With the recent outbreak of COVID-19, a cluster of cases being found in the more northern region of the Northern Beaches, the Government has put into place restrictions about what residents can and can’t do. Much to many people’s disappointment, this hasn’t come at the best of times, over the Christmas, New Year and the summer holiday period. However we have an understanding as to the reasoning for why these restrictions have been put in place – in order to contain the number of cases and to keep people safe.

Most people readily accept this, however what I would like to discuss in this article is what can happen when we are put into lockdown and our movements are being restricted and some simple tools to support you to not feel oppressed or restricted.

From discussions with people on the Northern Beaches and getting a feel as to where people are at, it is understandable that many are feeling frustrated and hoping that this pandemic will just go away or that a vaccine will be available soon.

I taught an online yoga class this morning and I shared with the participants of that class how I have been working with the current restrictions to not allow them to affect me. Having open discussions with people, it seems as though many are affected, with some more open to talking about it, and others not, going about their day-to-day life coping as best they can.

So this is what I shared with the class this morning. Restrictions can be put in place and we can be told where we can go and where we can’t. We don’t have much control over this, but what we do have control over is how we move within the restrictions.

As an example, if you walk around feeling frustrated, upset or annoyed that these restrictions are in place and you can’t do what you want, you may spend the whole time in lockdown feeling this way. This isn’t going to be or feel good in your body. – we  can all relate to the damaging and unsettling effect of emotions, attachments or desires in our body.

Perhaps you then go to behaviours to try and dull down these feelings and you end up spending more time eating, watching TV/Netflix and not truly dealing with what actually is there in your body and the tension continues to build.

What I worked with in the first round of lockdown earlier this year and doing again this time around, is using the space to focus on owning my movements. What I mean by this is rather than let my movements be governed by a feeling that may arise due to a reaction brought about by the restrictions, I am focussing on making all of my movements of my body be gentle, nurturing, flowing and in a quality of connection.

When I move in this way, I own my movements and the more I move with and in these qualities, it feels lovely inside. Therefore, it doesn’t matter so much what I am told I can and can’t do as how I move and feel isn’t based on external factors but rather is based upon the feelings that I nurture from the inside. Afterall it is what is on the inside that counts.

The more I focus on this way of being and living within the lockdown, the simpler and expansive become all the things that I go about in my daily life – going for a walk, cooking, shopping, working, calling a friend can all be done in a quality that nourishes and contributes to how I feel moment to moment.

If we don’t consciously and deliberately own our movements, then our movements can easily be owned by our reactions.

Use this time during lockdown to deepen your connection to and with your body. It is worth the effort and the benefits are tangible and invaluable.

Donna Nolan is a Yoga Teacher, Remedial Massage and Bodywork Therapist who lives on the Northern Beaches and works at her clinic in Balgowlah.  She has a deep love of supporting people to reconnect with their body and being. 

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The practice of Esoteric Yoga, The Yoga of Stillness was unlike any other yoga class that I had attended and I must say it was a game changer for me in that I experienced everything that I had always been looking for in yoga, but had not yet found up until that point.

The practice was far simpler than anything else I had ever done in any other yoga class before. The practitioner instructed me to be with my body and to connect with my being. What was offered was an enormous amount of space for me to do this with gentle reminders to come back to my body. The focus in Esoteric Yoga is for the mind to settle into being with the body (conscious presence) and it is through this settlement that we become aware of the being that resides within the body.

A large component of the practice is about being still, that is no movement and deepening into the body through the feeling sense. It involves only a few simple movements, such as sitting up from a lying position, lying back down, a bending of the knee and opening and closing the eyes. These movements are divinely designed and follow a particular order to support the body to the return to its innate state of being, that is stillness – the union of our body and our being.

What is emphasised in these classes is that stillness isn’t about ceasing movement and just being physically still. We learn that we can walk this feeling of stillness and take it into our daily movements. The simplicity of not much movement in the class allows one to reconnect to this quality and then it is about expanding that quality and bringing it into our daily life in all that we do. Esoteric Yoga provides the pathway to reconnecting to this feeling of stillness, it certainly isn’t about leaving it on the mat.

