Special June Event with Kat

Hello everyone, 

I am writing to you from the grassy, flourishing lawn of my sweet garden, receiving shade from our flowering family tree, receiving a sense of grounding from the earth beneath me and wisdom from a fab podcast with Fearne Cotton and Rhonda Byrne. 

I landed back into Bilbao yesterday afternoon after the most magical few days in Ibiza with Bella & Jacob. There really is no other place in the world that literally guides me back into connection with my childlike spirit and a feeling of Nirvana! It's an enchanting place that always peels away all my layers of ego of being serious and stressed - boosting me back to best. 

It's a universal truth that it really doesn't matter how many responsibilities we have, how much we get bogged down and foggy in our busy mind. We all want to have fun, well - we are fun, we are joy, we are love, we are Ibiza! Well maybe not physically Ibiza but you are that energy of fearlessness, magic. Creativity  and you can let go of all the other stuff and feel free. 

I am so excited to announce and invite you to my next event which is called 

The Power of Love 

The power of love is a beautiful mixture of SatSang, yoga, meditation, poetry, journaling, life coaching, music all followed by drinks and a classical British style buffet on the rooftop terrace in the new studio. 

When? It's next Saturday evening, Saturday the 11th June from 19.00 at La casa del yoga. 

Would you like to come and join our friendly community for loving moments on both the mat and within yourself. 

Reserve HERE

Love Kat! 

Why finding fulfilment in life does not look the same for everyone and how to start

If you´d have come to one of my yoga retreats a few years ago you would have found a more naive Me teaching, as a hardcore yoga philosophy girl who clung to her battered copy of the Yoga Sutras like a clutch, that yoga was all about the mind, that yoga was all about service sacrifice and ethics, that yoga was all about this and all about that and it literally took years of practice, study and working on myself to realise that fulfilment/happiness/joy/ spirituality/peace isn't a one-stop-shop for all. It doesn't look the same, it doesn't feel the same and if it's truly fulfilling, it should be beneficial for every aspect of your life, not just one sector of it. But why is that? Why is the definition of true fulfilment, not the way we all traditionally see it and experience it? Surely those strict, judging and extreme yogic attitudes never garnered much success? After all, isn´t that why the Buddha coined the term The Middle Path. So here's why fulfilment shouldn't and can't look the same for all of us…

I guess for the majority of us, at least at one time or another, our first instinct in defining fulfilment, likely would have been the classic working in a job you love, finding true love, balancing your work with your home, owning a beautiful house, maybe having a few cute children or pets - all while being surrounded by a supportive circle of friends and being able to find time to focus on your healthset too. I know as a mama, business owner, wife, teacher, house owner, friend, daughter, dog mummy and wellness lover I did just that and I struggled when I thought I should then have been totally fulfilled... and yet I wasn´t. It's an experience that has defined how and what I now teach as a yoga teacher, retreat host and woman, it´s clear that the classic model of fulfilment is starting to feel outdated in our society, especially one that has endured a certain level of suffering over the past year. Not only are the effects of the last year shaping our ideals in lasting positive ways but as the opportunity to take on far different concepts has expanded - the definition of fulfilment has had to change accordingly with It and the word SOUL is on the tip of everyone's tongue.

I can only assume the first thing that would come to mind when many people hear the word soul, would be what an enlightened being embodies/nurtures and probably a far-out concept we can´t get to grips with. One thing you certainly wouldn't hear often is people exclaiming is how their soul feels - but for me now, it is almost as productive and balanced as life can get. What makes your soul sing? What makes your soul cry? What makes your soul grow? Have you ever really sat down and asked yourself these questions. Your soul is the real part of you, it´s not your body or your mind or your ego or stories, it´s YOU. A soul needs to be filled with purposeful work, it fundamentally needs to serve and give generously to others, creates good actions and kind words, fun in the sun, fun in the rain, organic friendships, great food and drink, time to recharge and cuddles with your sweethearts, hobbies, creativity, dance, music, laughter, tears, pain, transformation and ultimately love galore. If your soul likes shopping for pretty dresses or the latest technological gadget, fine, if your soul wants to live in a camper van - great, if your soul wants to live in a big house by the sea, great… do you get where I am going here. I learned a long while ago now that fulfilment looks, and feels so very different for every single one of us. I also realised it's so very easy to see how one person lives and in turn decimate our own interpretation of fulfilment. Yet what could be fulfilling for one person could be wildly unproductive for another, but that's something we have to learn, accept and act on.

