This is a pre-announcement that we will be opening our doors both in Huntingdon and Peterborough on 25th of July. Please bear with us as we are finalising the timetable and processes, so that we can enjoy being at the centre safely and responsibly.
We cannot wait to see you in person. We will continue with our live streamed classes, too, in case you can't or don't want to make it in person. Please bear with us as we are pulling all information together. You will get a very detailed update on Friday. Huge thank you, as always, to all the people who have been supporting us. Walk in beauty Sandra
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We'd like to update you on the current situation. As per governmental regulations, we will not be able to open on 4th of July. We will keep you posted about when it's safe and compliant for us to return to the premises. We definitely can't wait to see you all in person! Meanwhile we've been working on our timetable and set up by reading and analysing the results of the survey. Thank you all who took part in it. If you have not already done so, have your say and shape a future Equilibrium that you want to be part of. The survey only takes less than 3 minutes to complete: This is what we've been busy working on:
We will soon send out a second survey with a suggested timetable for you to review and comment on. We'd like your input. Please remember that the survey is anonymous. If you want us to know your name, please put it into the comment box or write to us separately: sandra@equilibriumyoga.co.uk Finally, thank you all for your very encouraging comments and constructive feedback. Thank you all who have been supporting us through this very difficult time by taking part in our live streamed and recorded sessions. Thank you all who have shown kindness through your words and actions. They have been very much appreciated. Walk in beauty Sandra Sometimes a week or days can be summarised by or explored through one word. For this and last week, this word has been "discernment" for me. It has come up for me in a session with my supervisor, who has trained in and taught a psychotherapeutic tradition that is based on Buddhism. One of the definition of discernment (not in the Buddhist sense, but in the broader sense) is "the quality of being able to grasp and comprehend what is obscure" (Merriam Webster Dictionary). Other definitions include words like insight and being able to judge well and accurately. A lot of the work I have been doing is about understanding what is my real and authentic self and where am I stuck in my patterns. Sometimes being triggered, or in transference, can feel like reality. However, I know that when I take my time and importantly slow down, I can distinguish, i.e. discern, between my defences and coping mechanism and my real self, i.e. between what is the immediate and real experience and what I have fallen into, unconsciously.
For me personally, when I'm in my pattern, there is a sense of urgency to do something, a feeling of not wanting to be with what is emerging and a desire to discharge the overwhelming emotions. This is often accompanied with a lack of grounding and thoughts that are in a constant loop. On the other hand, when I'm in contact with my authentic self and what is truly emerging within me vs. the secondary more interpretative energies that are often layered on top, I'm more centred, more grounded and slower. I am in contact with my centre and with what is real. The art is to discern: what is real and what is made up; what is coming from the core and what is story. Walk in beauty. Sandra Brene Brown in her book "Rising Strong" talks about comparison as the killer of joy and creativity and I could not agree more. Endless hours of social media often leave me in a place of confusion, doubt and exhaustion. Part of my commitment to myself is therefore to limit my hours on social media platforms and become aware when I'm moving into comparing myself with others, highlighting other people's achievements, undermining mine and feeling therefore not good enough. I'd like to stress that this has nothing to do with what other people post; it's about my own process. The internal feeling is "I need to do more" and I experience it as a constriction in my chest and frequently my throat. It's in those moments if I can catch myself, be with the direct experience in the body and get out of the story, things shift. What has helped me before is to remind myself to "swim in my own lane", which is an expression Brene Brown coined. She uses swimming for joy and meditation. However in the past, when she synced her strokes with the person next to her, she almost injured herself. Swimming in my own lane for me means feeling into the questions of: What do I need? What brings me joy? What is my own rhythm of life? As a community, we connect through our similarities, but we thrive by making room for our differences. I invite you to make room for your own differences, have your own back and follow your own path. There is no blue print on how to move through these times right now. Be guided by your own feeling and intuition, be inspired by people around you, but stay away from comparing. We'd like to offer a free recording for this week again. With these free recordings we hope to support people who are financially in a difficult place right now and can't afford to come to live sessions or sign up for our recordings. But of course, it's for the enjoyment of everybody. Thank you Marta for your generosity in providing this class. Here is the link to our Timetable including Recordings: Finally, we'd like to remind you that we've reverted back to our regular refund and cancellation policy. We, however, continue to suspend our 24 hour notice of cancellation policy. You will be able to cancel free of charge up until the class starts. Classes will be charged in full if not cancelled at all. This policy is now in place until 31st of May 2020. Please understand that we unfortunately cannot extend passes or membership.
