Monday has slowly & quietly become my favourite day of the week. It begins with a short, daily meditation & then I take a Yoga Basics class at Niya Yoga Studio at 10am. Over the last 13 or so months, I've seen many faces come & go, while a small group of regulars turn up every week, open faced & beaming, ready to go over the basics for the sixty-somethingth-time. I'm so proud of them because a long, strong practice definitely requires dedication to the Basics. You feel like family to me now.

In the afternoon I head over to Liv Nordic Spa at Katara Beach Club where I teach a Hatha 1/2 class to a group of local women. There is a beautiful exchange that happens here. I share the basic tenets & philosophy of Yoga & in return, I am given a peek into a typically private community. The warmth that I've experienced from my wonderful Qatari yogis is, on it's own, worth the time I spend with them.

Evenings are spent at Yama Yoga studios, where my Yin class has slowly developed into a Yin + Guided Meditation session. We put aside 75 minutes to start to peel off the layers of this manifest world & drop down into that place of stillness, connect with the inner light of awareness that we all carry within us & encourage it to shine. The class blows my mind & I'm more and more excited every week as more peeps sardine themselves into the studio. My chest literally wants to bust open with joy & excitement as I get to share this fascinating, evolutionary science with more & more people.

And to think 1.5 years ago I was nervously weighing up my options, preparing to ditch my qualified career & go on an adventure of a lifetime - my new life.

Whenever someone asks me about Yoga I always say that it is the emotional wellbeing & mental health benefits that hooked me, with physical fitness as a cherry-on-top. Today I feel so pleased that I backed myself & took the leap into another world, one which supports & informs all of my decisions & allows me to see the world as it really is. If you've never tried it then please do, just once.

Now that I have broken my own Personal Best for longest blog post ever, I'll start prepping for the last class of the day. It's tonight, 8pm, at Yama Yoga Studios in Asas Tower. Last week was packed, so arrive early, find yourself a spot & prepare yourself for a sweet submission.

Finally, if you're a consciousness junkie like myself, then check my latest discovery - Gaia.com. A site bursting with useful info, talks, documentaries, classes & other resources.
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Phew! You made it to the end of this post! Bravo/brava. This was just on my mind & I wanted to share. Arohanui xx

So get on your mat and work it! Practice, practice, practice! Allow yoga to help you manage stress and emotional response and create space in your life for positive change ✌ I'm teaching three classes today, catch me for one, choose your superpower ☄
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10am // yoga basics @niyayoga
430pm // hatha level 1/2 @katarabeachclub_livnordic
8pm // yin @yamayogastudios .
#yogaeverydamnday #yogaphilosophy #yogasavedmylife #stressresilience #equanimity

I've had a few days off my #Yogapractice. On Monday, I had a naughty lump removed from my neck and it's taken a couple of days to #recover from the #anaesthetic, as well as being #gentle with myself as the #stitches do their #work. At 19, I broke my right leg clean in half, with four #fractures to add to the #injury. It didn't keep me off my feet though, I soldiered on with life on my crutches instead of taking rest. So it took almost a #decade to recover fully instead of the couple of years it should have taken. #Lessonlearnt... And you hear this a lot in #class... #listentoyourbody. Be #kindtoyourself and look after yourself when you need to. Your body will #thankyou for it 💜💙💛 so instead of practicing yesterday, I took a long, #beautiful walk on the #dohacorniche with a petite, beautiful #friend and let the #freshair and the #conversation be my #yoga for the day 😘🙏
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#yamas #ahimsa #nonviolence #selfcare#recovery #rest @elizabethpuranam

 There is SO MUCH going on at Niya at the moment so I'm gonna wrap it up into one nice little nugget for you right here. First, for the uninitiated, what is Niya?!

A Yoga studio here in Doha, that's what. The studio opened in December a few months after it's sister business, Evergreen Organics Cafe had opened it's doors and started pumping people full of gorgeous organic, vegan bites. Having the studio and cafe together all snuggled up together has created a happening little corner down in Qanat Quartier, a little bit of magic if you will. Fresh food and fitness, YAS. You haven't checked it out yet? Well, here are a couple extra reasons why you should get off your tushy and make the trip, yanni, soon.

TOMORROW! (Why wait?) It's National Sports Day here in Doha and we are hosting a series of FREE yoga taster classes from 9pm, all the way through to 4pm, every hour, (excluding 1pm). The classes run for 45 minutes, so you can pop in, check the studio, connect with fellow Yogis and try a new strain of Yoga, or two... orrrrrrrrrrr three. Pick your style -  Intro To Yoga, Slow Flow or Vinyasa - and meet your teachers, Charlie De Rivas; Tapovan Tamas or Myself.  The doors are thrown wide open. Come on in.

