Author: Michelle

Whilst from the outside, Savasana might look like the easiest posture in yoga – after all, you simply lie down, close your eyes and relax – it is often referred to as the most difficult. This is usually because as soon as the body is still, the mind no longer has anything to focus on,…

This week in our Slow Flow classes, our focus has been on creating space through the front of the hips, with particular attention on a deeply important muscle, the Psoas. What and where is the Psoas? The Psoas is a long, deep muscle that connects the upper and lower body. It originates along the lumbar…

I’d never considered myself particularly ‘good’ at meditation (that might come as a surprise given I’m a yoga teacher). I’ve tried it many times over the years, but I’ve often given up because my mind would be busy, thoughts would pop up constantly, and I’d think, “I’m obviously not very good at this.” But that…

This morning, we came together for a special fundraiser class in the cabin, raising money to support people affected by the crisis in Nepal. I’m so pleased to say that with the fees from the class plus all the amazing donations in the collection jar and money transferred digitally to me, we raised £550! This…

Yoga isn’t just something we practise for an hour on a mat, its teachings can give us useful tools for navigating the rest of our lives too. The physical practice can be a kind of laboratory for life – we notice how we respond when something feels difficult, how quickly we judge ourselves, whether we…

For years, fascia was something we barely thought about, often described as the connective tissue that wrapped around everything or the body’s internal packaging, but fascia is far more interesting than that. Increasingly, researchers are discovering that fascia isn’t simply structural tissue holding us together. It is richly supplied with nerves and blood vessels and…

You might not think that the shapes we make with our bodies in a yoga class have much to teach us about life. After all, Warrior 1 is a lunge with your arms in the air, Warrior 2 is a lunge with your arms out to the side. We learn where to put our feet,…

If you came to class week, you’ll have heard me talk about this at the start of class so I thought it might be useful to read about it too. When you first start yoga, there can be a lot to think about. Where should my feet go? What am I doing with my hands?…

This week’s Slow Flow class was a little different. For much of the practice, I invited everyone to close their eyes – not as a test or to make balancing harder, and certainly not because everyone had to, it was simply an invitation. If closing your eyes didn’t feel right, then a soft gaze was…

One of my favourite things about teaching yoga is watching how people’s bodies adapt over time and there’s a pattern I see over and over again. When someone first starts yoga, they’re often concentrating incredibly hard just to work out where everything goes. Which foot is forward? Which arm is reaching? Should my hips be…

One of the comments I often hear from students is: “I always sleep so well after Yin.” People tell me they fall asleep more quickly, slept more deeply or woke feeling more refreshed. Of course, Yin Yoga isn’t a treatment for insomnia, and everyone’s sleep is influenced by many different factors but there’s a very…

After one of my Yin classes recently, one of my students said she always feels like she’s “the rubbish one in the class.” Because some of the Yin postures don’t suit her body, she often practises different versions of the postures from everyone else or has to choose an alternative altogether and she’ll sometimes leave…

One of my favourite parts of yoga philosophy is about the ‘vrittis’, and these appear right at the start of the Yoga Sutras (written by Patanjali around 2000 years ago). He describes yoga as “the stilling of the fluctuations of the mind.” and those ‘fluctuations’ are known as the vrittis. The word ‘vritti’ literally means…

This week in the cabin we’re exploring something that often gets overlooked in yoga: the transitions. When we think about yoga, we tend to think of the postures themselves: Warrior II, Tree, Downward Dog, Savasana and so on. We focus on where we’re going, rather than how we get there. But a lot of our…

The theme in our Yin classes this week was the nervous system. When people ask me about the benefits of Yin Yoga, I often talk about the physical side of the practice – holding postures for longer periods can help improve the health of our joints, gently stress our ligaments and tendons, and encourage hydration…

At the end of every Slow Flow class in the cabin, once we’ve moved, stretched and strengthened the body, we always spend a few minutes practising Pranayama (breathwork). I’ve always liked doing this at the end of class as it acts as a lovely bridge between the physical practice and Savasana. Rather than moving straight…

If you attend my classes, you’ll know that I often like to weave little snippets of yoga philosophy into them. Sometimes it’s a story, sometimes a question to reflect on, and sometimes a practical lesson that relates to whatever theme we’re exploring that week. I love doing this because it adds another dimension to the…

This week’s Yin class was inspired by IKEA’s ‘The wonderful everyday’ advert which came on the TV just as I sat down to think about a theme for my class. I thought to myself, it’s all well and good IKEA giving us wonderfully-comfy sofas to lounge on for hours but then we have to undo…

