This Soulful sanctuary is a chance to turn your focus to the stillness within, and to regulate your nervous system at this busy time of year.
Glynde Reach, at dusk in winter
The focus of this curative morning workshop is compassion and kindness, for body, mind and soul.
Olivia (Yoga) and Tara (meditation) will be guiding you, in a nurturing, and supportive environment, through two healing modalities;
Somatic yoga is like balm for the body. It is a gentle and releasing practice that is deceptively powerful. WIth held positions that relieve pain and tension, reduce cortisol and allow the body to deliciously uncoil and relax using its own inherent wisdom. Derived from the Greek word soma (meaning "living body"), it uses slow, mindful movements to help you notice how your body feels from the inside out. This is for all levels and total beginners are most welcome.
Metta bhavana, also know as Loving Kindness, is an ancient, sacred meditation which lieterally means ‘cultivation of unconditional friendliness’. During the practice we offer compassion and kindness to ourselves and others in five stages. Loving Kindness meditation helps reduce self-criticism and enhances empathy and social bonding. It is the opposite of goal setting, an antidote to our lists of ‘shoulds’ or 'non - negotiables'. It is the cultivation of friendliness for ourselves (and others) exactly as we are with all of our messy humaness and flaws. It is a prayer for peace, for ourselves, for those we love and for the world. It has helped me through some very challenging times.
Both modalities are proven to offer many benefits to the system.
Benefits of Metta Bhavana:
Activates brain regions linked to empathy and emotional processing.
Enhanced awareness and insight
Reduces inflammation
Improves vagal tone
Reducing cortisol.
Increases telomere length in immune cells (telomeres are protective caps on DNA within white blood cells and preserving their length slows cellular aging and supports long-term immune defense.)
Benefits of Somatic Yoga
Emotional and physical release
Nervous system regulation
Reduces tension and pain
Boosts mind-body awareness
Improve immunity