“In the heat of light, we must learn to cool the fire.”
As the sun reaches its highest point and summer envelopes us in warmth, there’s an ancient invitation stirring: to align with nature, to honour the season, and to tend to our inner fire.
☀️ The Pitta Season: Fire, Focus & the Need for Balance In Ayurveda, summer is governed by Pitta dosha, made up of fire and water. This is the season of action, passion, transformation — but also of burnout, irritation, and excess heat (physically, mentally, and emotionally).
🌿 The Wisdom of Cooling Habits To thrive in Pitta season, Ayurveda guides us to:
Wake with the sun, but avoid pushing too hard during peak heat (10am–2pm).
Enjoy gentle yoga with open, flowing movements and deep, cooling breaths.
Spend time in nature, shade, and water — barefoot grounding is especially healing.
🌕 New Moon, New You The new moon arriving later this June invites us to shed what no longer serves. It’s a beautiful time to reset your inner compass and begin again — gently, intentionally.
🌺 Want Guidance Through the Seasons? These are the exact practices we explore inside my upcoming Rise and Radiate summer offering — and year-round inside Club Connect. If you’re craving a slower, wiser, more embodied path through life, you’re warmly invited. → Learn more about Rise and Radiate → Join Club Connect
“Summer teaches us to shine, yes. But it also teaches us to soften, to surrender, and to seek balance.” Stay cool, stay radiant. 🌿
Feeling battered by the world’s stresses and strains? Struggling to juggle work commitments with looking after children ? Feeling exhausted from having too many commitments and not making time to commit and prioritise some precious time for ‘you’ ?
As September and the Autumnal Equinox approaches you might take time to check-in, reflect on your own inner-balance and consider whether you’re feeling refreshed, re-energised and rested and ready to end the year strong ?
What if you were to use the energy of the Autumnal Equinox to take some ‘Me Time’, a time to retreat from the fray of life, connect, be still, refresh yourself and end the year stronger ?
If this speaks to you we’d love you to join us.
Myself and fellow yoga teacher, Una Bentley, will be leading an Autumn Equinox Workshop on Saturday 23 September.
We can promise a transformative experience that blends the ancient wisdom of yoga, the healing power of sound meditation, and the rejuvenating principles of the ancient science of Ayurveda.
Seeking a moment of tranquillity amidst the changing seasons ? Join us for a transformative experience that blends the ancient wisdom of yoga, the healing power of sound meditation, and the rejuvenating principles of Ayurveda. the art of Ayurveda, the ancient Indian science of holistic healing. We will guide you
🍁 Embrace the Season of Transformation 🍁
As the leaves begin to fall and nature prepares for its slumber, the autumnal equinox marks a moment of equilibrium between day and night. This powerful time of transition is perfect for reflecting on our own inner balance and embracing change.
🧘 Yoga: Harmonize Body, Mind, and Spirit 🧘
Under the expert guidance of our experienced yoga instructors, Una Bentley of Yoga with Una, and Rachel Eastwood of Racheleyoga, we’ll delve into the practice of yoga tailored to the autumnal season. Whether you are a seasoned yogi or a beginner, our practices will encompass gentle movements, mindful breathing, and calming postures to align your body, mind, and spirit with the rhythm of nature.
🌿 Ayurveda: Nourish and Rejuvenate 🌿
Gain understanding of your unique dosha (mind-body constitution) and provide personalised tips for autumn wellness as we share in a nourishing specially curated Ayurvedic tea and snack, promoting inner balance and vitality.
🎵 Sound Meditation: Awaken Your Soul’s Symphony 🎵
Let the soothing sounds wash over you as you immerse yourself in the meditative experience of sound healing. Our skilled sound healers will use healing handpan sounds, Tibetan singing bowls, Koshi chimes, drum and other instruments to create a symphony of frequencies that resonate with your being. Explore deep states of relaxation, release tension, and tap into your inner wisdom.
🍂 What to Expect 🍂
🌟 Welcoming and serene retreat setting amidst nature’s beauty
🌟 Expert-led sessions focused on yoga, sound meditation, and Ayurveda
🌟 Take away yoga and ayurveda self-care practices to continue on your journey.
