Posts In: wellness

by Jaccy

Our emotions can influence our health and wellbeing and our day to day life.  Feelings of sadness, anxiousness or fear can leave us feeling hopeless or scattered.  Yet feelings of joy, peace and positivity can change our outlook in a moment!

It’s so important to learn to connect with ourselves, know our feelings and how we can support ourselves.  Yoga is my daily moving meditation, the practice I use to stay balanced, calm and centered.  My other favourite way to support my emotions is through the use of essential oils.

Essential oils have been used by civilisations for thousands of years, for religious ceremonies, cosmetics, medicine and many other applications.  From regions as diverse as Egypt, China and Rome, essential oils have been recognised as a way to bring our physical and emotional beings into equilibrium.

Self care is so important, yet so many of us struggle to find even five minutes to be kind to ourselves.  Essential oils are a quick way to add something special to any moment of your day to support your whole being.

Release anxious feelings

Feeling anxious before going to work, school, exam, meeting?  Place one drop each of lavender and orange in the palm of your hands, rub together and slowly breathe in.  You can rub the excess oil onto your chest and soles of your feet to continue absorbing the benefits of the oils.

Find your focus

Are you procrastinating, lacking the focus and concentration to finish your project, assignment, website?  Peppermint and lemon are the perfect oils to give you that uplifting, energising boost!  Place two drops of each oil in a diffuser and set in the room where you’ll be working.  This will help create the ideal environment to set your intentions and finish your work.

An added tip – ever had a headache or mental overwhelm from concentrating too much?  Try wiping a little bit of peppermint oil on your forehead, temples and back of your neck and enjoy the cool, stimulating sensations from the oil.  Be mindful when putting oils near your eyes, it’s better to put your fingertips closer to your hairline.

Sleep better

We all know how important sleep is but a significant number of us don’t get sufficient quantity or quality of sleep.  There are so many essential oils that can help to relax and calm us, setting us up for beautiful, restful sleep.  Mix one drop each of cedarwood, vetiver and orange in your favourite carrier oil.  Then massage into your wrists, soles of feet and chest to find your blissful sleep.

Interested to know more about how these beautiful plant oils can support and nurture you and your family?  I’d love for you to join me at our next Emotional Wellness with Essential Oils class.  All of our essential oils classes will allow you the opportunity to experience the power of essential oils and make your own blends to use.

I’d love to hear from you! Leave a comment below to share your self care tips or let me know if you have any questions 🙏

by Jaccy

Like the end of class, the beginning is always quiet and introspective.  A moment to leave the busyness of the day outside.  Taking deep, nourishing breaths as you allow yourself to arrive on your mat.

After those few minutes of settling into practice, we have the opportunity to connect with our own dedication for practice.  In yoga we call this a sankalpa.

A sankalpa is a positive, life affirming statement, allowing us to create the life we want to live.  It’s similar to a new year’s resolution that we’ve all set at some stage, however a sankalpa starts with “I am…”.  And it doesn’t have to be set on 1 January 😉

Your sankalpa helps to provide a direction for life and honour the deeper meaning of your existence.  When the mind is calm and quiet at the start and end of practice, we connect with this heartfelt desire, that which honours our highest truth.  

I love this quote from Swami Satyananda Saraswati: “The resolve you make at the beginning of the practice is like sowing a seed, and the resolve at the end is like irrigating it”.

Here are three steps to setting your own sankalpa to create a more balanced, happy and fulfilled life.

1 – Keep it short and simple

Choose one short and simple sankalpa, something that you will remember for every practice.  Your sankalpa doesn’t have to be an elaborate affirmation that’s shared with the world!  Your sankalpa is yours to treasure.  For inspiration on what your sankalpa might be, see how these resonate for you:

“I am aware and compassionate”

“I am in perfect health”

“I am radiant and energised”

“I am abundant and successful in all areas of my life”

2 – Stay with the same sankalpa

Once you’ve planted your seed, you want to keep watering it until it germinates and flourishes.  So too with your sankalpa.  Plant the seed at the start of practice, allow the flow of asana, breath and meditation to honour your intent, and feel everything integrate and settle during savasana.  Once your sankalpa has manifested in your life, it’s time to plant a new seed.

