🌻 therapeutic workshops and retreats Small, supportive sessions focused on anxiety, deep rest or back health, blending yoga, breathwork and evidence-based education. Come join us here    🦋 vinyasa flow 200 hour yoga teacher training A welcoming, practical, neuroscience-informed training for people who want to teach yoga, or just learn more about it. Dive in, ...

  4. Aug 23

    60. Spotting small moments of joy

    When life is life-y, it's common (and human) for our attention to be more on 'what's wrong'.  The brain becomes busy scanning for problems, looking for what needs fixing and preparing for what might happen next. It's a normal part of being human, but, because the brain is so busy with this, it means we often overlook the small moments of joyfulness that exist in-and-amongst the challenges. This gentle meditation is a step to undoing that a little. Not to try to pretend 'everything is perfect!', but to take a moment to notice the small moments of something lovely, that's already there. These moments may seem small, or insignificant in the face of the business of a modern life, but intentionally bringing your attention to them can help broaden your awareness beyond threat alone.  I hope this short meditation is, in itself, a small moment of joy in your day.  Enjoy.  --- 💤 free challenge: 7 days of yoga nidra I love Yoga Nidra! Come and practise it with me for seven days. Each day, I'll send you a guided Yoga Nidra to practise - different lengths, different focuses, different intentions. You don't need to know anything about Yoga Nidra, nor be "good at meditation", you don't even need to be able to clear your mind! You just need to get comfortable and let me guide you. 🗓️ starts mon 19 October  💻 online & self-paced 😴 save your spot here --- 👋 work with me 💛 1:1 therapeutic yoga Personalised support for anxiety, sleep issues, stress or back pain. Take a look here   🌻 therapeutic workshops and retreats Small, supportive sessions focused on anxiety, deep rest or back health, blending yoga, breathwork and evidence-based education. Come join us here    🦋 vinyasa flow 200 hour yoga teacher training A welcoming, practical, neuroscience-informed training for people who want to teach yoga, or just learn more about it. Dive in, ...

  5. Aug 16

    59. We'll see

    In this episode of All of Yoga, we explore two simple words that can make a surprisingly big difference when you're worrying about the future: we'll see. Drawing on the principles of Karma Yoga and non-attachment, we look at what is within our control and what isn't - and how much time, energy and mental bandwidth we can spend trying to control outcomes that are outside of our control. We'll also explore why letting go of an outcome doesn't mean that you don't care about it and why difficult experiences can sometimes lead somewhere we could never have predicted, something we explore in yoga teacher training (it's a delight!). If you'd love to explore this more, get your free journal prompts for aspiring yoga teachers here.  You'll come away from this short talk with a simple practice for those moments when your mind is racing ahead, trying to predict what will happen next - going from argh to ‘we’ll see’! --- 💤 free challenge: 7 days of yoga nidra I love Yoga Nidra! Come and practise it with me for seven days. Each day, I'll send you a guided Yoga Nidra to practise - different lengths, different focuses, different intentions. You don't need to know anything about Yoga Nidra, nor be "good at meditation", you don't even need to be able to clear your mind! You just need to get comfortable and let me guide you. 🗓️ starts mon 19 October  💻 online & self-paced 😴 save your spot here --- 👋 work with me 💛 1:1 therapeutic yoga Personalised support for anxiety, sleep issues, stress or back pain. Take a look here   🌻 therapeutic workshops and retreats Small, supportive sessions focused on anxiety, deep rest or back health, blending yoga, breathwork and evidence-based education. Come join us here    🦋 vinyasa flow 200 hour yoga teacher training A welcoming, practical, neuroscience-informed training for people who want to teach yoga, or just learn more about it. Dive in, ...

