Rest as Rongoā is our kaupapa for this lunar cycle. Rongoā means medicine or therapy. Moemoeā means dream or vision. Yoga means union, Nidra means sleep.

Yoga Nidra has been a big part of my yoga teaching and personal yoga journey. For me it is healing. I admit that I don't do it often enough! But I do use all the things that I've learned from it almost daily.

Breath awareness, relaxing the jaw, face, and other parts at night to help get to sleep, and so on. Even the visualisation, and the sankalpa- or resolve , I use often, It is wonderful to visualise, looking at the best self or future self or happy self! I have experienced mush of my visualisations coming true in life. 

I hope you give it a go and do let me know how it works for you. We end our classes with a unique yoga Nidra practice each time. It is often the favourite part of the class for many.  

Rongoā moemoeā, Yoga Nidra, is a deep rest without sleep. It relaxes you on every level. It increases dopamine level...

I step onto my mat and take a breath, releasing as I exhale, and I am once more reminded of the sacred role of this mahi, the sacred assignment to unwind and release, and like mirimiri uses external forces to activate your internal healing, the mirimiri of my breath inside my body, the power of my breath, releases tension built up over days, or even weeks. 

Coming back to myself with the breath, releasing negative thoughts and emotions like a wave washing them out to sea, it may take many more breaths... but eventually I am here.

It can take movements and postures too, and for my own intuition to click in, and find the pose most longed for, most needed.

Somehow it's found, and the thoughts no longer dominate the space inside. That space is free and ready to breathe with my lungs, knowing nothing more than each expansion and release....

Of course it is not always this magical! Sometimes the inner freedom is elusive, the mind does not release and become tau/ settled and o...

"Hā ki Roto - Hā ki Waho"  -" Breathe in - Breathe out"

Sometimes this simple instruction is all we can do. 

"Don't forget to breathe", as a great teacher once told me many years ago.

Sounds simple, but it is the simplest things that can sometimes be the most profound, both in practice, and in practice off the mat- also known as - life. 

A simple way to tell how you are doing in yoga is- to be aware of your breath.

āroa hā = breath awareness ( so close to aroha, which means love and compassion )

In our classes the awareness of the breath, the Hā in te reo māori ( also sometimes known as hau, ngā , manawa and tā to name a few of the words to describe the breath ) is all important, as important as what you do with your body, if not more.

Hā also means your essence.

The breath is the bridge between our body and our mind in yoga. It con...

Yoga for Arthritis – Gentle Ways to Support Your Joints with Yoga

If you’re living with arthritis, you’ll know how it can sometimes feel like your body is working against you. 

The stiffness, swelling, and pain may make you want to avoid movement — but, the right kind of movement is one of the best ways to support your joints and ease discomfort. This is where yoga comes in.

Yoga is not about forcing yourself into shapes or striving for perfection. It’s about meeting your body with aroha, listening to what it needs, and moving in a way that brings relief and balance.

🌿 Why Yoga Helps Arthritis

Yoga offers more than stretching. It can:

 • Ease stiffness by gently moving joints through their natural range.

 • Build strength to support and protect joints.

 • Improve circulation and bring nourishment to tissues.

 • Calm the nervous system, helping with both pain and inflammation.

 • Enhance balance and coordination, reducing the risk of falls.

💭 What to Keep in...

Yoga for Wāhine during the Menopause Transition: A Path to Balance and Renewal

Menopause - Ruahinetanga is not an ending, but a powerful transition — a time of deep wisdom, reflection, and renewal. For many women this season of life can bring both challenges and opportunities.

In Chinese medicine it is referred to as The Second Spring, not an ending but a new beginning.

Hot flushes, sleep disturbances, mood shifts, and changes in energy are common, but so too are insights, clarity, and the chance to reconnect with our bodies in a new and more compassionate way.

Yoga offers gentle yet profound support for wāhine in menopause. It’s more than stretching or exercise — it’s a wholistic practice that nurtures the nervous system, supports hormonal balance, and helps us meet this stage of life with grace.