Like many people, I came to yoga for the physical benefits. I wanted to become stronger, more flexible and improve my fitness. What I didn’t realise was that sitting behind the postures was an immense body of philosophy that had been studied and discussed for thousands of years. One of the most influential texts in…

This week in our flow classes, we explored the yoga concept of Sthira and Sukha — two Sanskrit words that appear in the ancient Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. There are 196 sutras in total which were written as guides to help us achieve stillness in the mind yet only two directly mention the physical practice…

Over the last few weeks we’ve explored some of the emotional and philosophical lessons we can learn from Yin, but last week we brought our attention more into the physical body and explored what was actually happening beneath the surface in these long, still holds. In more dynamic styles of yoga we tend to focus…

This week marks one whole year of Yoga in the Cabin and honestly, it’s hard to put into words how much this little space — and the people in it — have come to mean to me. The very first class was on 13th May last year. I remember feeling so nervous. I had only…

This week, our Yin classes explored the theme of listening. One of the things I have learned from practising Yin is that it gives us space to notice. Unlike our flow practice where we are moving more quickly from one posture to the next, Yin asks us to stay, to pause long enough to observe…

There’s a moment in many people’s yoga journey where the practice begins to shift. At first, yoga can feel very external. Where do my feet go? Is my back straight? Am I doing this “right”? We spend so much time learning alignment, engaging muscles, remembering sequences, and trying to hold everything together. And of course,…

Last week in the cabin, I had the pleasure of working 1-2-1 with a 70-year-old lady who was visiting her son locally. When we first spoke on the phone, she described herself as “fairly active,” but when the conversation turned to yoga, she repeated a phrase a few times: “I’m not very good.” She told…

This week in the cabin, we explored a little yoga philosophy alongside our physical practice. I very briefly introduced the teachings of Patanjali and the Yoga Sutras, written around 2,000 years ago. These teachings aren’t about poses — they’re a guide to living well in the world: how we behave towards others, how we treat…

This week in the cabin, we spent some time work-shopping our Sun Salutations — slowing things down, breaking them apart and exploring the detail within each posture and transition. I remember when I first started yoga, I wasn’t a huge fan of Sun Salutations. The main reason was I never used to like Downward Dog…

This week in our flow classes, we focused on opening through the chest and shoulders — an area that is so important! So much of modern life pulls us forward. Sitting, driving, working at a desk, looking at our phones — we spend a huge portion of our day in a kind of “C-shape,” gently…

Last week in the cabin, we focused on balance — and, as always, it led us somewhere much deeper than just standing on one leg. Balance and core go hand in hand. Physically, of course, the core supports us, stabilises us and helps us stay upright. But in yoga, the idea of a “core” goes…

If you’ve never tried Yin, you might be wondering what all the fuss is about. If you have tried Yin, you might be wondering what on earth’s going on in the body when it can sometimes feel like we’re not really doing much. So in this blog, we take a closer look at what’s happening…

Last week in the cabin we brought our attention back to something very simple, yet incredibly powerful: the breath. Rather than focusing on strength or perfect positioning, we allowed the breath to take centre stage — exactly where it should always be in yoga. This week we’re shifting our focus, turning our attention to shoulder…

Last week, one of my new students left a lovely comment on my blog saying thank you so much for helping me “wake my body up”. It stopped me in my tracks for a moment – such a beautiful phrase that immediately encapsulated one of the great powers of yoga. Because so many of us…

One of the most common places we lose balance in yoga isn’t actually in the pose itself — it’s in the transition. We become so focused on where we’re going that we forget to stay present for how we get there. But it’s the journey that builds the strength, control and stability which allows the…

I’ve had a few new customers come to class lately who have wrist issues — including repetitive strain injuries from desk jobs, carpal tunnel and ganglions. This can make postures like Downward Dog and Plank challenging and sometimes painful. Whilst chatting with them about supportive techniques, it occurred to me that this information would be…

You will notice that I usually say namaste at the end of class. Some teachers do, some don’t, some students do, some don’t — and both are completely okay. I wanted to share a little about the word and why people feel differently about it. What does namaste mean? Namaste comes from Sanskrit and doesn’t…

This week and last in the cabin, we’ve been exploring something that can feel tricky: finding stillness while we’re standing. So often when we arrive to class, the mind is busy. Even through the initial breathing and warm-up, we might still be thinking about the day we’ve just had, what’s coming later, or simply finding…