🌟 Nourishing Ayurvedic tea and snack to revitalise your body and mind
🌟 Opportunity to connect with like-minded individuals on a shared path of self-discovery
Date: Saturday 23 September 2023
Time: 2pm-5pm
Location: Robert Monk Village Hall, Middle Street, Foxton LE16 7RE
Spaces are limited to ensure an intimate and personalised experience, so don’t miss out on this extraordinary opportunity to align yourself with the autumnal energies. Embrace the change, nurture your soul, and find harmony within.
Regardless of what traditions you follow, the spiritual meaning of Easter is a new light after sacrifice or tribulation
The long-awaited change of winter to spring.
Winter is a time to conserve energy and reduce activity. Spring is a time of regeneration, new beginnings, and a renewal of spirit.
Taking cues from nature and the Season of Spring ..
The energy of re-birth: of sheep lambing, of birdsong and nesting, seeds sprouting, trees and flowers blooming, the suns rays warming the earth and calling all for an immersion in nature; for outdoor explorations on foot or bike. Who doesn’t LOVE Spring ?
Are you embracing and attuning to the energy of this beautiful Season ? Inspired by it’s message of hope, new light, growth and transformation ?
“When you’re in a dark place you sometimes think you’ve been buried,
.. Perhaps you’ve been planted
… BLOOM “
There is a sense of renewal and new life all around and who can’t love that ?
The Principle of the Five Elements in Eastern Philosophy
The Principle of the Five Elements describes the flow of Qi (energy) and the balance of yin and yang (opposite energies)
According to the principle, all change: in the universe and in your body, occurs in five distinct stages. Each stage is associated with a time of year, a specific element in nature, and a pair of organs in the body. Change links together the seasons, aspects of nature, and body organs and processes.
Spring is the ideal time for cleansing and rejuvenation for overall health and well-being. Represented by the wood element. The liver and its complementary organ, the gallbladder. These two organs are usually the primary targets for springtime cleansing and health regimes.
A video embracing Easter (..and ending with a reel rehearsal / photo bomb by Dylan dog)
Feeling it’s time to release old energy and behaviours and invite in new; to transform; attuning with the Season ? I invite you to stay connected , to check-out the New Event and Programme Announcements and why not join me for support in your journey ?
Self-Care on Sundays Club .. A weekly live-online gathering to drop you in to relaxation, ease and calm ..
This is for you if you’d love a deeper connection with yourself and others and a scheduled time ‘out’ on a Sunday to find deep relaxation, rest, re-charge and restore
You’ll learn how to find deep-rest in order to recharge, restore and start your week refreshed.
CONTENT : In this 1 hour: with the help of a 10 step process and utilising the nourishing sounds of eg. singing bowls, koshi bells, drum and vocal toning .. you’ll release patterns in the body / mind that aren’t serving you and replace them with those that lead you to deep relaxation, rest and balance.
TESTIMONIAL “I slept like a baby”
CONNECTION : I usually invite people into zoom 5-10 mins early to check-in. At the end / during the session they’ll be a guided journaling opportunity too.
As I write it’s almost two years since I started my professional certification in sound healing. Lockdown began in March 2020 here in the UK, and as we switched from face-to-face yoga classes to live-online I sought deeper ways to help re-shift the united vibration of the Nation. This was a palpable one of heightened uncertainty, anxiety, fear and stress. I’ve always had an interest in music and sound and intuitively explored how it’s made me feel but there’s a methodology and process to it’s most successful use that I am now trained in and it’s powerful benefits are backed by Science. I’m not a great writer and a picture (or video) speaks a thousand words. So I’ve summarised and shared a little snapshot of what I’ve learnt .. do please take a peak.
Meditation, freedom and happiness “If we don’t know how to increase our awareness or how to control our mind, we have suffering, like everybody else. When we know how to increase our awareness, we have freedom, we have happiness.”
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… and .. if you’re reading this and curious to learn more and experience how to utilise sound healing for your own self-care, and as a stepping stone, on your own transformational journey do reach out.
You can get my FREE yoga strategy to create Calm and Ease in your day here
If you’d like to join a waitlist for the Sound Healings Self-Care Commitment Club / Group programme or have questions .. Let me know what your challenge/s is/are and any questions you have and I’ll get back to you if you seem a good fit for the programme.
