Book – Notes on a Nervous Planet – Matt Haig (2019)
If you scratch the surface Anxiety is a lot more prevalent in our society than people realise – and of course the stigma that still surrounds Mental Health means we don’t freely talk about it. That stigma needs to be broken down – anyone can...Yoga Therapy and Cancer Care
I saw this article online on the BBC today Complementary cancer therapies ‘do more harm than good’ https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-50409431 In the main, it’s referring to herbal remedies, and it’s arguable whether these really qualify as a...Book: 21st Century Yoga: Culture, Politics, and Practice – Horton and Harvey (2012)
We roll out our yoga mats, and move into our practice. But how often do we stop to think about how Yoga fits into our wider society? The image it presents? The space it occupies? How it addresses a wider demographic than the studio or our home shala? If you follow my...Book: Presence – Amy Cuddy (2015)
Anyone attending my classes will be from time to time heard me reference Ms Cuddy’s work around “Power Posing” – using body pastures to stimulate confidence – based around her Ted Talk in the topic. Typically these would be the big expansive standing...Book: Yoga Body – Mark Singleton (2010)
I read this book a few years ago, my notes in the cover say almost five years to the month, and it’s been nagging at me for a reread for a while. The author sets out to examine the development of development of modern postural yoga – the type of thing that’s the...Book: The Yoga Tradition – Georg Feuerstein (Third Edition, 2008)
When we roll out our mat we seldom – or at least that’s my experience – think consciously about the traditions and history behind our practice. There’s a rich and varied heritage to yoga, and it would be a lifetimes practice to understand it. This book,...Book: How Emotions are Made: The Secret Life of The Brain – Lisa Feldman Barrett (2017)
We would all like to feel we can identity emotions – in ourselves and others – fear, anger, shock, et al. But what actually are these emotions? Are they are hard wired if-this-then-that response in our brains, seemingly making the brain a complex computer,...Book: The Big Fat Surprise – Nina Teicholz
Diets… Low Fat, High Protein, Low Cholesterol, Low Dairy, Low Meat, 5 A Day, Food Pyramid… A quick search in google and it seems everything is potentially bad for you and knowing the right diet, and separating fact from hyperbole, is not easy....Book: Kundalini Rising – Various Authors
Kundalini Energy is a key theme of the yoga tradition. It represents a dormant power in the body awoken as part of a process of awakening and enlightenment. So far, so good. However Kundalini gets a mixed review – in some yoga traditions activating...Book: Stalking Wild Psoas: Embedding your Core Intelligence – Liz Kotch
Psoas is a term you may hear in a yoga studio, often blamed innocently for all manner of crimes. Or a term you may hear from your physio, masseur or any other body worker. Those with anatomical knowledge will know it as a muscle, running from the lumbar...Yoga Therapy – Whats It All About
You may have seen me use the term “Yoga Therapy” in social media, and indeed on this site – so whats it about? What makes Yoga into Yoga Therapy? What is Yoga Therapy About? Yoga Therapy uses Yoga practices on a tailored basis to help with wellbeing...Book: When the Body Says No: The Cost of Hidden Stress – Gabor Maté
Theres no denying that modern medicine has progressed in leaps and bounds over recent decades much to human kinds benefit. However has something been lost on the way? Its not so long ago that as well as a medio-scientific perspective on health, there was also a...Book: Your Spine Your Yoga – Bernie Clark
This is the third volume in the author’s five part work on variance in Yoga practice – two years ago I reviewed volumes one and two, and volumes four and five are still to be published. As with volumes one and two, looking at functional anatomy and the...Book: Too Many Pills – James Le Fanu
“How too much medicine is endangering our health, and what we should do about it” In the introduction the author, a retired GP, references that “In just fifteen years the number of prescriptions issued by family doctors in Britain has increased three-fold”...Book: Keep your Joints Young – Sarah Key
Joint pain can be one of the most debilitating things we experience – at best annoying; at worst restrictive; at very worst all consuming. Sometimes, eg accidents, unforeseen circumstances, physiological issues, joint pain is outside of our control. ...Clarifying Yin Yoga
A sad facet of modern yoga is the divisiveness that adherence to lineages and traditions can, sometimes almost blindly it seems, generate amongst Yogis. I’d hope that any one I’ve spoken to about yoga styles would feel that I’ve been honest on two levels: first in...Book: Younger for Longer – Dr Duncan Carmichael
“How you can slow the ageing process and stay healthy for life” I suppose remaining young is appealing to us all, even if I relished a little reaching 50 and allowing myself to be (more) cranky and temperamental. The author is a medical doctor, and his interests have...Book: Stalking God – Anjali Kumar
“My unorthodox search for something to believe in” We meet the author, a lawyer working for Google, just after the birth of her daughter, seeking to find spiritual meaning to pass on to her child. Over coming months we follow the authors visits to shaman, conmen,...Book: A Beginners Guide To Loosing Your Mind – Emily Reynolds
‘My road to staying sane, and how to navigate yours” The taboo around Mental Health, and talking about it, has thankfully receded to a degree that allows books like this to be published. And valuable writing it is. The author gives her account of personal experience...Socials and Feeds
