If you are a class attendee already, do please check your email for a video update which I sent out earlier. If you are a new visitor to our yoga community, hello and welcome. If I can answer any questions or if you’d like to say hello, do please drop me an email at kimmiecues@gmail.com.
Here is what is, what is new, and what is adapting for our class timetable.
Following valuable feedback regarding the restorative classes which ran a few weeks back, I am delighted to be adding a Sunday Evening Restorative yoga class 6-7pm, beginning on 18th April.
Wednesday morning yoga continues 8-9am.
Thursday evening yoga continues 6-7pm.
The Monday class has tended to be fairly quiet and I have been considering how best to proceed with this. I have decided that for the remaining Mondays in April, this session will continue 6-7pm, with a different format. These three April Monday sessions will be a more of a discussion forum where we might explore some of the broader benefits and branches of yoga and how these can be or are already part of our lives and of our pose practise. We may look at some specific pose queries, breathing, mediation and will end with a relaxation. I am happy for this to be a fairly fluid format to see what works and after April, can review and see what might be a helpful compliment and exploration in your yoga practice. These three April Monday sessions will be free to join, 6-7pm.
So, in summary from next week, the class timetable is:
Monday evening 6-7pm (April) (discussion, pose workshop, yoga outside of asana) Free to join
Wednesday morning 8-9am
Thursday evening 6-7pm
Sunday evening Restorative 6-7pm
Classes remain at £7 per class or £25 for a block of 4. Please email me for any queries or booking and payment details.
It’s been a little while since I last posted. It is oddly difficult sometimes to find the quiet times for contemplation. Perhaps it is just me that finds this? Even during these unprecedented times of lockdown, it can still be so easy to find distraction, to find something else to fill your time, to draw your attention. I might even say that this is more true for me at the moment than it has been before. I came to pause and wonder, why is it that I cannot sit still with my thoughts? It can be an uncomfortable place to be – just there with your thoughts. Life, it seems, promotes noise and bustle and upward trajectory – to do well, to do more, to be good, to be better. I feel like sometimes we lose the moments of now – this is me right now, this is what is right now. I’m drawn to an Eckhart Tolle quote: ‘Doing is never enough if you neglect Being’.
Hello and a very heartfelt thank you to everyone who donated and joined our February event to raise money for the International Anti-Poaching Foundation. I hope that you enjoyed the course and do keep an eye out for more like it in the future.
I am so excited to be offering our February fundraising project for the International Anti-Poaching Foundation and am busying myself building up some fun classes for the occasion.
I am also delighted to be offering an additional option for the fundraiser for those who might not wish to attend the weekly course sessions,. That is to use your £20 donation for a voucher for a bespoke one hour one to one session which will be delivered via Zoom and tailored just for you. Or, why not gift a voucher to a friend or loved one? Email kimmiecues@gmail.com if you are interested in this option and I would be delighted to discuss further.
I am delighted to be offering this course of 4 Sunday classes over the month of February for your enjoyment but also in support of the incredible work undertaken by the International Anti Poaching Foundation (IAPF). I first discovered their great work when I read about Akashinga – a group of amazing women who protect the wildlife of Zimbabwe. You can see a film and read more about their work on the IAPF website and social medias if you would like to learn more.
Their inspiration led me to this project – Cues for a Cause – which I will run from time to time for important causes.
If you would like to join me for this course of Sunday yoga classes, all proceeds will be donated to IAPF and the great work they do.
Click the image above to get to the donation page. I will use the Paypal address provided to send you the details and links for the classes. (The address will only be used for this.) If you would prefer that I send the class details to an alternative email address, please put this in the text field provided in your Paypal transaction.
Along with the first class link, there will be a short health questionaire and some details for you to read and return prior to the first class.
I look forward to these classes and this worthy cause with you,
If you have any questions, or would like to know more, please email me at kimmiecues@gmail.com.
There are so many layers to unwrap in this pose, finding your foundation, exploring the distribution of weight, finding space for the hips and shoulders and knees, exploring connection and length for the spine, exploring how and what you feel. The images below are still, and in each one I find adjustments I would want to make. Additionally, being stills, they don’t show the exploration between. This one, for me, is a pose for taking time and invoking curiosity. Further exploration to follow in due course..
