Yoga classes w/c 17 September

Open your heart to all of life's blessings 

These pictures are taken on the little roof terrace at the Evelina children's hospital, which has been my home since Wednesday last week. (Dex is recovering well now and hopefully we'll be out in the next few days). I feel very grateful to have found this beautiful place to roll out my mat to prepare for class of course, but also to prepare myself to help Dex get better.

Time on my mat keeps me sane and it made sense this week to focus on poses that helped me keep my heart energised and open to life's blessings. So you'll find some of these glorious heart-opening asanas in class this week.

Anjaneyasana (aka crescent lunge) is named for Lord Hanuman the monkey god's mother, Anjana. In this variation with hands in reverse namaste our shoulders and heart space is coaxed open from a place of gentleness. In the story behind this asana Anjana wanted a child very much, one day the wind god heard her prayers and gave her a gift of rice, she ate the rice and became pregnant with Lord Hanuman. There are many variations of this story and I'm not really sure why its symbolism resonated with me today. Perhaps it's a simply a reminder that gifts come to us in unusual ways and sometimes we need to just trust that things will work out in the end. 

Being here with so many sick children, it's hard to explain just how grateful I am for the blessings in my life. I am humbled by the skills and kindness of the medical teams who have cared for us and I am so very lucky to have such fabulous family and friends who have kept my spirits up over the past week. And of course to you wonderful yogis who make every class such such a joy to be part of. 

I'm not sure this post makes much sense today, but I'm sure you'll understand my intention. 

I hope to see you in class for a gorgeous heart opening flow.

Namaste, Claire
💕🙏☀️

claire benson