If you’re feeling a little ‘off’ that’s ok ! You’re probably not alone and here’s why:
November’s full Beaver Moon has recently passed. The full moon corresponds to the end of inhalation when the force of prana (energy) is greatest. Notice and feel the energy as you take a deep breathe in and hold it ? An expansive, upward moving force making us feel energetic; emotional; but not well grounded. Full moons are usually powerful times of release, resolution, and illumination, but this Beaver Moon, Nov 19th 2021, saw a lunar eclipse too; with these energies put on hyperdrive. Perhaps ushering in all sorts of emotional changes.
The Beaver Moon is a nickname given to the full moon that takes place each November, and it’s named for the fact that this time of year is traditionally when beavers seek shelter for the colder months looming ahead. It’s also historically known as the Frost Moon or Freezing Moon; This all alludes to the shorter days and chillier temperatures that take hold at this point in the autumn and may highlight a need to shift our daily habits; a need to adapt and change in order to restore, re-energise and thrive.
Finding that your movement/food/sleep/ routines or habits are no longer serving you ? What worked in the Summer days is leaving you feeling depleted, unmotivated or stuck ? Our daily environment, stresses, foods, and seasonal changes all can influence our body and mind and cause imbalances. When we get to know all this more, we can make changes to help bring more balance and harmony into our living. Connecting with Nature and ‘Circadian’ Rhythm allows us to do this with ease but life and work stresses can leave us disconnected and out of balance.
If you’re feeling ‘out-of balance’, lacking in energy/motivation and in need of restoring to a more radiant state at this time then I’ve created this roadmap for you.
If ‘pushing’ past your natural sleep time and working too hard / late is something you do regularly I have a Sleep Masterclass to help you too.
Let’s end this year the best we can. Stay well everyone x
Monday 4:32am June 2021 BST marks Summer Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere.
What is a Summer Solstice ?
The Earth spins or rotates on its axis giving us day and night. It also orbits around the Sun once a year; taking 365.25 days. As the Earth’s axis is tilted 23.5 degrees from the plane of its orbit around the Sun, for 6 months of the year the Northern hemisphere will be tilted away from the Sun; our Winter, and for 6 months, it’ll be tilted towards the Sun; our Summer. The exact moment that the Northern Hemisphere is most tilted towards the Sun is Summer Solstice. It also marks Midsummer day and the longest day and shortest night.
Welcome SUMMER SEASON: PITTA and How to stay healthy.
In ayurveda the Summer Season is dominated by Pitta: fiery, hot, drying, sharp (penetrating), and light qualities. To cope with the changing season the body and lifestyle habits will need to shift and adapt to remain healthy, fit and disease free:
Out of balance and you may notice yourself becoming easily agitated, more prone to skin rashes and feeling ungrounded.
To balance Pitta look to its opposite qualities:
If you are hot (physically or mentally), pranayama, (breath practice) is a great way to cool and ground your mind and body. Spend time in nature to slow down sharp (penetrating) qualities like aggression as well as finding abundant shade to balance the heat / light. Look to reduce or avoid alcohol and caffeine intake too.
If you are feeling light and ungrounded, add-in some restorative yoga poses to your day – eg. legs up the wall pose is a great way to balance the qualities of pitta.
Less intense exercise may be balanced with lighter cold, liquid food choices; soups and juices, green vegetables, cucumber, sweet fruit watermelon, blueberries, pomegranates, cranberries, nuts and dried fruit full of vitamins and minerals.
Arguably, in Western and allopathic medicine, much of prescriptive drug treatment is directly for, or can be linked back to, digestive issues
Poor digestive health wreaks havoc on our entire body, leading to allergies, acne, autoimmune disease, arthritis, chronic fatigue disorders, weight issues and dementia. A properly working gut is essential to our overall health and wellbeing.
A living and breathing factory. There are 500 species and three pounds of bacteria in our gut; helping to digest our food, produce vitamins, regulate hormones and excrete toxins. Too many bad bugs like parasites, yeasts or bad bacteria, or not enough of the good ones like lactobacillus or bifidobacterium and things can get ‘out of balance’ with serious impact on health and wellbeing.