During my hardcore yoga days when I thought suffering was the fast track to get my yogini brownie points, I lost my sparkle and now I've found that with the emergence of my truth, it's become very easy to feel that sense of inner joy if I honour all parts of myself. It´s so easy for people to insinuate that fulfilment comes before hard work or that it is something to be achieved in the future when you have acquired this/that/things and yet with that comes a certain amount of intrusive thoughts and yet what I have discovered is that fulfilment is a labour of love, a day to day journey that should be unapologetically unique to you and your soul, as well as benefitting all the facets of you that exist. Fulfilment can look as different as you'd like it to look and don't let anyone else sway that for you - you do you.

Maybe you´d like to take a few days this summer to touch in deeply with your Soul and REMEMBER who you truly are, if so I would love to invite you on my unique Soul Rememberance retreat this August in Spain from the 22nd-29th. You can read more HERE.

PS: I´d love to know: What things make your soul sing?

Love Kat xx

L

Hacks for health, beauty, fitness and longevity

I recently took a health master class with one of planets top health, longevity, beauty and fitness experts, Ben Greenfield who fundamentally views the world in a new amazing way and busts all the myths and lies of the health and wellness industry. I also embarked on a period of intense training with someone who I consider to be (Yoga Journal agrees too!) one of the globes best yoga experts, Simon Park, I wanted to get to the TRUTH about many things that seem to be hidden from us in a whirlwind of commercial headaches.

I can clearly remember how my Mum, just in her late 50's started to die slowly, she lost all her muscle mass and the skin just hung over arms and legs, her back was so sore and she could hardly walk and her organs slowly collapsed dying, finally at 61. I then took a long hard look at myself at 37, I was a yoga teacher who just assumed that my profession would keep me naturally healthy but I was wrong. I was working so hard with my body and putting far too much pressure on myself to constantly achieve and grow that I was loosing my natural energy and vibrancy, I could see myself ageing rapidly and I started suffering from sore joints and I thought ENOUGH. I closed my yoga studio, changed my yoga method, changed my lifestyle and followed many of Ben's health hacks - within just a few weeks I feel more alive, more youthful, more focused than I can ever remember feeling.

Not only does Ben teach that things like 30 seconds to 4 minutes of exercise a day is way more efficient than spending time in a gym or doing 1 hour intense sessions, that one of the best anti-ageing strategy is starving yourself everyday (while you're asleep and it’s called intermittent fasting!) along with good air, that super slow workouts are much better than fast ones, he also reminded us that as we age we do not have to become elderly, that we do not need to loose our beauty and ability to repair and generate new cells. Here are a few health hacks that I learned from Ben - and remember that this isn't a vanity thing (and if you think it is, you might seriously need to check yourself on that), instead this is your right to living long, vibrantly and joyfully. Essentially, this is your responsibility for being blessed with this precious thing called L.I.F.E.

HACKS

. Ten minutes of light movement as soon as you wake-up before any food.

. 5 minute cold and hot contrast shower.

. Have a coffee or green tea before breakfast to support fat burning.

. Fast for at least 12 hours a day / 16 hours is best. So you have you last meal at 8pm and don't eat again until about 9/10am.

. Cancel your gym membership and go out and hike in nature with the people you love.

. You have to have the RIGHT kind of muscle, it's not the amount of muscle you have it's the quality and it should be lean, tight and look amazing. This will give you longevity. Ben loves slow push ups and Simon Park teaches the most mindful, precise and intelligent yoga system I’ve discovered so it might just be worth slowing down on the mat too. I can’t bear fast yoga, it makes me feel out of breath and sore and those two things are not conducive to health, beauty, fitness and longevity, be brave enough to shop around for a new teacher in town yogis.

. Squat for 30 seconds before meals to set up an inner health system.

. REMEMBER your SOUL is the most important element of your being, keep your soul healthy with good ethics, kind behaviour, gratitude, contentment and service and I highly recommend mantra meditation - you HAVE to have a method to get out of the thinking mind.

. And my personal top tip from the bottom of my heart is to realise that you are already enough, you don’t have to be constantly achieving more, getting richer, getting more status or more popularity - that is the biggest load of bullshit society has been feeding us and it’s time to break that commercial pattern and simply live our lives with ease and joy. Yes, I feel that passionate about it.

Last week, at 37 on an intensive training with Simon Park I realised my soul was light and my eyes were bright!

You are SO worth it, you are so so so so worth it.

You can take Ben’s free masterclass with MindValley here.

Love Kat xx

Pebble Meditation for the family

Bella & I have started to do a short mindfulness meditation with pebbles or shells every night before bed, it helps Bella make sense of the stresses and conflicts that she sometimes faces at home/school/in her mind and it helps me to believe that I am capable of meeting my responsibilities with love.

We first discovered this meditation from Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, the modern day Apostle of peace and nonviolence, sometimes we practice using a video with one of his monks and sometimes we make it up as we go along creating our own version.

