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oak tree yoga

174 Victoria Road
Wargrave
07977934346
yoga classes and yoga teacher training

oak tree yoga

  • Welcome
  • Classes
    • One to One
    • Online
    • Special Needs
    • Sound Baths
  • Retreats
    • Retreat with Us
    • June 2025 Hampshire
    • July 2025 Sweden
    • October 2025 Hampshire
    • November 2025 Hampshire
    • September 2026 Menorca
    • Yoga Retreats Booking Now
  • Thai Massage
  • Yogi's Library
    • PRACTICE WITH US
    • THIS WEEK'S CLASS
    • 20 MINUTE CLASSES
    • VINYASA
    • SLOW FLOW
    • HATHA YOGA
    • YIN-YANG YOGA
    • RESTORATIVE YOGA
    • 7 CHAKRA SERIES
    • MEDITATION
    • TUTORIALS
    • Guided Meditations
  • Inspiration
  • Sign In My Account

How can I be more peaceful?

October 16, 2021 Sarah Raspin
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When you are uncertain about what to do, where to go or how best to move forward, then choose the option that brings you peace. When you are feeling unsettled and unsure, do something to bring you towards peace. Being in a peaceful state will always help you to make the right decision.

Where do you look for peace? I look for it in the woods, on mountains and in the ocean. I look for it on my yoga mat and on my meditation cushion; I seek it in my breath and in the movement of my body; I see it in my teachers and hear it in the tone of their books; I watch for it in my students and observe it blooming within them when they practice.

Peace is nowhere else. I do not climb mountains to look for it there; peace lives in my heart, being alone on a mountain just reminds me of that fact. Peace is always within us; it is our natural state. Yoga is a way that we turn to the peace in our hearts, over and over again until it becomes an old friend.

There are many reasons why people come to their yoga mats: it makes you fit, increases your flexibility, improves lung-capacity and good-health. It makes you feel good, challenges you and increases your sense of yourself and your capacities. I am a recipient of all of these benefits.

But a fit body is only a vessel for the peace inside and a comfortable and healthy body and mind is simply a better place for a peaceful soul to live. That's all. It doesn't matter what we do on our mat or how we do it; whether we sit, or stand, or leap or dance, whether it be in silence or with music, whether we chant or pray, or meditate or not; none of that matters. The only thing that matters; the one thing that makes yoga different, is that yoga is always, always about seeking and finding peace.

If you approach life with your old same habits of self-recrimination and criticism, then all you are going to find there is what you have been living with. If you water the seed of not good enough, then that is what is going to bloom.

There is a different way. For yogis, this way begins in formal practice: we learn to use our breath and movement to let go of tension, inflexibility and negative habits of mind. We find that at the end of our practice we feel more peaceful and we want to let this inner peace imbue more of life. We do not shy away from difficulties when they present themselves, we know that sometimes we have to address old hurts and habits in order to move forward more freely.

If you want to be more peaceful, remember that it is already in you. Get to your mat a little more often, approach your practice in a kind and curious way with no pushing and no self-recrimination. Use your practice for the purpose of peace and peace will surely come.

“We are not going to change the whole world, but we can change ourselves and feel free as birds. We can be serene even in the midst of calamities and, by our serenity, make others more tranquil. Serenity is contagious. If we smile at someone, he or she will smile back. And a smile costs nothing. We should plague everyone with joy. If we are to die in a minute, why not die happily, laughing?"

Swami Satchidananda

Sarah x

Tags peace, happiness, yoga practice
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Yoga for Long Covid (free resources)

October 9, 2021 Sarah Raspin
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I’ve been working with a client with Long Covid on her recovery for over 12 months. It occurred to me that what we have learned together might be of help to others.

Her symptoms have been shortness of breath and a feeling of pressure on her chest; brain fog; waking up feeling exhausted even after a good night’s sleep; unremitting exhaustion and unpredictable relapses.