3 – Positive language

Repeat to yourself “I will eat healthy” and then “I am caring for my being be eating healthy food” – do you feel the different energy these two statements create in your being?  When setting a sankalpa, it’s important to use positive language, and to state our intention in the present tense.  This helps to remind ourselves that we already hold within us the capacity to transform our life in a most amazing way.

As Wayne Dyer says, “Our intention creates our reality”.  Create a beautiful intention, and you’ll have a beautiful reality.

We often hear new students share with us that they aren’t flexible enough for yoga. For many of us, being inflexible is the very reason we start yoga! To help our bodies feel freer, so we can move with ease and feel tall, strong and energised.

I didn’t practice yoga when I was in my teens, yet it would have been the best thing for me. Do you remember the sit and reach test? I did a lot of sport when I was at high school but my flexibility was terrible! So much measuring and comparing at school, and PE (physical education) was not immune from this. One of these was the was the sit and reach test – feet against the box with a ruler measuring how far you could reach. I didn’t even get to zero, to my horror I was a minus 🙁 Minus five to be precise, the only female not to touch her toes.

For some reason this day has always stayed with me. Even though my hamstrings still feel tight and I’m not the super bendy yogi in the magazine, I remember how far I’ve come. And also to bend my knees a little – it’s how it is for my practice 🙂

Everyone can enjoy a yoga practice. The simple act of being still and focusing on the breath is a great place to start. You can do this seated, standing, lying down or walking. Our Yin classes are the perfect place to experience this connection. Taking your time to melt in to the postures as you focus on your breathing. Finding softness and release as the minutes drift by.

Yoga is not only about the physical benefits (of which there are many for you to experience). One of the things I love most about yoga is that it allows us to improve our wellbeing on many different levels. Increased mental clarity, emotional balance as well as improved physical flexibility, strength and posture.

Our vision has always been to create a space where students are respected and accepted exactly as they are. Your own range of motion, whatever that is today, is all you need to start benefitting from yoga with us.

Your yoga is completely different to the student that is standing next to you, and that’s what makes it such a beautiful, individual experience.

Tell us in the comments below – what is it that you most appreciate your practice? I can’t wait to hear from you 🙂

San Francisco to Singapore – even before we left the hotel the oils were out and helping me feel even more amazing 😊

Our immune systems can become compromised when we travel. New environments, new bugs, different food… I like to be proactive about staying healthy, both at home or on holiday. My two favourite oils for this are OnGuard and Frankincense.

OnGuard is also called Protective Blend (you can find more information here on the studies confirming the amazing properties of this blend). When travelling, I use the oil on my throat and soles of the feet each morning and as needed throughout the day. And if I need an extra boost, OnGuard is safe enough to add to water (it tastes great in warm water with honey and coconut oil if you have this on hand).

Frankincense is part of my daily self care ritual and I love to place a drop under my tongue in the mornings to support my immune system – I also find it helps to get rid of that morning fogginess (whether travelling or not!).

Using the oils while travelling makes me feel like I’m doing the best I can for my physical, mental and emotional health. And there are myriad of ways the oils can help support us.

I have a special hydrating blend of oils including lavender, sandalwood and a few others, mixed with jojoba oil, which I love to massage on my face mid-flight. During one of my walk arounds the plane, one of the flight attendants asked if I was there to do face massages for them – cheeky!

DigestZen helps with my bloated tummy – rubbed on the skin and also a drop in water. If you run out like I did this trip, Peppermint is amazing for pretty much anything. Tummy complaints, headaches, when you need to clear sinuses and your mind – it’s a daily go to.

It’s rare to see fresh lemons on the plane. A drop of lemon in water helps to provide cleansing and digestive benefits.

Balance is one of the oils I always have in my handbag, promoting tranquility and balance of emotions. I apply Balance to my feet most days and especially before take off to relax and feel grounded.

To aid in relaxation and sleep, Lavender Peace is another amazing blend to calm the senses. Add in an eye mask, this oil will promote sleep and serenity even mid-flight.

The scents from the oils is enough to bring calmness and harmony to a space – the flight attendants thanked me for making the cabin smell so good 😊

I’d love to share more of my tips and experiences on using the oils in your home. Join us at one of our upcoming essential oils classes, you’ll find the details here. Learn how you too can be healthy, grounded and happy – both mid-flight and during normal life. You will be able to glide through life with joy and bliss. And smell amazing at the same time 😊

It seems that our holidays coincide with escaping from the cold Perth winters. Yes I said cold – we do get below 5 degrees here and yes jackets are essential!!  Last month we had the pleasure of discovering California in the summer.