The word esoteric means connecting with our inner-most and the practice of Esoteric Yoga, The Yoga of Stillness is about returning to this place, that part of us which is innate and deep within us all. This part of us is within the inner-heart and is never tarnished or scarred, no matter what we do and we always have a choice to return to it if we so choose.

At the end of that first class I had experienced something different within my body and my being that was somewhat familiar to me, yet it felt like it had been a very long time since I had experienced this, perhaps lifetimes. I had read and heard it described many times in a yoga class or a course, yet had never actually felt it before. It was a deep settlement, a feeling of returning home.

The practice itself was challenging, not due to anything being hard on a physical level, but because of the level of connection to my body that I was being called to as guided by the instructor. There were no postures or breathing practices that I could escape into. The cues were always asking me to be with my body, for the body and being to be at one.

What I experienced was that the more I chose for my mind to rest with my body, to accept what it was that I was feeling and to not try and escape what was there, the more there came an unwinding of the momentum that I had been living in until I felt a settlement and the being and the body uniting as one.

This was what I had always thought and read yoga to be about and I was surprised that I finally experienced this with such a simple practice. I had always thought that the pathway to feeling this union needed to be much more complex.

This class gave me a marker in my body as to what it feels like when I choose to reconnect to me. As I got up and went back out into my day to day living, I wasn’t able to hold that connection like I had felt it in the class, but I had a reference point as to what I now knew was possible to live.

Union, described as the practice of yoga, was no longer something that seemed unachievable or foreign, it was something that was very tangible.

In this class I had felt it in my body and I knew it was only a matter of time before I could live more of this in my day to day life. This ultimately is the goal of yoga, to not just leave the practice on the mat but to bring it into our daily lives, otherwise the practice is something that we use for relief, to make us feel better, rather than a practice that supports us to reconnect with our soul.

Donna Nolan teaches Yoga, Exercise & Massage and is a Bodywork Therapist. She has a love of supporting people to connect to their body and being, in stillness and in movement. Contact Us

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At Yoga & Healing we regularly offer yoga classes (in Sydney – Northern Beaches and Balmain) live and exercise programs online.

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6 – 10 January 2020

7am– 8am | Monday – Friday | with Donna Nolan (nee Gianniotis)

Join Donna for 5 morning classes that will support you in your reconnection with your body and being leaving you feeling rejuvenated and ready to embrace the year ahead. Donna’s classes are deeply supportive and include stretching, strengthening, breathing and meditation.  This intensive is open to the complete beginner to the more experienced student. The word ‘intensive’ here simply means 5 classes in 5 days.

These classes will include

• Body Awareness meditation
• Gentle stretching and strengthening exercises
• Gentle breathing
• Deep connection with your body

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The underlying reason as to why we can feel overwhelmed or stressed is because we have lost the innate connection with our body. We become caught up in the thinking aspect of our mind as to what we need to do next, or delving back into the past rather than being present with what is going on right now in this moment. When the mind races ahead of the present moment, or is located in the past, it leaves a gap between the body and the mind and this is the tension that is felt in the body.

In order to support us in the busyness of our lives, to support us to let go of tension, anxiousness or overwhelm, the key is to bring the body and the mind to a place of union, a place where they are working together. When the mind is directed to be with our body in what we are doing in any given moment, this is called conscious presence and allows the body to settle.

So how do we practice conscious presence?

It is in fact very simple, but does require a consistent practice.
Choose a daily activity that you repeatedly do day in and day out. It may be something as simple as walking or standing up and sitting down in a chair, or opening and closing doors. Next time you do this activity, choose to be very still and present with your body. Feel your body as you do this thing rather than be thinking of something else. Bring your attention to feel your body and choose to do this activity in a quality of connection and gentleness. This is not about just thinking about what you are doing, but feeling what you are doing in the moment.

