Our Restorative Yoga Workshop

Eloise Handleigh
Jun 19
2 min read

Hey everyone,

I hope you all enjoyed this week’s classes and the summer tealights I handed out!

Curiosity

Purple and pink flowers in a small glass vase on a purple yoga mat, surrounded by three tealight candles. — Flowers from a student's garden!

Curiosity invites us to explore each pose with fresh eyes, noticing what is present without needing to label or judge whatever arises. On the mat, curiosity encourages us to move from a place of wonder and discovery rather than expectation and performance.

Intention: I meet each moment with curiosity.

Journaling prompt: How can I bring more curiosity into my practice?

Summer Solstice

This week’s theme was the Summer Solstice, which is on Sunday, 21st June. This marks the longest day of the year, a time of perfect balance between light and dark, symbolising energy and abundance. It invites us to reflect on the transition into summer and to celebrate the lighter days ahead.

Intention: I welcome the light.

Journaling prompt: What feels abundant in my life right now?

Workshop Reflections

Smiling group of 11 adults posing in two rows in a studio, with small flowers on the floor and a calm, friendly mood.

A big thank you to all those who joined me on the mat last Saturday for our restorative yoga workshop. It was so lovely to share a different style of yoga with you all.

Restorative yoga is one of my favourite styles. Despite fewer physically demanding poses, I find it the most challenging, as you hold poses for a couple of minutes, allowing presence with your thoughts. It’s a great way to gently check in with your mind and body while enjoying a deeper stretch.

It makes me happy to bring the community together and for people from different classes to meet. I hope you enjoyed reflecting in the journaling session. It’s good to share different ideas and thoughts, as we are often not alone in how we feel.

And of course, the best part is tea and cake!

I’m currently planning the next workshop, so I’ll keep you posted. A big thank you to my sister, Jasmine, who helped the session run smoothly and captured some lovely pictures of our community.

A Deeper Stretch

A word you may hear me use in class is asana. This translates from Sanskrit as “pose” and is part of the third limb of Patanjali’s Eight Limbs of Yoga.

Most pose names have the word asana at the end. For example, Mountain Pose is Tadasana — tada meaning mountain and asana meaning pose.

So when I include a bit of Sanskrit, you can start to understand it. Some other easy examples are Bananasana (banana pose) and Baddha Konasana (butterfly pose).