Getting to anywhere that isn’t South East Asia is an epic journey. Our combined flight time was 22 hours each way, not including stopovers, delays, getting to the airport, getting to the hotel… the joys of travel!  So finding ways to cope and maintain our sanity was important!

The excitement of food, no internet access and endless TV and movies started to wear thin. My lower back was tight, sternum felt compressed and all I wanted to do was lengthen my spine and twist my insides. Movement in a plane is  limited at the best of times – so a full round of sun salutation A was not going to go down well with my fellow travellers.

Enter the friendly flight attendants! After meal services we’d sneak into their kitchen area to move our bodies.  

My first move? Forward bend to let my spine waterfall forward and decompress – bliss! Hands sitting on top of my feet (I’m a germaphobe so no hands on ground happening here!), knees bent to give my tight hammies some relief. And then it was time to get creative with the props available!

You’ll see that slippers come in handy to keep those hands clean 😀

Hips need some loving? Always enough space for malasana (yogic squat)!

How about testing that balance miles above the earth, little bit of wobble to fire up the core muscles?

And my favourite downward dog modification – using the wall!

But the fun didn’t stop there! Back in the chair, more forward bends and then some twists – binding to make sure there were no elbows where they shouldn’t be. 

And once we hit the ground? Heading straight to the studio for class 😍  

Where we’d love to see you too! So you can learn asana (yoga postures) to keep your energy flowing and body feeling great as you move through life. We’d love to know your favourite travel asana – leave us a comment in the box below!

Next week I’ll share with you my must have essential oils for travel – I may have overpacked but it was worth it 😊

Entertaining the thought of committing to your practice and investing in your own yoga mat?  Trust us, you will never look back after you have your very own space to practice on!

We have had many mats over the years, from the most basic version through to the best (in our opinion!) money can buy and have discovered there is something quite special to having your own mat.

1 – Your personal sanctuary

Some days, practice looks like rolling out your mat and lying in butterfly pose for twenty minutes.  Or just standing in tadasana and seeing what happens.  That simple act of gently unrolling the mat, stepping on to that space and breathing is the spark we need to move into our practice.  We develop a special connection with ourself and our practice by having something that is just for our yoga.  Stepping into that positive energy, the mat represents truly committing to ourself and wellbeing.

2 – It’s always with you

Yoga happens everywhere.  At home, on the plane, in the park.  Hotel room, on the beach, in the studio.  Having your own mat allows you the opportunity to practice whenever, wherever.  

3 – Cleanliness 

We move, we sweat, we laugh, we cry on our mats.  It’s all a part of your practice.  So it’s comforting to know when you nestle into child’s pose, forehead on the mat, that you are connecting with you.  Your efforts, your energy, your scent.

Our favourite mats

The mats that we personally use are JadeYoga mats.  JadeYoga mats are made in the USA and appeal to us on so many levels.

Firstly, they are eco-friendly – made from natural rubber, a renewable, sustainable resource.  This means the contain no PVC or synthetic rubbers and are 99% latex free.

Secondly, every time someone buys a mat, JadeYoga will plant a tree!  In collaboration with Trees for the Future and the receiving community, our purchase helps to provide environmentally and economically sustainable projects.  

So far, the warm and fuzzy box is definitely ticked 😊 But what about performance?

JadeYoga mats are the only ones we’ve practiced on that pass the “slip test” – those moments in class when your heart is beating strong, you’re hot, sweaty palms and moving in to (what feels like the fiftieth!) downward dog.  The natural rubber helps your hands and feet to stay put, safe, secure and comfortable.

And they are durable!  When you know your mat will last you 5, or even 10 years, supporting you through a daily practice, you know you have made the right investment. 

And lastly, just like us, JadeYoga is a family owned company ❤

Ready to commit?

Want to try before you buy?  We have JadeYoga mats available for you to trial at the studio.  You are welcome to use these during class or come down during our studio open hours for a test stretch.

So, what are you waiting for? We have JadeYoga mats in stock in a range of beautiful colours so you can personalise your practice. Visit our website to put your name on one today.

We just know that you’ll love your very own mat and will appreciate the subtle motivation seeing your mat in the corner of the room gives 🙏

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