Autumn must be the best time to take a photograph, nature is so generous in its beauty, with its richest colours and textures, the fire of summer burning through. I love the moment when enough leaves have fallen from the trees to be able to walk in them, but there are a few golden leaves still attached to the tree that catch the sunlight, giving space to see in this new seasonal cycle the pattern of its bark and the curve of its branches.
One of my favourite Wu Tao dances is the autumn, or the metal element. This represents the lungs, the emotion of grief and our ability both to protect ourselves from illnesses coming into the body and to let go emotionally and physically. It is a fantastic dance for shoulder tension and I love the image of the bird rising into the sky, letting go of the heaviness of the earth below.
Shoulder and neck exercises are a major feature of my yoga-shiatsu classes as I suffer myself in this area and try to pass on what works for me. Try this video I made during the early days of the pandemic for a quick fix.
A good massage can be helpful at any time for some 1-1 support. I am so glad to still see Lucy Teed is offering holistic massage at the Tree Room in Colchester. I like her attitude to tension, she holds and works with it and faithfully says “when it’s ready to release, it will”. I think muscle tension goes deeper than what fingers can manipulate, and Lucy’s way responds well to that.
As we prepare for the coldest days of the year, it is a chance to practise yoga that sustains and strengthens, whatever form that may take for each of us. For me, Womb Yoga has been a support for many years, and the simple Namaste Quartet seated sequence is an easy way to soften stiff shoulders and necks while strengthening the arms. It does not require much energy, time, or even skill, but invites grace and stillness of mind, using a soft breath to unite the movements to our attention.
Students might remember a Tai Chi or Womb Yoga warm up sequence that are very similar and are a great start or finish to the day for shoulders and pulling the body and mind together. In Womb Yoga, it comes with a song (ask me about red tent if you would like to know more) in Tai Chi it is done in silence, and like Wu Tao, reminds us of a bird spreading its wings, but this time horizontally. I learnt the Tai Chi version by a Scottish loch, pictured in the background to this blog. But as my teacher showed me, we do not need a postcard setting to get the vibe of nature in all its splendour and healing, our mind takes us there when we let ourselves feel it under our feet.
Perhaps then, autumn is not just a time to watch the leaves fall and let go of our tension, it is also a time to take flight in our liberation and be our own natural splendour with new projects that call us to our higher selves.
One of my favourite Wu Tao dances is the autumn, or the metal element. This represents the lungs, the emotion of grief and our ability both to protect ourselves from illnesses coming into the body and to let go emotionally and physically. It is a fantastic dance for shoulder tension and I love the image of the bird rising into the sky, letting go of the heaviness of the earth below.
Shoulder and neck exercises are a major feature of my yoga-shiatsu classes as I suffer myself in this area and try to pass on what works for me. Try this video I made during the early days of the pandemic for a quick fix.
A good massage can be helpful at any time for some 1-1 support. I am so glad to still see Lucy Teed is offering holistic massage at the Tree Room in Colchester. I like her attitude to tension, she holds and works with it and faithfully says “when it’s ready to release, it will”. I think muscle tension goes deeper than what fingers can manipulate, and Lucy’s way responds well to that.
As we prepare for the coldest days of the year, it is a chance to practise yoga that sustains and strengthens, whatever form that may take for each of us. For me, Womb Yoga has been a support for many years, and the simple Namaste Quartet seated sequence is an easy way to soften stiff shoulders and necks while strengthening the arms. It does not require much energy, time, or even skill, but invites grace and stillness of mind, using a soft breath to unite the movements to our attention.
Students might remember a Tai Chi or Womb Yoga warm up sequence that are very similar and are a great start or finish to the day for shoulders and pulling the body and mind together. In Womb Yoga, it comes with a song (ask me about red tent if you would like to know more) in Tai Chi it is done in silence, and like Wu Tao, reminds us of a bird spreading its wings, but this time horizontally. I learnt the Tai Chi version by a Scottish loch, pictured in the background to this blog. But as my teacher showed me, we do not need a postcard setting to get the vibe of nature in all its splendour and healing, our mind takes us there when we let ourselves feel it under our feet.
Perhaps then, autumn is not just a time to watch the leaves fall and let go of our tension, it is also a time to take flight in our liberation and be our own natural splendour with new projects that call us to our higher selves.
