I want to live here x

Lula Magazine 

Gillfords Circus by Ellen Von Unwerth

TOPSHOP 214 by Saga Sig 

Mysore Yoga Day 2 & 3 :

I was warned that the first few days of practice is the ‘detox period’ but maaaann do I feel it. Its a strange correlation as I feel my mind become clearer as my body release its toxins making me feel heavy and sluggish. My body aches, muscles I didn’t know I had ache! I would have though the pain would hinder me from doing more poises but everyday as I step into the yoga room, with its warm and comforting atmosphere, the pains and aches seem to fall away as I am overcome with a determination to keep going. Only after 2 days of this morning practice, I have done things I never thought imaginable such as holding my entire body weight off the floor in lotus (crossed legged position), band bends and shoulder stands. You progress so quickly, it actually blows my mind! The teachers all seem to know a secret we don’t as they come over to adjust you in a way that motivates you to solider through. It seems they know better than we do of what we are capable off. Such an example is when my teacher lead me through shoulder stands, saying things like ‘do it, because you can’ like some how she knew my body was capable of what my mind didn’t think possible.  It really enforces the idea that ‘anything is possible if you just believe’,  we all have such powerful strength locked within us waiting to be unleashed. ♥

Mysore Yoga Day 1

This week I embarked on my first morning mysore yoga practice*. I felt my teacher, Susan has been silently urging me to do it for months but I let the usual excuses get in the way. ‘Im too busy with college work’ ‘Im too tired’ ‘8am? your crazy’ but now that I am done with college for the year (goodbye third year!) I can finally have some ‘me time’ to focus on yoga, something I have grown to love. 

Day 1:

Today’s class was so different to normal classes, where we normally move in unison, following a routine of moves demonstrated by the teacher, this was a much deeper and more personal practice. My teacher would come over, instruct me on a few moves and then move around the room helping others as I attempted the routine myself. With all the heaters on full blast, the walls were sweating and the energy in there was incredible. People from all levels in this warm enclosed space for the purpose of practicing yoga, what ever it was that motivated them to come. Time seemed to stand still as I practiced the Ashtanga routine to the best of my ability. By the time I had finished, I could hardly believe it had only been an hour and a half! It felt like an eternity there doing back bends and downward facing dogs! I didn’t want it to end as I lay in shavasana (the rest period) feeling balls of warm energy in my hands.

Rediscovering yoga has been the best thing about this year. In my teens I dabbled with it here and there but looking back now I can see that I was too selfish and immature to grasp the full concept of yoga. 

My dad was really the one that first ignited this curiosity. He moved to Hong Kong from England when he was 23 (only 2 years older than I am now) where he became interested in the ways of the East. He was taught by the guru, Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi the founder of Sahaja Yoga, which is centred on meditation and self realization. From the stories he used to tell me, he would described her as ‘something else’, a unique spiritual individual with an extremely powerful presence.

I never met her but I remember her smile and ‘the strange red dot’ on her forehead from the ring and necklace my father wears as a tribute.

I didn’t try to follow in my fathers foot steps, it just kind of happened on its own in my own way.

Last October, there was a free taster lesson at Bistro Yoga School in Edinburgh, I went along with a few friends for a laugh and that was it, I was hooked. What started as a weekly practice became 3 or 4 times a week as I found I began to crave yoga. At times when I felt lost in the superficial subject of fashion, yoga made sense and grounded me as I felt I was doing something with a purpose. Yoga isn’t just a form of exercise; it is about connecting your mind to your body and ultimately is a way of life. But I can’t pretend to know what I am talking about as I am so early on in my practise. It takes years, DECADES, to master. All I can say is that I am so glad that I have found time and room to bring yoga back into my life. I feel this is only the beginning of a long love affair. ♥

* What is meant by Mysore Style Ashtanga Yoga?

 Ashtanga Yoga is traditionally taught in what is called ‘Mysore style’, named after the city of Mysore, India where Sri K. Pattabhi Jois (affectionately known as Guruji to his students) has been teaching this practice for over 70 years.  A Mysore style class differs from most yoga classes in that the students all appear to be doing their own thing and the only sound in the room is deep breathing.  In fact, everybody is following the particular asana series that they are working on, most likely primary or second series, in the same precise order of asanas but to their own individual breath rhythm.  Basically it is a self practice done in a group setting.  The teacher, or teachers, are walking around the room helping everyone on a one-to-one basis, adjusting or assisting the asanas and generally helping the students to do, and understand, the practice in a way that is most beneficial to each student’s body and circumstances.

elle:

Diane Kruger in Versus at the Cannes festival jury photocall.

If ever I am having a bad day, good food always cheers me up x

• fish fish fish! love my omega 3 (especially when tescos is reducing ;) )
• coconut water  (naturally hydrating, & as it says on the bottle, ‘like sticking a straw into a coconut’ )
• fresh fruit
• nuts, seeds & dried fruit
• honegar (honey & apple cider vinegar mixture - amazing with hot water) 

Im a reminiscer, I always find my self looking back at moments trying to grasp how I felt at the time and how time has changed my perspective. More than ever, I am recently realizing just how young I am. When I was younger I used to think ‘We are young, youth is all we have’ but I have come to see that isn’t true at all. Yes, youth is important and we should all embrace the ‘fountain of youth’ that I am sure we naively take for granted, but it isn’t all we have. I am SHIT SCARED of growing up because of all the uncertainties we face like the daily thoughts of who am I? where do I want to go? what do I want to be? However, with that fear is paired with an equal sense of excitement for the unknown. I can’t wait to freakin live my life!♥ I want to get old and have stories to share,  photos to show of a life I lived.  We only get one and I want to make the most of it. :) 

A 

xx