Yoga in the Flower Garden | A Lovely Chat With Esther Knowles
As we gear up for our Summer Solstice celebration, I caught up with Esther who will be leading our yoga in the garden event. Esther has been a volunteer with Bloom since the early days, so it is great to have her leading a session with us. I asked her all about yoga and spending time outdoors.
How long have you been practising yoga and how did you get started?
I started practicing yoga in 2008 when I arrived to Sheffield to study Environmental Conservation- my friend and I jumped into a class at Ponds Forge. Settling in stillness and balancing on one leg were at first near impossible for me! But as time went on, my body began to understand this new language and I became more and more mesmerised by the effects that these movements had on my appreciation for my body and on my overall wellbeing.
What kind of yoga do you specialise in?
My speciality lies in sharing Yoga for Women's Wellness. It's a practice that's inclusive and supportive of the wide array of states of being we experience as women, not only each month but throughout our entire lives. The practice is varied, exploring softening and strengthening, flowing and stillness. It's a very welcoming and accessible style that I've found to be deeply nourishing and empowering.
I also love to share Yoga Nidra, which is an especially restorative practice, one that's really helpful for anyone who's struggling with anxiety, has trouble falling asleep or is feeling over worked or burnt out. That being said, if your energy levels are high, this practice is still fantastic for deeply weaving your awareness into your body and helping you to feel more connected to your inner knowing.
What do you think we can gain from practicing yoga outside?
By practicing Yoga outside we are able to plug in to the bountiful abundance of life force energy that nature offers to us in the form of sunshine, fresh air and plentiful beauty from the plants! We all know that spending time outdoors is good for the mind, body and soul- by adding yoga into the mix we can charge our systems even more, with the richness that is available from the natural world around us. As the movements awaken our senses and bring fresh energy to every nook and cranny of our bodies, we make space to receive more fully the abundance that life offers.
How is yoga particularly beneficial for women's health?
Yoga can be so beneficial for women's health- it helps us to tune in to the needs of our bodies more accurately and allow us to connect to the ebbs and flows of our energy levels. As women we're constantly flowing through changes in our physiology, so it's wonderful to learn to move in ways that can support us through these different phases. Through rhythmical movement and breath awareness, we can clear stagnant energy from the body, settle the mind and open up to a more flowing state of being. By bringing us into relationship with our body & heart, yoga has the power to connect us to our vitality, as well as an inner wellspring of intuition and inner guidance.
What can we expect from the yoga practice at the Bloom garden?
At the Bloom garden, you can expect a welcoming, grounding and centring meditation to help you attune to the nature within as well as the nature around us; followed by a gentle yet potent yoga flow to awaken every cell in your body and bring a breath of fresh air into your whole being. There will be time at the end to rest deeply within a yoga nidra practice dedicated to the arrival of the Summer Solstice and a delicious breakfast to share with your fellow yoginis afterwards... let's pray for sunshine!