Since launching the cabin in May 2025, I’ve only been offering Slow Flow yoga classes, so I’m excited to let you know that from Thursday 19th February, I’ll be introducing Yin Yoga to the weekly schedule. A tough act to follow 😬 Some of you had the pleasure of experiencing Yin taught by my sister,…

This week in class, we brought the breath back to centre stage — where it belongs. So often our attention is caught up in the shape of the pose, where our arms and legs are meant to be, or whether we’re “doing it right”. Instead, we let the breath lead. Every posture, transition and moment…

In this week’s class, we explored hip strength – a favourite of mine, and a class that always serves as a reminder that finding steadiness in a posture begins long before the shape itself. Many of the poses we practiced were balancing postures, where stability depends on how well we engage the core and support…

When I first started out on my yoga journey, a teacher invited us to pause at the start of class and reflect on why we had come that day. It was an easy question for me to answer. At the time, I’d had multiple knee operations and could no longer do the sports that had…

This week in class, our theme has been Aparigraha, a concept from yoga philosophy that translates as non-attachment and the practice of letting go. It’s a theme that feels especially alive for me at the moment, because this week I left my job of 15 years. That decision means releasing not only the role itself…

My yoga studio is a peaceful haven — surrounded by trees, birdsong, and the gentle rustle of leaves. Most days, it feels like the perfect cocoon for practice. But as anyone who’s joined me here knows, our garden backs onto other people’s gardens… and life in those gardens can be lively sometimes. There’s the occasional…

So… it’s official. After 15 years in my marketing job, I’ve handed in my notice! 😳 I’m going all in and focusing on Yoga in the Cabin full time! Just typing that feels a bit wild. When I launched the cabin, I thought it would take a couple of years before I could even think…

In class this week, we’ve been chatting about Savasana — that final resting pose at the end of practice — and how different experiences can arise for different people. We chatted about how elements like sound and silence can shape that experience: instrumental music, English lyrics, Sanskrit lyrics, or even complete quiet. It was fascinating…

If you’ve spent any time on the mat, you’ve probably heard the phrase “everything is temporary.” It’s one of those quiet truths that yoga threads through every breath. Usually, we hear it in hard times — as comfort during a challenge, an injury, or a season of uncertainty. It’s a reminder that whatever you’re going…

I was teaching my beginners course last week, and as is often the case in all classes, we were all wobbling around in Tree pose. Legs shaking, arms flailing, trying to find a still point that seemed impossible. It’s easy to get frustrated when you’re new to balancing (and sometimes even when you’re not new…

Despite yoga’s reputation as a powerful practice for building strength, flexibility, and stilling the mind, men remain noticeably under-represented in studios across the UK. To understand why, I reached out to the local Havant community and asked the question: Men… what’s stopping you from coming to yoga? The answers were revealing, and highlighted a mix…

When we step onto the mat, many of us come seeking peace, clarity, or a release from stress. Yet one of yoga’s greatest gifts often comes in an unexpected form: discomfort. Whether it’s the ache of a long-held pose, or the restlessness and unease of lying in Savasana with nothing to do, discomfort naturally arises…

When I first opened the doors of Yoga in the Cabin back in June, I honestly had no idea what would happen and how it would be received. Obviously you dream of a constant flow of sign-ups and classes that run without a mistake – and there have been lots of days exactly like that…

During my recent trip to Malaysia, I had some beautiful and contrasting yoga experiences. Each setting — from the remote beaches of Langkawi and Borneo to the bustling streets of Penang — brought its own lesson, not just in movement or breath, but in presence, patience, and the true nature of stillness. In Langkawi and…

When we think of yoga, many things come to mind: flexibility, strength, balance, breath control, mindfulness. These are the visible, tangible aspects of the practice—the parts we feel in our muscles and joints as we move from pose to pose. But beneath the surface, something deeper and arguably more powerful is happening. Every time we…

Go to any yoga class and you’ll often see and hear how ‘going further’ and ‘going deeper’ is celebrated. Whether it’s the teacher offering a more advanced variation or students eagerly reaching for their toes, there’s often a visible drive to stretch limits—physically, mentally, sometimes even emotionally. I’ve even been in a class once where…

Anyone who comes to my classes will have heard me say countless times that yoga isn’t about how good we are at creating shapes with our body, or how flexible our hamstrings are. Yoga is a HUGE philosophy and way of life – it teaches us how to find stillness (on and off the mat),…

1. What yoga is or isn’t Yoga can have different meanings to different people and it’s definitely not my place to tell you what yoga is or isn’t – you will likely find that out for yourself and it could even change over time. However, if you ask most people what yoga is they will…