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Restive season starts here

As I’m writing this, I’m recovering from some lurgy-induced rest, but don’t wait for your body to say ‘no’. Why not reframe what can be an unnaturally stressful and over-energised time of year (not least for women, who still statistically carry most of the mental load and much of the labour burden of giving everyone the ‘perfect Christmas’).

At this time of year, nature is resting, quiet.
You are part of nature.
REST!

Here are some supportive ideas to help you get into the restive spirit:

1. 12 Days of Recovery & Restoration Why not join me and Charlotte for 12 Days of Recovery & Restoration. Use code WH100 at checkout to receive a whole month of FREE online classes, meditation and supportive whole health webinars that are perfect for inspiring more restful tones for your nervous system.
2. Be gifted and gift consciously Save everyone the arduous task of Christmas shopping for more stuff, and book a voucher for a massage, yoga classes or a mini-retreat for early next year.
3. Challenge samskaras Samskaras are habits – personal or social too – that couse suffering. Ask of everything you feel you ‘should’ do to make everything ‘perfect’ for everyone:
Does it bring joy equivalent to the labour involved?
What have been your mnost ‘perfect’ moments; could you have constructed them to be so?
Is it a social construct you need to subscribe to or could you be free of it?
4. Practise gratitude. Regularly recognising and ‘logging’ (you could keep a list/journal/jar) of even the smallest things that you feel grateful for (especially those that cost nothing) soon adds up to noticing how many little moments of joy and connection we have.
5. Verbalise appreciation. When you see someone who looks great, tell them. When somebody does something kind, thank them. When you notice someone making an effort, remark on it (rather than the outcome). Appreciation is infectious and spreads joy.

On that note, thank you all for your support and kindness, for being part of my yoga and massage community, you are all so appreciated. Happy restive season everyone, I’ll look forward to seeing you all in 2024, classes resume on January 6 2024.

Much love,
Leo xxx

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Come with me to Turkey!

Never mind Christmas turkey, why not come to Turkey with me next September?

Yoga & Mindfulness Week
with Leonie Taylor & Charlotte Watts
Grenadine Lodge, Turkey
Sep 30th-Oct 7th 2024

This week will be dedicated to guiding you to feel calm, connected, restored, rejuvenated and content.

Mixing mindfulness within yoga practice and through meditation space and personal exploration is a profound and enjoyable way to let go off the stresses of day-to-day life.

This yoga hotel is really lovely, with great service and truly lovely staff. The swimming pool is big enough to properly swim with a small bar beside the pool, which also serves snacks and amazing fresh pomegranate frozen juice ‘slushies’. It also has two yoga shalas which overlook a pomegranate field, which is where the yoga sessions will take place and a Turkish tree house where students can relax.

Dalyan village is situated on the small river that joins the lake to the sea and the yoga hotel is situated in the conservation area between the village and the beach. There are hotel bikes you can use for a lovely (and flat!) 10 minute cycle into town. This means you can either completely escape or enjoy this lovely town with beautiful river, cafes and great shopping if you want…. The beach is a 15-minute bus ride or you get get there by river taxi from town – there is turtle sanctuary at one end.

Find out more

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2024 yoga dates

So many exciting yoga and Thai massage mini retreats to look and book forward to in 2024:

Jan 14, 2-6pm at Beechwood Hall: Celebrating positive transition through menopause with art journalling, yoga & self massage with @wildartjournaling_ £50/£85 for 2 booking together.

Feb 18 & April 28, 10am-4pm at Barcombe Village Hall, yoga and Thai massage, connecting to nature through meditation and vegan feast courtesy of @theveganexperienceuk. £85 or £160 for 2 booking together/booking both dates.

Feb 24 Make it Flow Festival – I’m offering a Thai massage workshop at this wonderful day of creative and wellbeing activities.

May 31-June 3 Yoga Camp Sussex for a weekend full of incredible yoga, wellbeing, craft and nature sessions for all the family.


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Yoga Camp Sussex

I am delighted to be teaching again this year at the wonderful Sussex yoga weekend, Yoga Camp Sussex near Sheffield Park Gardens, Sussex, on May 31-June 3 2024.

A nourishing weekend of incredible yoga from a host of experienced teachers from a variety of different modalities, with craft and nature activities for children of all ages, delicious catering and optional camping.