We often suggest to clients to choose one or two activities to begin with and dedicate yourself to being present whilst doing these. Training the mind is a bit like training a muscle in that repetition and consistency is the key.

In the beginning you may find that you forget and it can take a few days of practice to bring conscious presence into those activities. Once you have these mastered, then add in another activity and then another. These moments throughout your day of being present in what you are doing are your stop moments. A moment for the mind and the body to come together. Over time, your stop moments build throughout the day until you have a continuum of stop moments that become your present way of living.

When the mind and body are working together, the feeling of stress becomes less and less and you may just find that you have more enjoyment in life.

To help you develop a connection with your body, you may like to try our simple 13 minute Body Awareness Meditation.

Donna Nolan and Alexandra Plane offer Esoteric therapies, Massage therapies, Yoga/Yoga Therapy and Meditation at their clinics in Balmain, Cammeray and Balgowlah. Contact them for enquiries or bookings.

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2nd – 6th January 2019 | 7 – 8am | Warriewood Northern Beaches

This intensive is a self-honouring start to your New Year which offers you the gift of resetting and developing a new foundation from which you can move forward into 2019.

Over these 5 morning classes we will explore how to reconnect to the body and to your being. It is through this connection that we come to know our inner-heart, a place that resides within each one of us. It is through a deep honouring of the body that the being that resides within the body can then express outwardly from the inner-heart.

The daily classes will include:

• Tools and techniques to reconnect to the body
• Stretching and strengthening the body
• Gentle breathing
• Meditation

This Yoga intensive is open and suitable for the beginner through to the more experienced practitioner. Each person is encourage to work at their own pace and to their own level.

Your investment: $100
Venue: Warriewood Surf Life Saving Club, Narrabeen Park Parade, Warriewood

Bookings are essential
donna@yogaandhealing.com.au
Phone 0408 783187

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Offer yourself the gift of reconnecting with you with this short session of gentle movements for your body.

To fully enjoy and to get the most benefit from this class, prepare how you set yourself up by lying on your side on a mat or carpeted floor, have support for underneath your head, a blanket if it is cold. Take a few minutes to connect to your body and your breath before commencing this audio.

As a precursor to this class, you may also like to do the Body Awareness Meditation.

We offer regular live online yoga classes/courses. Click here for more information.

Note: This class is a simple and gentle yoga session accessible to all. In the event of existing injury and/or medical condition, please take into consideration any recommendation from your primary care physician and be discerning if the physical movements and exercises offered here are appropriate for you. Listen to your body, enjoy and let yourself be guided what your body feels.

Further yoga class audio’s available for purchase

If you have enjoyed this audio, further yoga class audio’s are available for purchase

• Core strength – 20 minutes
• Yoga in standing – 16 minutes

The cost per audio is A$25 and are available for you to download and use as many times as you like.

Please contact us or phone 0408 783187.

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Yet when we truly practice yoga, we learn to develop a relationship with our body, where we listen to what it is telling us and respond and move in a way that is deeply honouring. After all, yoga means union and how can we be in union if there is not a true respect for the body.

This means no pushing, no hardness, no pain.

With this, there is much to actually gain.

Pain is the body’s feedback mechanism to say stop what you are doing. Our mind can often override this signal, but at what cost to the body? When pain is felt the body responds by causing the muscles to harden up around the injured site for protection to avoid further injury.

So what happens when we actively go into a movement that stretches the body to an extent where there is pain? The connective tissue (or commonly known as fascia) also hardens up in order to protect the body.

Connective Tissue is a system of tissues that runs throughout all the muscles, tendons, ligaments, bones, nerves, blood vessels and organ overlapping and enveloping soft tissue structures like cling film.

So if our aim is to loosen and open the body, to have more fluidity, then why would we induce pain and cause more tension? It just doesn’t make sense.

So if we apply this in the true practice of yoga, then it only makes sense to apply this across the board with all bodywork therapies including massage.

