alexa de castilho

Join us Wednesday 21 February, 7.30-9pm upstairs at the Hanover Centre, for a very special session of Yoga for Menopause with midlife mentor Alexa De Castilho.

Following our usual explorations in movement, breath and meditation to come home to our bodies, Alexa will lead us in a Journaling and journeying session, both being ways to heal the past, grow your nervous system capacity, move forward a to find safety, regulation and growth.

Journeying is designed to be a mix of exploration and acknowledgement, meditation, visualisation and hypnotherapy based on neuroscience, using our senses as well as imagination and energy alchemy.

We get to transform our inner ecology.

The hypnotic brain wave created in the journeying allows you to bypass your analytical mind and change your subconscious, connecting and forming new neural pathways and experience. As you journey, you’re creating your new reality because the brain does not know the difference between real and imagined. By strengthening this new visual reality you have created in your journeying, your inner ecology starts to transform. Growing new synapses and new pathways makes them new gateways and beliefs.

95% of our life is lived in the subconscious, as though we are on autopilot..
We wake up and the rest of the day is a series of learnt behaviours, decisions and conditionings we learnt from the ages of 0-6. We only live 5% of the time in our conscious mind. So within our journeying we re-imagine and reprogram some of the conditioning we have adopted, stored in our subconscious, so we can begin to move, behave and choose from a place that is deeper aligned to our present truth.

Like gardening, we are pruning what no longer serves and allowing the new to grow and flourish, changing your inner landscape.

We work on the ecology of self, where you are the medicine. The deepest work often doesn’t require us to go as deep as we might think.

A common misconception is that the harder, deeper and faster we do the work the sooner we heal. But the nervous system doesn’t work like that. The incredible thing about our autonomic nervous system is that it speaks a non verbal language. Meaning it communicates with us through sensations, imagery, emotion, movement.

Exploring big experiences to find healing – like intensive retreats, cold plunges, forceful breathwork or even intensive talk therapy – may make you feel like you come back to square one, or you just feel stuck all over again, Our nervous system doesn’t work like that: It craves slowness, gentleness, space and time. We can experience so much depth and transformation with so much less activating work.

Get in touch to book your place if you would like to explore how Alexa journies to change your inner ecology, which inturn transforms your outer reality.

Classes are £12 drop-in for the first class, then £70 for 6 consecutive classes. And please share with others who you feel would benefit from the support, some space to explore and rest within a lovely, inclusive community.

Booking now for weekly sessions, £12 drop-in, £70 for 6 consecutive sessions
book

Herbal support for menopause

rachel boon

Our special guest for this week’s Yoga for Menopause is
Rachel Boon, Naturopath, Herbalist and women’s health specialist. Rachel helps peri and post-menopausal women navigate their ever-changing hormonal landscape and lived symptomatic experiences, either alongside or without HRT.

In this special session, Rachel will cover five menopausal nutritional friends and foes, so you will all leave with a few takeaway gems that will go on to enhance your menopausal experience, wherever you are on your journey.

If you’re not a regular to our group, Wednesdays 7.30-9pm at #hanovercmunitycentre, you’re very welcome to join us – DM to book your space. We meet every week to share experiences of our perimenopausal and menopausal journey through focused, often theme-based discussion, in a non-judgmental and inclusive environment. We then explore practises from physical yoga asana and Somatics practices, self-massage (I am a therapeutic Thai massage practitioner), meditation and breathwork, all of which can dramatically reduce stress, which exacerbates any symptoms you might experience.

I’m so looking forward to our special session, it’s going to be an enlightening discussion – Rachel and I are equally passionate about reframing menopause as a transformative journey where women are given proper information and support in order to make responsible choices and lifestyle shifts.

Classes are £12 drop-in for the first class, then £70 for 6 consecutive classes. DM to book in. And please share with others who you feel would benefit from the support, some space to explore and rest within a lovely, inclusive community.

Booking now for weekly sessions, £12 drop-in, £70 for 6 consecutive sessions
book

Transformation

art transforms us

An afternoon of yoga, meditation, self-massage and wild art journalling to transform your thinking, creativity and inner connectivity – perfect for this tie of year, when we are invited inwards to reimagine what we would like to manifest for spring and year ahead. With Moyra Scott and Leonie Taylor.
£45 per person.
Sunday February 26, 1-4pm at Energy For Life, 75 Sussex Street, Brighton BN2 0GQ. Including vegan snacks. All art and yoga equipment provided. Email to book now. No previous experience necessary, all bodies welcome.