This meditation helps us to remember that we are part of the earth and we are made of many elements, emotions and moods. The meditation also helps us both to take responsibility for the way we are being in the world, allowing us to wipe the slate clean every night and enter the new day fresh like a flower, strong like a mountain, clear like water and full of space. This moment together also helps us to bond and love one another unconditionally.

What do you need?
4 pebbles, shells, stones, crystals - something that holds the energy of the earth within it.

Method.
1. Sit comfortably and try not to worry about your little one(s) fidgeting, just make sure you feel grounded and calm and that will have a soothing effect on them.
2. Ask the children to bring their hands into prayer position and repeat the magic yoga word together 'namaste'. If you feel comfortable, children love to chant OM 3 times and SHANTI 3 times, it is OK to laugh and have fun with this.
3. Explain that you are going to do a special meditation and that as human beings we have lots and lots of layers just like onions do; while sometimes we may feel very happy, other times we may feel very sad and this meditation will help us to know that every feeling is OK and natural.
4. Close your eyes and smile and listen to the silence.
5. Take the first pebble in your hand and imagine this pebble is a flower.
Suggested words- Sometimes throughout our day we get very busy and tired, sometimes we may feel dry but it is important for us to remember we are FRESH, just like a flower. Please repeat - I am fresh, I am a flower.
6. Smile and enjoy the silence.
7. Take the second pebble in your hand and imagine this pebble is a mountain.
Suggested words - Just like a strong and stable mountain we remember that we are strong and we are stable. We are strong for our families, our friends and so that we can do all our jobs well with love. Please repeat - I am strong, I am stable, I am a mountain.
8. Smile and enjoy the silence.
9. Take the third pebble in your hand and imagine this pebble is water.
Suggested words- Just like water we understand that sometimes the waves in the ocean can be big and busy but underneath the waves, there is always an eternal ocean of calm. Please repeat - I am an ocean of calm, I am water.
10. Smile and enjoy the silence.
11. Take the fourth pebble in your hand and imagine this pebble is space. 
Suggested words- We all need space, our families need space, we need space, space helps us to remember who we are. Please repeat - I am space I feel space, space. 
12. Smile and enjoy the silence.
13. It is really nice to end the meditation by saying a big thank you to the children for meditating with you and to tell them that they are loved unconditionally. Namaste.

Meditation Tips for Busy Parents

A few years ago while teaching on retreat in Greece I downloaded a book which came highly recommended by my favourite online teacher, Jo Tastula, the book is called ‘Make Me One with Everything’ by Lama Surya Das. Everything in the book spoke to me but there was one section about how we can create a sense of calm and connection within our everyday family lives and not only on retreats or our yoga mats that particularly grabbed my attention.

Lama Surya Das, a great Buddhist meditation teacher, recommends a practice called 'Inter-Meditation' which kinda means instead of thinking that we can only find peace when we are away from the world or when we are alone (of course we do still need this precious time to ourselves), that we can also find this sense of tranquility when we are in the midst of our busy, hectic and sometimes challenging family and working life.

At the time when I read the book life was pretty darn sweet, Bella our daughter was 4 and was just so easy and good, Ru and I had just decided to get married and everything was flowing like a breeze - and then our new beautiful baby boy came along. Jacob sure was a gift from God, one that lovingly and naturally took all of our spare time. If I wasn't soothing Jacob to sleep or feeding there seemed to be a 100 million other things to do with the yoga studio and our daughter. Slowly but surely I went from feeling like Mother Earth to a new Mum with seriously erratic energy and then I remembered the advice from Lama Surya Das. 

Now I try to make snippets of time with the kids into my practice. For example, when I put Jacob in the bath and he's entertained with his rubber ducks I sit crossed legged on the floor watching him and Inter-meditating with him. When he's asleep I spend 10 minutes watching him and inter-meditate with him. I can honestly say it has turned mummy related chores into moments of immense love and gratitude, moments that light up my day. Of course I don’t manage to do this all the time and I accept that at times I am eractic and grumpy but it feels so good to have another path to walk along when I feel things getting on top of me.

If you fancy a go, here’s the technique:

. Inter-meditate by sitting in your kids room at night after they go to sleep. 

. Let a feeling of absolute love and appreciation wash over you. 

. Let go of all the things you need to do just and allow the tension to melt away. 

. Bring your attention to the breath and the sensations in your body. 

. Let the breath become very gentle and relaxed, maybe focusing on lengthening the exhale, keep looking at your gorgeous baby/child and allow your heart to keep feeling a wave of unconditional love. 

. Watch your children’s chest rise and fall with every breath and begin to breathe with them. 

. As you breathe with your child notice how everything feels calm, like there's nothing in the world as important as this very moment. 

. Take this feeling into the challenges and the noise and remember to breathe through it all. 

Blessings to all you gorgeous parents.

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