As a yoga teacher, connective tissue therapist and massage therapist, I have come to understand that the best way of releasing tension in the body is through the quality of connection – not force. A stronger stretch in yoga or a harder stroke in massage may offer temporary relief, but does it solve the underlying problem in the long term? I would beg to differ.

For long term healing, the approach that I take as a bodywork therapist is to respect and respond to the connective tissue by working with the body in a connected and gentle way.

As an example, in massage, rather than forcefully working into a trigger point (a point of tension held in the muscle) to access the deep tissue and muscles, the body requires lots of repetitive strokes to first of all warm up the outer layer of muscles allowing access to the next and deeper level of muscles (hence the name deep tissue).

If you try to access the deeper muscles via force and without truly understanding the role of the connective tissue in the body, the outer muscles harden and go into protection going against what we are trying to achieve, which is to relax the muscles. Once the outer muscles have been warmed up, then we can access the deeper tissue in a gentle manner, with no force and without inflicting pain.

With the modality of Esoteric Connective Tissue Therapy we work with gentle hands-on healing techniques performed with slow rhythmic motion on various parts of the body. The therapy works directly with both the physical structures of the body (muscles, joints etc) and the energy that flows through the connective tissue system and in turn releases tension and tightness in the muscles.

By listening to the body and treating it with absolute care and gentleness it leads the body towards it own natural state of healing with no pain inflicted.

Donna Nolan offers Remedial Massage, Esoteric Massage, Esoteric Connective Tissue Therapy, Esoteric Healing and Chakra Puncture. For bookings please call Donna 0408 7838187 or email donna@yogaandhealing.com.au

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So what is our essence?

Our essence is found in that inner-most part of us which when we deeply connect to our body, offers us those beautiful innate qualities that we then naturally express in and from. These qualities as an example may be sweetness, purity, grace, playfulness, tenderness… and the list goes on.

At the core of all those qualities is a stillness, joy, harmony, truth and love – all there for us all to tap into and live from. Those qualities are always there despite the fact that we may have lost sight of them as we get bogged down or burdened with our issues, hurts or simply the intensity of life.

Living from our essence…

We can liken living from our essence to the feeling of what it was like to live as that innocent and buoyant child where the days seemed timeless, where the joy, bounce and love for life was in every step. An image that comes to mind is that little girl skipping along the footpath enjoying simply being herself without a care in the world, or that little boy staring in awe at a bee or caterpillar.

When we are in our essence, there isn’t a holding back, rather there is openness, expression, a joy that wants to shine through for all to see. When we live from our essence, there is an abundance of energy there to be shared with all.

So why is it that most of us are not living from our essence? Why is it that we do not fully shine? Could that be a choice?

Ultimately the key reason is that we have not yet dealt in full with our unresolved issues or hurts. We all hold the responsibility to look at why we are not living with that full honouring and connection with our body, the essence of who we are and the world around us. We can blame others for the way our life is and how we feel or take full responsibility for the fact that we carve out our future by the way we choose to live in the present moment.

One difficulty behind letting our essence out is that if we were to truly shine, then we will stand out from the crowd, people will notice us, we could no longer play it small and will have to step up our responsibility.

Could it be that for many of us it is easier and more comfortable to hide or stay hurt then to make the choice to live all the love that we actually are?

Living from our essence IS a choice, a choice that is there to be made – moment to moment. Connect with our body, our gentle breath, our inner-being and live and express from this place – no matter what.

When we live from our essence, we offer that reflection reminding another that they can choose to live from theirs too.  It is a lot more fun and joy-full to live from your essence than not to. Go on, try it, work with what’s in the way, see how you feel.

Alexandra Plane and Donna Nolan offer Yoga/Yoga Therapy, Meditation, Esoteric Healing, Esoteric Connective Tissue Therapy and Massage at their clinics in Balmain ,Cammeray and Northern Beaches. Contact them for enquiries or bookings.

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Read more about meditation and download further free Meditations.

Donna Nolan and Alexandra Plane offer Gentle Yoga Classes and Meditation in group, private sessions and live online. Contact us for more information.

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