Welcome to 2023

Whether you’re starting the new year full of intentions, spark and energy or emerging reluctantly from hibernation, I’m looking forward to supporting you back in classes (all levels, all bodies welcome) and for therapeutic Thai massage from Wednesday 4 January.
See full class timetable for online and in-person classes and Email to book your next treatment.

Free online yoga and meditation for the festive season

12 Days of Recovery & Rejuvenation – coming 23rd Dec 22 to 3rd Jan 23 from Charlotte Watts on Vimeo.

Would you like a month of yoga, somatic movement, meditations, yoga nidra, self massage classes, webinars on nutrition and health, including daily practises to support you through the festive season?
Check out our video intro above for a taster of what’s to come, then head to charlottewattshealth.com and use code CWH100 at checkout.

Festive dates and treats

Christmas class dates:
Last classes Mon 19 Dec, all resume January 4 2023.
NB There is NO yoga for menopause Dec 14 or 21, back Jan 4.

FREE holiday online classes
As a gift, we are are offering you a month of FREE yoga and somatics classes, whole health webinars, and a special festive package of daily meditations and physical practises to support your wellbeing over the festive break. Simply register for a complementary month of Whole Health using code CW100 at checkout.

And don’t forget, I have vouchers for Christmas for yoga and therapeutic Thai massage for you and your loved ones to enjoy a truly memorable, deeply nourishing, extra thoughtful (and not least sustainable) gift.
Email

Sustainable Black Friday

thai massage voucher

Look around.
All that clutter used to be money.
All that money used to be time.

With the onslaught of sales and push to consume, it’s easy to get caught up, reactive, knee jerk. Marketing works on the premise of creating a problem you didn’t know you had (from hairy legs to ageing bodies to vegetables that could be chopped differently) and then offering you the miracle cure/fix/balm. All of which is available, on this one day only (unless you subscribe for early access, special, lucky you!) at such an amazing deal. So you didn’t know you had a problem, now you can fix it and quick… just don’t think about the mindless consumption, the landfill, the production values, worldwide shipping, waste, or even if you/ the recipient of your gift actually needs more stuff?

Time for a new way of giving. More thoughtful. More meaningful. More sustainable. The gift of time and space, compassion, deep care and attention.

I have vouchers for Black Friday, Christmas or any special occasion.
They are not discounted because they are of real value, and offer therapeutic space for deep healing, physically and emotionally.

Choose from vouchers for:
Therapeutic Thai Massage
• Partner massage session – learn techniques to share with a family member or friend
1-2-1 Yoga
Group / family yoga session – in person or on Zoom

All are £50 for 60 mins/ £70 for 90 mins or or £90 2 hours and I will email you a personalised voucher. Call/text Leo on 0780 907 5602 or email to book or discuss your requirements.

Ayurveda for menopause

Indie Foolhea

Ayurveda is a vast and ancient science that provides a solid foundation to live well in all phases of life. In alignment with the seasons, elements and your unique makeup, we can find balance wherever we are.
Menopause is one of many changes that make up the female reproductive system across a lifetime. By looking at the history of your cycle, we can start to see what menopause may look like and adjust accordingly. This time is all about soothing symptoms and nourishing the body to help this transition flow more smoothly through nutrition, lifestyle, herbs and therapies.

On November 16, Indie Foolheea (she/her), will be joining our regular Yoga for Menopause session to talk about how Ayurveda can help you on your transformational journey through this life change.

Indie is a Yoga and meditation guide, Ayurvedic Lifestyle consultant and Therapist. Her work is informed by sharing from the roots of Yoga and Ayurveda to our lives now. She also creates spaces for people of the global majority to be seen, heard and to rest. She believes that self care and collective care are inherently linked and shares with this in mind.

Indie shares a variety of practices beyond asana including Pranayama, mantra, meditation, marmas and mudras. Whilst also starting her own Ayurvedic practice supporting people through nutrition, herbs, lifestyle and bodywork.

If you would like to join this or our regular sessions, every Wednesday, 7.30-9pm upstairs at the Hanover Community Centre, email.

25% off book preorder

You can preorder my new book, Yoga and Somatis for Immune and Respiratory Health, co-authored with incredible yoga teacher and nutritionist, Charlotte Watts, and receive 25% discount using code LEONIE25PRE at checkout when you order from Singing Dragon

A fascinating deep dive into research from the worlds of neuroscience, epigenetics, psycho-neuro-immunology, polyvagal theory and more, through the lens of yoga and Ayurveda. Rich in game-changing information on our respiratory and immune systems – how they work, interrelate, and how we can improve whole-being function through movement, breath and meditative practises.