So, how do we restore our gut health ?
We are all unique and strategies to improve gut health need to honor that and will be different for all. You’ll find plenty of advice around taking digestive enzymes with meals, taking gut-healing nutrients, eating an “anti-inflammatory” diet, removing sugary, processed foods, exercising regularly and reducing stress. Fundamentally though, if things are out of balance we need to address what’s putting them out of balance in the first place don’t we ?
So what’s the one simple thing you could choose to evolve to better digestion, deeper sleep and more energy ?
This one simple thing …
Good health lies in healthy ‘circadian habits’ (Circ = nearly, dian = 24 hrs). Every single cell and organ in our bodies has their own circadian clock where they work ‘optimally’. So syncing your sleep-wake cycle in tune with the circadian clock is most probably the one ‘simple’ thing you could do to optimise your health, digestion, vitality and longevity.
Simple ?
Prior to the industrial revolution people ate their main meal at midday. They’d come in from the fields during the hottest time of the day, enjoy a long, leisurely meal, followed by a short rest before returning back to the fields to complete the days work. After work, supper would likely be leftovers made into a stew or soup ; a “supplement” tying them over until the next day. They’d be no late-night snacking, staying up to do work-assignments, watching netflix, scrolling social media so ‘circadian habits’ would be inherent.
If you’re thinking developing ‘circadian habits’, finding and restoring balance, health and wellbeing in body, mind and spirit is not that simple for you. It’s something I coach in ‘Surviving to Thriving’ details here . I’m also running a FREE workshop on Rest and Restorative sleep this month if you’d like to find out more.
February 2021 ! Missing connecting to family and friends and going on ‘adventures’; beyond ‘exercising outdoors and joining ‘online’ communities to learn new things !? More than ever feeling drawn to wild mountains, water, wilderness and forests of pine trees .. ?
When connecting to Nature I find heightened inspiration – Do you ? Whether it’s: climbing to the top of a mountain, and seeing the panoramic views and smelling the ‘freshness’ of the air, or the sound, view, feel of water descending down a waterfall, or the comfort that ensues in being cocooned / enwrapped in a canopy of trees. There is often the paradoxical feeling of lost/remote/alone/loneliness, and yet, an overriding simultaneous feeling of connection with the wild and sacred landscape. There is much to be learnt from tapping into nature. Have you witnessed the healing brought from connecting with Nature; of Mother Earth; being fully aware and tuning into her rhythms, cycles, phases ? There seems to be a recent rise of recognition of the health benefits within western medicine and science into eg. syncing / tapping into .. the circadian rhythm of sleep-wake cycle and, slowly but increasingly, for women and gender-specific health science, the lunar clock and hormonal cycle of the moon phases and life stages. This intuitive bodywisdom has been accessed, encouraged and practiced by yogis of yore and ayurvedic rituals / habits for millennia.
So NEW FOR 2021 …I’m excited to be hosting moon-thly full moon gatherings. In many cultures there are forms of red-tent / lodge gatherings; communities of multigenerational women nurturing each others mind, body and spirit health through sharing of knowledge and experiences in a safe, non-judgmental, confidential and supportive space. The importance of health at this time: specifically women’s mind, body and spirit health, as we travel through our cycles of life, and face unprecedented challenges/pressures in fulfilling our roles without the support/release found in meeting with others, is my motivation for hosting the Full Moon gatherings at this time. My intention is to fuse the Red Tent concept with the energy of the Full Moon: facilitating sharing, connecting, and supporting each other, as women, during this time of optimum energy. If you’ve read this far, and are interested, I warmly invite you to join us this month. Connect in advance for your entrance ticket / link / more info / details.
The vibrant tribe in the ‘Surviving’ to ‘Thriving’ Group Coaching are fast orientating in the direction of Flow and Ease and yoga practices this month are also themed around ‘finding flow’. On that note I’ve found myself in such accelerated flow forwards that I omitted to share January’s theme…. ‘Getting Juicy’ .. so here it is / was !
For me, I’ve been finding flow in deepening my learning of sound healing, handpan, all things holistic wellness; habit science, mindset, coaching, ayurveda and yoga .. Here are some snippets of that too..
Racheleyoga 