Check the schedule here.

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MARCH 9-11: We're thrilled to announce that PATRICK BEACH is coming to Doha! Here he is, look at this arm balance, look at it. Look. Look again. Impressive, no? You can do it too.

From March 9-11, Patrick will be leading five workshops at Niya Yoga:

✨Take Flight
✨Core Control
✨Get Hip to Handstands
✨Open Heart, Open Mind
✨Alignment of Arm Balances 

Here's the blurb (lovehate that word).... @patrickbeach leads vigorous and fluid vinyasa that builds strength, creates flexibility and inspires play. His calm and caring approach makes yoga relatable for all levels - informed by so much more than intelligent alignment, his classes will move any willing student beyond pose aesthetics to an introspective, holistic experience that opens the chakras and cultivates awareness.

A single workshop is 300QR, or book for the whole weekend, 5 sessions for the pretty incredible rate of 1,300QR. Even more incredible is the 1,000QR early bird rate if you register before Feb 26th. Don't sleep on this one, Yogis.

The third and final little piece of bait I have for you is the EVERGREEN ORGANICS JUICE CLEANSE. Oh, yeah, baby. I recently put myself through the paces - difficult for me to go without food because what is life without cheese?? - but with an arsenal of delicious drinks, or more specifically, 6 juices per day, this cleanse is almost enjoyable. The juices are designed to get you through the day with a range of blends, starting with a stimulating green juice in the morning and ending with a cashew milk, spices and vanilla blend in the evening. After my cleanse? No feelings of bloatedness, I felt refreshed, rejuvenated and mostly, smug.

The juice cleanse. Fresh. Organic. Tasty af. I won't wax on about the benefits of doing one, you either subscribe to the idea or you don't..... but if you dooo-ooooo, read up and order online here. Or just get down there IRL. And don't pass up the Turmeric Macaroons neither.

OK? Hope to see you down in our little slice of paradise soon. Yalla x
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NIYA YOGA
Mercato Palazzo 1
Qanat Quartier, The Pearl
Doha, Qatar​
(+974) 4468 2562

Change.
Change.
Change. 

​Look at it there on your screen. Such a curious word. If you stare at it long enough, it becomes strange. Strange change. ​ Say it aloud  a few times. Verbally, it not so much rolls off the tongue than pushes itself out your mouth. Almost like a little birth happens each time you say it ...and I've been saying it a lot lately because I'm at a time in my life where I'm experiencing a lot of this, 'Change'. Recently, I quit my qualified career path - which was 'OKAY' but severely lacking in inspiration - and stepped away from a healthy pay cheque to start to live the life I hadn't fully considered for myself. A vibrant, connected and purposeful life.

Growing up, I was always told that I had to work hard to succeed and of course that's true, but there was no mention of having FUN while you do it, or finding something that brings you JOY while also providing a livelihood. I think these days, consciousness is higher and 'the yoot' have a better grasp on this concept, but back in the 70s in little old Taupo, New Zealand, fun wasn't high on the list of criteria in the Guidance Councillors office at school. So, I found myself doing something I didn't necessarily enjoy, day in and day out, for the money. It served a basic purpose of security and once that purpose was met, I thought to myself, time for some change.

A lot of the issues that Jay speaks about in this video are part of my current mental juggle as I seek to create a new path. To change my life. I'm asking myself what's important. People are important. Adventure is important. Self-care and intuition are important. Staying connected to myself and how I feel is important. And how I feel is something that needs to be quality-checked daily. So in turn, how I choose to spend each and every day needs to feel good. The sum of my days equates to MY LIFE..... so what kind of life will that be? Such a simple equation, but one that I missed for so long.

As I become a more dedicated Yogi, (and in turn, meditator), the right decisions are clearer and easier. What to fight for and what to let go of. How to respond to change, both when I've created it myself and when it is put to me by life's beautiful ballet. How to move forward with an open heart and trust that the right things happen at the right time. How to accept change without fear. My experience of the world has changed so much through my Yoga practice because it has changed me and how I see things. I didn't know that I could manage, let alone enjoy, so much change in so little time. This new relationship with change is high on my mind. Changing the world starts with you. Change yourself. Change your own world.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes!! - David Bowie