Today I was preparing an image for a quick Instagram upload and it caused me pause. I realised I had more to share than simply the image and so I share:
Several years ago my younger, stretch-enthusiastic self suffered a hamstring injury whilst splits stretching. I was livid. I thought, “I’ve always had good flexibility – didn’t even seem to need to work at it that hard.” And then, pop!
It needed time to heal. Apart from being painful, it left me frustrusted and it left me worried about how and if it would recover, and whether it would mean the end of training to a level which was bringing such enjoyment and positivity in my life.
Looking at things now, I can tell you that the injury was, in itself, the most positive of things for me. Because of it, and with support and guidance from my incredible sports therapist and class instructors, I learned. I learned about the vulnerability of over-stretched muscles when they are not being supported correctly. I learned about strengthening and stabilising the muscles around the hamstrings and not just the focus muscles themselves. I learned the value, if not always the execution, of being patient with myself and with the process of recovering. I learned that for the years since then, I would not return to the full stretch range to which I’d been working, but that for me, this was a good thing. The difficulty comes, not just in the physical challenge, but in the mental and biological realms. If I set my mind to doing something, I want to be really good at that something; not so much because I enjoy showing this achievement to others, but because sometimes my brain tells me that if I could be better at something then I should. I found, as I said, that I had fair flexibility and I maximised the good feeling of stretching that bit further, pushing that bit harder. What I hadn’t been doing is taking care of myself while doing this pushing, to achieve this perception of ‘better’. The message I was giving myself was not helpful without fully understanding how to do so with care and attention to the details. And so, there was injury. But there was also understanding – that I had work to do that I had neglected, and that this work was important. I started to ask questions as my injury recovered, wanting to understand how it had occured and how I could prevent it from happening again. I wanted to understand the anatomy and physiology, but also what was driving the ‘push harder’ thought and whether it had all the facts This thirst for discovery now with me, I have continued my love of yoga, dance, meditative movement and just movement in general with fresh perspective. Find the balance, find the pairings and sharings in the phyiscal movement, but also in then connection to how you feel, how you breathe, where and what sensations you feel. What is working, what is supporting?
My ‘push harder’ thought hasn’t gone away. It still gets over excited from time to time. Also now, there is fear of pushing too far again. I try to temper these thoughts with a balanced view, an educated view of whether this stretch or that is a good idea today, and then try to tune down into the body for its instinct and intuition – does it feel right today to work within, to or beyond that comfortable edge just a little bit more and are all the right support mechanisms in place?
I try to consider why I want that longer, further stretch. Sure, maybe it looks awesome but is it useful? Is it providing a benefit beyond this? Is it supported? Am I working with my breath? How does it feel?
I also try to exercise patience and care with myself and my practice, knowing that not every day is the same.
Hello and greetings. Warm welcomes to my page. Per the home description, this is my centre of operations for all things yoga and yoga-adjacent, and I am excited! Not only am I excited, but I am delighted that you have stopped by to check in and, perhaps, to journey with me. Mayhap this is the beginning of your own journey with yoga, or perhaps you are a seasoned pracitioner? Either way, I hope that my classes will provide you with inspiration, creativity, fun, challenge and an opportunity to make time and space for yourself.
My approach is this: Be curious, be kind, and breathe..
This is something of a motto for me as a student and as a teacher of yoga. But also in life. I hope that my classes provide an opportunity to explore balance; between movement and stillness, challenge and rest, between body and mind and heart. If this sounds like a grand plan to you, find a comfortable space, roll out a mat and join me on Thursdays 6-7pm (that’s per time in the UK, but if you’re elsewhere do still please get in touch – the power of the virtual class is strong and far reaching). Classes are £7, or you can purchase a block of 4 classes for £25. These blocks will take us neatly pre- the buzz and bustle of the Christmas and New Year period, during which time classes may run but more ad hoc. And then January, and much more yoga to come. If you’re interested to join a class, please email me at kimmiecues@gmail.com for booking and payment details.
If a more bespoke class is what you’re after, please do get in touch at the above email address. One to one classes or small group sessions can be arranged and tailored to your requirements, be that to work on a particular pose, breath work, mobility, flexibility, strength or a combination of the above.
You’ll find me at the other end of this email address: kimmiecues@gmail.com should you have any queries.