If you have a credit on your account, there is no time limit by which you need to use this credit. You can redeem the credit online when you purchase a drop-in, class pass or any other product/service. The system will give you the option of using the credit to pay or part-pay for your purchase. Thank you all who have been supporting us by purchasing memberships, drop-ins and class passes! Walk in beauty Sandra Words and concepts that have been coming up over the last couple of week are: balance, paradox, juxtaposition, polar opposites, integration and abandonment. They are all qualities of the fourth chakra, the heart chakra, which is the middle point and the centre of the chakra system. Interestingly, on a physical level this chakra includes the heart and the lungs. According to Anodea Judith (Eastern Body, Western Mind), in the heart chakra we continue our individuation, i.e. our journey of finding ourselves and becoming who we are, by developing balance of the inner female and male, anima and animus. This is less about gender than about opposites forces that are residing in each of us. We all carry paradoxes: On the one hand we might want to really come out of the lock down, on the other hand, we might be scared of and tread it. Instead of needing to choose one over the other, Anodea Judith suggests that "the more we allow one kind of energy, the more the other can come through". It's not about either looking forward to OR being scared of it, it's about looking forward to AND being scared of it at the same time. Both are true and the work is to make room for the paradox, in that sense widening our identity and not abandoning parts of ourselves. Thank you all who contributed to these reflections. We hope that yoga enables you to expand and contain seemingly opposing aspects of yourself. Here is a free recording - thanks to Janet's generosity. Here is the link to our Timetable including Recordings: Finally, we'd like to remind you that we've reverted back to our regular refund and cancellation policy. We, however, continue to suspend our 24 hour notice of cancellation policy. You will be able to cancel free of charge up until the class starts. Classes will be charged in full if not cancelled at all. This policy is in place until 8th of May 2020. Please understand that we unfortunately cannot extend passes or membership.
Thank you all who have been supporting us by purchasing memberships, drop-ins and class passes! Walk in beauty + enjoy this bank holiday weekend Sandra Gestalt therapy talks about the paradox of change, which at its core says that change only truly happens when we are fully invested in what is. The moment we push away our experiences and feelings and wish for things to be different, lasting transformation is elusive. This week I have witnessed beautiful examples in my clients and also in myself when there was a letting go and accepting of the moment, often a difficult reality, and how feelings and sensations organically shifted into the opposite direction. By allowing the dark, the light appears. By feeling the pain, excitement enters. By admitting the sadness, hope comes in. Sometimes, the sense is that when we do yoga, meditate or do other mindfulness practices, difficult feelings should not appear. Actually, all these tools help us to relate to what is happening differently, so that we can hang out in the present moment without running away or drowning in the experience. When we can be present with what is, shifts occur and lasting change surfaces - organically and sustainably. Whatever is arising is part of the process and it's pointing us in the direction of our next step. It's not something to get rid of, but something to pay attention to. It's about staying with the direct and immediate experience of what's going on. In that way, we hope you will be able to use yoga as a practice for true transformation. Enjoy this free session from us. Thank you Kate F. for making this possible: Free Recording of Live Streamed Class Finally, we'd like to remind you that we've reverted back to our regular refund and cancellation policy. We, however, continue to suspend our 24 hour notice of cancellation policy. You will be able to cancel free of charge up until the class starts. Classes will be charged in full if not cancelled at all. This policy is in place until 8th of May 2020. Please understand that we unfortunately cannot extend passes or membership.
Thank you all who have been supporting us by purchasing memberships, drop-ins and class passes! Walk in beauty + enjoy the weekend Sandra We hope that you and your loved ones are healthy and safe. I have done a lot of decluttering during the last four weeks. I'm a huge fan of Marie Kondo and just like she says: Once you declutter and tidy, you understand what is important in your life or what changes need to be made. After the clearing process, my triggers around not doing enough especially when it comes to owning and managing a studio have been staring into my face. There are also huge inadequacies around teaching and offering body psychotherapy. When I'm triggered or in psychotherapy terms when I'm in transference, it's like going down the rabbit hole. It has many complicated stages, thought processes, diversions, painful emotions, etc. Most of it is made up and old story. When reading Sharon Salzberg's Real Happiness, which is on the Forrest Yoga booklist, the following jumped out at me: the process is about starting again and again and again. The moment I want to go down the rabbit hole, it's about recognising it, being gentle with myself and then choosing not to go down there - again and again and again. Even though the rabbit hole might feel familiar, seemingly safe, diverting and somewhat comforting, it's not serving me. It has in the past, but not any longer. This is not about eliminating the rabbit hole either, it's about recognising earlier when I'm about to go down there. I love the following paragraph out of Alice in Wonderland: "... suddenly a white rabbit with pink eyes ran close by her. There was nothing so very remarkable in that; nor did Alice think it so very much out of the way to hear the Rabbit say to itself, "Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!" (when she thought it over afterwards, it occurred to her that she ought to have wondered at this, but at the time it all seemed quite natural);...." It's about catching the rabbit with the waistcoat and the pink eyes earlier and understanding that something is not quite right; something got activated. It's about catching it earlier, looking at it, wondering about it and choosing not to go down the rabbit hole. We hope that the yoga sessions we offer can support you to stay out of the rabbit hole. Here is the link to the free class. Thank you Brian for making this possible: Free Recording of Live Streamed Class Finally, we'd like to remind you of our changed refund and cancellation policy. Until 1st of May, we will allow partial refunds back onto your client account, so that you are not losing any unused sessions. Please contact us by 30th of April to get this arranged. Your class pass needs to be valid in order for us to be able to issue the refund. We've also currently suspended our 24 hour notice of cancellation policy. You will be able to cancel free of charge up until the class starts. Classes will be charged in full if not cancelled at all. This policy is in place until 30th of April 2020. Please understand that we unfortunately cannot extend passes or membership.
