Newsletter

Viniyoga Teacher Trainer Graduation Kim Mackie and I have arrived back from Chiang Mai in Thailand, proudly bearing our teacher trainer certificates in Viniyoga. Over the last two years, Kim and I have been part of a group of 16 experienced Viniyoga Teachers and Viniyoga Therapists, undergoing intensive hybrid training (both…

The gardens are blooming, and the meadows are peaking; they are as colourful and teeming with life as they are going to be! The summer solstice on the 21st marks the height of the sun’s radiance in the northern hemisphere. The days are long, the nights short, and life is…

I took a holiday with my daughter to the South of France, and whilst wandering amongst a hilltop garden, we came across a few small gatherings of yoga students with their teachers. It reminded me of how yoga was traditionally taught in India, outside and sitting at the feet of…

A new moon – a moment of renewal, reflection, and quiet beginnings. The sky, though dark, is brimming with unseen potential, just like our lives in this very moment. The new moon reminds us that every fresh start begins in stillness, in the space where we choose to release what…

Welcome to March at Dorchester Yoga and Therapy Centre.This month we reach the Spring Equinox when day and night are momentarily the same length. A brief moment of balance before the days become longer and the light encourages the energetic growth of Spring and the excitement of all that we have to…

February heralds the first signs of Spring and this return to life is celebrated traditionally with the pagan fire festival Imbolc on the 1st of February. What joy the first snowdrops bring as they push up through cold hard ground, the company of a robin as you venture back into the garden…

The natural year can act as a guide to living, and if we let it, January is a great time to start. If you step outside and look for activity you will find very little. Even the moon this year is at a ‘major lunar standstill’ a phenomenon that happens…

Stillness covers the land as we enter December. The earth’s energy draws down the life force of trees and plants, nourishing and supporting their roots for a well-earned rest. The long hours of darkness encourage us to do the same, so dim your lights, sit in candlelight or the light…

In October we were bendy like the tree branches in the wind, Cheree Low showed us how to work up to getting our feet behind our head in her Iyengar Yoga workshop; Bhairavasana, such fun, something I hadn’t achieved in a while. Ness Sherry encouraged her students to find an easy approach to…

Non-violence, truthfulness, not-stealing, moderation in our actions and not accumulating are the five social constraints which are part of the Eight Limbs of Yoga that help us in our search for a meaningful and liberating life.

 I hope everyone has had fun, relaxed, enjoyed the outdoors, the abundance of nature and the long hours of daylight. Tim and I have been in the countryside of Mid and Southern France, practising our yoga and tai chi respectively, swimming in rivers and lakes, reading and eating delicious food….

This newsletter will cover July and August’s news and events and then there is no newsletter until September. We have passed the longest day of the year, and many of you may have celebrated the Summer Solstice enjoying the long light evenings. Although the days are becoming shorter and we…