What we have done is to work with her breath and with very, very gentle movement to improve her lung capacity and to stimulate her vagus nerve and the parasympathetic nervous system which stimulates the rest and digest systems in your body. Her body seems to go into the fight/flight nervous system response (anxiety, racing heart, poor digestion) for no apparent reason and these practices have really helped her to manage those symptoms and to help her body to recover feelings of calm groundedness. They also help with mood - it is so challenging dealing with long illnesses and your mental health can easily suffer. Doing these exercies can help with that.

My client has changed her diet completely. This may or may not work for everybody, but I would suggest little or no gluten and dairy while you are dealing with the effects of long covid. If you suspect food might be a trigger for you, then try keeping a food/symptoms diary for a week or two and see if you can discern any patterns between what you eat and the symptoms that arise.

It’s so hard to be ill for a long time with no recovery in sight, or to have glimpses of better days, only to relapse for no apparent reason. I urge you to be patient with your body. It is going to take a while and this kind of condition never does respond well to the attitude of pushing through - in fact it is likely to make you feel much worse.

Here are some free resources that I hope will help you:

Click here for a free 30 minute yoga for Long Covid practice that contains some of what I have been doing with my student and which has really helped.  Can you find a way to do it almost every day?

Click here for a free yoga nidra practice to help your body recover its balance and restore some of its energy.

Click here for a free guided breathing practice to restore your body’s natural breathing patterns and lung capacity.  Calm breath makes for a calm body – it’s very powerful even though it is very gentle.

Please feel free to share this blog with friends if you think it might help.

Please contact me if you would like to take a regular online yoga class with me so that I can share all that we have discovered about what yoga works for Long Covid.

You will get better, but it might take a while. Gather your loved ones around you, find a way to take the pressure off yourself, do this practice or something like it every day that you are able.  Move to a slower rhythm of life and your body will thank you.

 Sarah x

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Is Yoga Teacher Training Worth It?

October 4, 2021 Sarah Raspin

Worth every penny

Frienship, mentoring, confidence and more…

The truth is that anyone can start teaching yoga and many have, without any training at all. But you’ll want to be the best teacher you can be and you’ll want to run a successful yoga business, so you’re going to need some help with that.

Here are the top five reasons for doing a teacher training course:

  1. The support of a senior teacher: someone who can teach you all about yoga philosophy - what it’s about, where it comes from, how to tell the difference between genuine yoga philosophy and more recent interpretations that may not be authentic. Someone who loves yoga in all its forms and has a long-standing practice of their own, someone you can trust, someone who is enthusiastic and wants you to be the confident, authentic teacher that you really want to be.

  2. The support of your fellow trainees. You’ll meet like-minded souls, who will support and encourage you during the course and beyond. These are some of the closest friends you’ll have in yoga - they get what you are doing and why, they are exactly as enthusiastic as you are about yoga and they genuinely want you to succeed. They’re on the same jounrney you and they’ll celebrate your successes and comiserate with you when life gets challenging.

  3. You’ll choose a course with a teacher who has an amazing knowledge and understanding of anatomy and physiology so that when you teach your students, you do it with the confidence to help them grow into a deeper yoga practice, whilst keeping them safe .

  4. You’ll have the backing of the awarding body - at Oak Tree Yoga Teacher Training School that is Yoga Alliance Professionals, a world leader in overseeing teacher training courses (none of your ‘learn it all in two weeks’ charlatans here) from whom you’ll go forward with a qualification that is highly respected the world over.

  5. A mentoring relationship after you have finished the course. At Oak Tree Yoga Teacher Training School we continue our interest in you and your teaching, maintain our friendly teaching community and stay in regular contact for as long after the course as you wish. That way you can feel supported and confident in those scary early days of setting out as a teacher.

Oak Tree Yoga Teacher Training runs yoga teacher training courses in Berkshire every weekend a month for 11 months.  Click here for our latest trainings.  We want you to be the best teacher you can be – 75% of our teachers are teaching within one month of completing the teacher training course.  Excellence starts early on during your training, so choosing the right course is crucial.

Graduates, 2021

Graduates, 2021

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