Thank you all who have been supporting us by purchasing memberships, drop-ins and class passes! Walk in beauty + have a wonderful weekend Sandra I work a lot with Gestalt Therapy, which at its core looks at what is coming to the foreground, in other words what is emerging. Whatever rises to the surface is the next thing to look at and to immerse myself in. What has arisen in my life this week is "shame". It has been prominent in the work I'm doing with others, but also in my own process. Brene Brown's definition of shame in her book "Daring Greatly" is: "Shame is the intensely painful feeling or experience of believing that we are flawed and therefore unworthy of love and belonging." I also like her differentiation between guilt and shame: "Guilt = I did something bad. Whereas guilt can motivate us to do better in the future, shame often is very debilitating and results in us wanting to hide, not be seen and simply disappear. Even though shame is about the fear of disconnection, it actually keeps us imprisoned in the loneliness and isolation. Shame prevents us from talking to one another and thereby making it harder to get out of the spiral. And, we all have shame. Interestingly Brene Brown says that we can't eradicate shame, but we can be resilient to it, i.e. we can go through the experience and come out the other end being stronger and more courageous. Steps in becoming shame resilient are: recognition, awareness, reaching out and talking about it to the appropriate people. My personal experience this week was that I made a mistake and I felt ashamed about it. However, instead of trying to cover it up or try to make excuses, I managed to just fess up to it, feel the guilt around it, feel uncomfortable and sorry, but also know that I'm not a bad person, because of that error of judgment I made. I had my own back in that moment. The way I see the process: It's about snuggling up to the uncomfortable and unspeakable places, becoming aware of them, feeling them and then also speaking about them. My sense is that at the moment, a lot of deeper patterns and injuries are surfacing, accompanied by feelings of shame, anger, frustration and exhaustion. It's easy to move into isolation with that feeling that we are a bad person or that we have not done the work; that there is something wrong with us. I encourage to reach out to people you can trust and who love you and share with them what's going on for you. We feel the live-streamed classes are an opportunity to check in, to connect with one another and to feel less isolated. We also understand that finances might be a concern of yours, so we've made one recording a week available to especially those of you who truly cannot afford a session. For those of you who have the means, recordings are available daily through our website, where regular class rates apply. Even though recordings don't provide the platform to connect as much and you won't get any live and tailored feedback, we hope they are still useful. Here is the link to the free class. Thank you Janet for making this possible: Free Recording of Live Streamed Class Finally, we'd like to remind you of our changed refund and cancellation policy. Until 1st of May, we will allow partial refunds back onto your client account, so that you are not losing any unused sessions. Please contact us by 30th of April to get this arranged. Your class pass needs to be valid in order for us to be able to issue the refund. We've also currently suspended our 24 hour notice of cancellation policy. You will be able to cancel free of charge up until the class starts. Classes will be charged in full if not cancelled at all. This policy is in place until 30th of April 2020.
Walk in beauty Sandra We've had overwhelming support for our online sessions. Thank you all who took the leap to join. Clients' feedback has been great, too. People have commented that being in the live online classes had felt almost like being at Equilibrium. You still receive verbal cues and tailored instructions in the sessions. We feel they are the next best thing to being physically at the centres. Since the announcements one week ago, all online sessions have been broadcast from the teacher's home. Out of this necessity, the issue of the echo has been resolved and the audio improved. Thank you all who contributed to fine tuning the entire experience. We're now muting participants and spotlighting the teacher, so that the screen does not move between people. We're currently varying the timetable from week to week and we'd like to hear your feedback on what is on offer. We feel it's a fantastic opportunity to try different teachers, also. Here is the link for the timetable: Online Scheduler Currently, Julie B. is unfortunately unable to teach a class from home. She has kindly recorded a yoga nidra for you. Here is a link to her free recording: Thank you so much, Julie, for your gift!
See you on your cyber mat! With love, Sandra Thank you for your continued loyalty and support, even during these uncertain times. Our hearts go out to all of you who have been affected by this unprecedented situation. We hope you, your family and your friends are safe and healthy.
Our vision is to continue to support our community as best as we can. We've now put together an extensive online schedule. These classes are with Equilibrium Teachers and streamed live. They are capped at 16 clients for the time being. We'd love to hear your feedback on the schedule, i.e. times you prefer, teachers you'd like to see and styles and levels offered. Currently, the timetable is changing week by week. We've also amended our return and cancellation policy and made it more flexible, so that you are not missing out on the sessions you've already bought. Our amended terms and conditions can be found on our updated blog. At this time, we'd like to offer some pointers on setting up a safe space for doing yoga at home. These are recommendations and we understand that not all of them will work for you.
See you on your cyber mat! With love, Sandra |
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