  6. Aug 9

    58. What is the kindest thing you can do, right now?

    Let me ask you, what is the kindest thing you can do right now?  Let's use a bit of calm time, some yoga philosophy, and a little bit of neuroscience to find out, shall we?  Be guided through a meditation to arrive, before exploring a super important concept from yoga philosophy: ahimsa - non-harm. But maybe not in the way you expect! (Kindness does not equal being a doormat!) We'll finish by helping you choose, or decide, the kindest thing you can do, right now.  Enjoy! P.s. Research suggests that kindness is associated with: Greater happiness and wellbeingHigher life satisfactionBetter social connectionA healthier response to stress P.p.s. Liked this? You'll love 🎧 Do the thing, even with fear, listen here 🎧 The other 7 limbs of yoga, listen here --- 💤 free challenge: 7 days of yoga nidra I love Yoga Nidra! Come and practise it with me for seven days. Each day, I'll send you a guided Yoga Nidra to practise - different lengths, different focuses, different intentions. You don't need to know anything about Yoga Nidra, nor be "good at meditation", you don't even need to be able to clear your mind! You just need to get comfortable and let me guide you. 🗓️ starts mon 19 October  💻 online & self-paced 😴 save your spot here --- 👋 work with me 💛 1:1 therapeutic yoga Personalised support for anxiety, sleep issues, stress or back pain. Take a look here   🌻 therapeutic workshops and retreats Small, supportive sessions focused on anxiety, deep rest or back health, blending yoga, breathwork and evidence-based education. Come join us here    🦋 vinyasa flow 200 hour yoga teacher training A welcoming, practical, neuroscience-informed training for people who want to teach yoga, or just learn more about it. Dive in, ...

  7. Jul 19

    57. The Neuroscience of Back Pain

    If you've been living with back pain for a few weeks or longer, you've probably been told that you need to strengthen something, stretch something, improve your posture.  Sometimes those things help, certainly. But sometimes they don't. In this episode, we explore what modern pain science tells us about persistent back pain, and why pain isn't always a direct measure of tissue damage. You'll learn why pain is produced by the brain as a protective response, how stress, sleep and previous experiences can make the nervous system more protective, and why this doesn't mean your pain is "all in your head".  Your pain is real. The question is why your brain believes you still need protecting. We also look at why yoga can help. Not because it magically realigns your spine, but because mindful movement, breathing and awareness can gradually teach the nervous system that it is safe again.  Plus, join me for an in-person workshop, dedicated to helping you find relief from pain: Understanding your back pain: an evidence informed workshop 🗓️ Sunday 9th August  📍 The Attic, Leeds 🙏 Spaces are limited, save your spot here --- 💤 free challenge: 7 days of yoga nidra I love Yoga Nidra! Come and practise it with me for seven days. Each day, I'll send you a guided Yoga Nidra to practise - different lengths, different focuses, different intentions. You don't need to know anything about Yoga Nidra, nor be "good at meditation", you don't even need to be able to clear your mind! You just need to get comfortable and let me guide you. 🗓️ starts mon 19 October  💻 online & self-paced 😴 save your spot here --- 👋 work with me 💛 1:1 therapeutic yoga Personalised support for anxiety, sleep issues, stress or back pain. Take a look here   🌻 therapeutic workshops and retreats Small, supportive sessions focused on anxiety, deep rest or back health, blending yoga, breathwork and evidence-based education. Come join us here    🦋 vinyasa flow 200 hour yoga teacher training A welcoming, practical, neuroscience-informed training for people who want to teach yoga, or just learn more about it. Dive in, ...

  8. Jun 28

    56. Do the thing (even with fear!)

    Fear doesn’t always mean stop. Sometimes fear appears because something matters. This meditation is for the moments when a part of you wants to move forwards… but a different part of you wants to stay safe. A conversation you need to have... An application you want to send... A decision you need to make... Together, we’ll explore what fear feels like in the body. Through grounding, awareness and reflection, we’ll make space for the possibility that fear and courage can exist together; that uncertainty can exist alongside action. So get somewhere that you're safe and comfortable, and enjoy.  P.S. You've got this 💪 --- 💤 free challenge: 7 days of yoga nidra I love Yoga Nidra! Come and practise it with me for seven days. Each day, I'll send you a guided Yoga Nidra to practise - different lengths, different focuses, different intentions. You don't need to know anything about Yoga Nidra, nor be "good at meditation", you don't even need to be able to clear your mind! You just need to get comfortable and let me guide you. 🗓️ starts mon 19 October  💻 online & self-paced 😴 save your spot here --- 👋 work with me 💛 1:1 therapeutic yoga Personalised support for anxiety, sleep issues, stress or back pain. Take a look here   🌻 therapeutic workshops and retreats Small, supportive sessions focused on anxiety, deep rest or back health, blending yoga, breathwork and evidence-based education. Come join us here    🦋 vinyasa flow 200 hour yoga teacher training A welcoming, practical, neuroscience-informed training for people who want to teach yoga, or just learn more about it. Dive in, ...

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About

Yoga is so much more than the physical practice. This podcast explores all of yoga; what meditation is and the benefits, the roots, history and philosophy of yoga, how simple concepts can help us live a more peaceful life, and how to approach the physical aspect of yoga in a safe and beneficial way. If you’re brand new to yoga and wondering what it’s all about, or you’re an experienced yogi looking to learn more about all of yoga - this podcast is for you.

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