🌿 Benefits of Yoga During Menopause

 • Regulates the Nervous System -

 Breath work and restorative poses activate the parasympathetic nervous system, easing anxiety...

Menopause- Ruahinetanga, and peri - menopause- are a time of transition.

Some traverse this transition smoothly, and others not so much. If you are the later it is important to remember that you are not alone, and although your practice may change, it may not be necessary to give up completely.

If you're feeling tempted to give up yoga during perimenopause or post menopause, please remember there is a practice for you.

Through my own experience I have found many ways that yoga helped, and it can help you too.

Firstly we may need to be more mindful about what, how and why we practice.

For example Slow, mindful yoga helps to reset your nervous system, and can decrease cortisol, and inflammation. 

Yoga helps us to move our bodies and keep our joints and bones healthy and strong too. 

The postures can offer a mix of movement- for joints and tendons, flexibility, and also strengthening poses such as warrior, goddess pose, plank and so on. Poses help us to maintain ...

Whakaritenga - Ritual  elevate your practice, and open the door to transformation... 

"Routines are concrete repetitive actions that help us develop skills while creating continuity and order

Rituals are routines elevated, driven by intention, and imbued with meaning."

- Esther Perel

Come back to your self by creating a ritual for your practice. And open the door to your inner world, which helps us to know, love and understand ourselves. 

We can move into a deeper practice than we ever thought possible at home, by turning our yoga routine into a Ritual - Whakaritenga.

This is called your sadhana in yoga, your sadhana is your practice that has deeper meaning to you than physical practice alone.

A Sadhana is a practice that enhances our physical, emotional, spiritual, and mental wellbeing. It helps us to grow. It is done with intention, and awareness.

Whatever your reasons to practice, having an intention will elevate it. Your intention informs your ritual w...

Sleep is not merely a period of inactivity; it's a fundamental pillar of our overall health and well-being, impacting virtually every aspect of our lives.

Here's why sleep is so crucial:

1. Physical Restoration/ Wahakaora Tinana: While we sleep, our bodies undergo essential repair processes. Muscles are repaired, tissues are regenerated, and the immune system is strengthened. Without adequate sleep, these processes are disrupted, leaving us more susceptible to illness and physical fatigue.

2. Cognitive Function/ Wānanga: Sleep plays a vital role in cognitive function, including memory consolidation, learning, and problem-solving. During sleep, the brain processes information from the day, consolidating memories and enhancing learning. Lack of sleep impairs these processes, leading to difficulties in concentration, decision-making, and overall cognitive performance.

3. Emotional Well-being/ Kare-a-roto : Adequate sleep is crucial for emotional regulation and mental health. ...

The feminine life force energy is considered the creative force in yoga philosophy, the energy that brings all things into physical form.

This energy is radiant and powerful, it is active and creative as well as receptive and nurturing. 

However, I wasn't told this over two decades agony when I first started my yoga journey. I  learnt my own way of what felt right in the yoga space,  and what didn't after many years of practice and experiencing different teachers. 

Although most participants in yoga were women, many of the classes were strong physical classes, that felt quite competitive and performative at times.

It often seemed that we needed to be more, do more, be more flexible, and stay longer and longer in strengthening poses. 

It just didn't feel right to practice in the way I was being told to, so instead I decided to listen within, to what felt right to me. 

Through experimentation and observation, I came up with the way to practice that resonated with m...

POV - you don't fit the 'standard'  image of yoga - 

Have you ever heard yourself say that you are too big, stiff or old to do yoga? Or maybe heard others say this, as I have heard 100's of times in my 23 years of teaching.

It's a fear that many people carry, and I too am not immune to the fears of being judged - in fact  many teachers carry shame - for not 'measuring up' to the 'standard' image of a yoga teacher. 

....And then comes the fear of being 'too old', so much so that many yoga teachers and students opt out of yoga - at precisely the time they are a well spring of knowledge, when they have the most to offer, or as a student, can benefit from it the most!

We all fear being judged, and with social media it has become a minefield, although this depends on what you look at and allow into your 'feed'.

Thankfully, there is also a growing movement happening now - a much healthier one that is embracing differences  - shape, size, gender, age and ability, so that m...