For more information, day and weekend passes, click here

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Make it Flow Festival

I’m delighted to be offering a Thai massage workshop at the first ever Make it Flow Festival, on Saturday 24 February, at St George’s Church, Kemptown, Brighton; a day filled with creativity, mindfulness, and inspiration.

The Make it Flow Festival is a unique opportunity to explore the concept of flow and discover new ways to connect. The day is divided into three parts (one in the morning and two in the afternoon), with 10 two-hour workshops happening in each slot.

Once you have bought your ticket, you get to choose up to two craft workshops and one wellbeing session, from over 20 practitioners.

Your day will be bookended with two inspiring keynote talks by artist & disability campaigner Alison Lapper & Times bestselling author of ‘Breath in, Breath out’ and breathwork coach Stuart Sandeman (aka Breathpod!)…

Tickets for the Make it Flow Festival are limited, so make sure to secure yours early. Don’t miss out on this incredible opportunity to awaken your creativity, find your flow, and connect with others.

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Welcoming in Autumn

After a wonderful mini retreat on October 15 – exploring the element of wind / Vata (ayurveda) / Lom (Thai medicine), as we transition into Autumn through fluid, slow, warming movements and breath; an incredible vegan feast prepared by Lynne at The Vegan Experience, with incredible seasonal vegetables from Barcombe Nurseries – I will be organising a deep winter retreat and would love to hear from you if you’d like to join me.

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August class dates

I’m teaching reduced classes during August due to summer holidays:
Monday 7 August class is ON, 7.30-9pm at the Hanover Community Centre.
Mondays 14, 21 and 28 NO CLASS.

NO Tuesday classes at Boulder Brighton during summer holiday, back September 5.

Wednesdays 2, 9 and 30 classes are ON, 9-10am @charlottewattshealth
NO CLASSES Wednesdays 16 and 23.

NO SATURDAY CLASSES IN AUGUST at Hanover Community Centre, back September 2, 9.30-10.30am

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Maga – celebrating menopause

BOOKING NOW: Yoga, meditation and wild art journalling workshop to nurture women journeying through peri and menopause.

January 14 2024, 2-6pm, at Beechwood Hall, Cooksbridge.

In this nourishing workshop, we will explore meditation, breath, self massage and gentle movement practises to invite a more introspective, self-nurturing energy of this time of life. We will also explore wild art journaling as a way of creatively playing with self expression and identity as it shifts with throughout this transformational stage.

We welcome anyone who is moving through peri-menopause or menopause, or who is moving towards this stage, and would like to do so from a place of deep connection, acceptance and compassion. We aim to offer a supportive, non-judgemental expansive space where you will feel held and free to explore beyond the patriarchal notions of what this time of life entails. We welcome you to Maga.

When I first came across the term ‘Maga’, it felt like home. A place, or archetype, which follows the Mother (the stage of literal mothering a woman’s life or the bearing of other fruit, the productive ‘summer’ of life). While I’m all about reclaiming Crone as a positive and powerful time of life from the patriarchal downgrading of crone to wicked stepmother, witch (as a negative), or invisible and useless beyond reproductive years; with longer life spans, but at 50, it just doesn’t quite fit yet for me and so many women I talk to. Jane Hardwicke-Collins talks about Maga as:

‘the feminine version of Magus – the wise man, magician… a time of “integration and pulling through and pulling together the biggest pieces of my life work, my offering to the world.”

Where Mother is the Summer phase, Maga is the Autumn, and we can look to the seasons for guidance. It is a time of drawing in, regrouping, bringing in what we need for nourishment at a transitional time of life.

Book workshop, £50 for the afternoon.
book

Moyra Scott runs classes and art retreats. She developed her own processes, style of painting and a way of (WILD) Art Journaling. Moyra has her own painting studio and exhibits and sells her paintings. She also has a coaching practice with 1-2-1 clients and small group programmes (creative business owners, artists, designers, healers, photographers etc) and continues to coach and run workshops in the corporate setting (Reuters, UNV, UCL, Bristol Council, Kings College London, Cambridge University, Roche, Bayer among others).

Leonie Taylor is a senior yoga teacher and therapeutic Thai massage practitioner, teaching online (at Charlotte Watts Whole Health and Heart + Bones Yoga and in person. Leonie runs a weekly menopause yoga class.

Leonie is also a published author, having collaborated on Yoga Therapy for Digestive Health and co-authored Yoga and Somatics for Immune and Respiratory Health. She is currently writing her first solo project for Thames & Hudson, to be published in 2024.