Yoga Way - Yoga & Meditation Studio, Alice Springs

07/12/2025

ENGINEERING HEALTH
Part Six: Somatic Yoga
Reclaiming the Body’s Intelligence

After exploring breath, energy, movement, rhythm, and internal awareness, we arrive at the heart of embodiment: reconnecting with the body’s natural intelligence. Somatic yoga shifts us from performing shapes (asanas) to sensing from within. It’s less about how you look in a pose and more about how you feel moment to moment.

Core Message
Your body holds deep wisdom.
It knows where it’s tight, where it’s compensating, what it’s protecting, and what it truly needs.
Somatic yoga teaches you to listen gently and honestly and to respond in a way that restores trust.

What Somatic Yoga Offers
Permission to move intuitively
Release of stored tension and habitual patterns
Reconnection with subtle sensations
Nervous system regulation through slow, mindful pacing in a feed back loop, that senses safety and settling into your own body

Why It Completes the Series
Everything we’ve explored so far in this series builds toward part 6
Not just engineering health from the outside but reawakening the internal signals that guide you toward balance on their own.

Try This Practice: Reclaiming the Body’s Intelligence
Find a quiet place to lie down or sit comfortably:
1. Listen Before You Move
Close your eyes and notice the first impulse your body gives you , a stretch, a shift, a sigh, a swallow. Honour it.
2. Follow Micro-Movements
Let your body lead.
Move only as much as feels natural, stopping when the impulse fades.
3. Pause and Sense
After each movement, be still.
Let the echo of sensation wash over you.
4. Finish When Your Body Feels Complete
Not when the clock says to stop, but when your system naturally settles.
This is somatic intelligence:
movement that arises from within, guided by sensation rather than expectation.

01/12/2025

ENGINEERING HEALTH part 5

The Power of Rhythm
Your body isn’t random, it runs on different cycles, these include Breathing cycles. Digestive cycles. Sleep–wake cycles. Hormonal cycles.
When these natural rhythms are supported instead of disrupted, energy stabilises, digestion improves, and the mind feels grounded.
How We Fall Out of Rhythm
Eating at inconsistent times
Staying up late or waking irregularly
Overstimulating the nervous system (screens, caffeine, rushing)
Skipping natural pauses between tasks
Each of these pulls us slightly off centre until the body is forced to compensate, often through fatigue, cravings, bloating, anxiety, or poor recovery.
How We Re-Tune
By creating anchors.

1. Breath Rhythm
A simple 1:2 inhale, exhale ratio signals the nervous system to downshift.
Example: Inhale 4, exhale 8.
This creates internal coherence and steadiness.
2. Meal Rhythm
Eating at roughly the same times cues your digestive enzymes to show up on schedule The result; less bloating, better energy, smoother elimination.
3. Movement Rhythm
Your body moves between activation and rest.
Alternating dynamic movement with slow grounding work keeps the system balanced.
4. Daily Rhythm (Circadian Anchors)
Morning light step out side and greet the light
Midday movement ( using the sun and its heat to help digestion)
Evening winding-down ritual create a bed time rhythm
The Engineering Insight
These natural cycles are the framework your biology uses to maintain stability.
When the framework is steady, everything else, mood, metabolism, motivation upgrades itself naturally.
A Simple Daily Rhythm Practice
Try this tomorrow:
1.Step outside within an hour of waking and let the light set your internal clock.
2.Eat your first meal mindfully, with no rush or multitasking.
3.Pick one anchor time for movement even 10 minutes.
4.Dim lights and slow the breath after sunset invite the body to close the day.
These tiny cues help your system to remember how good it feels to move in flow with its natural design.

29/11/2025

As we move into the busyness of December, we will continue to focus on our Somatic Yoga practice, softening our personal space and releasing some of the chaos.

Somatic Yoga blends mindful movement with gentle, slow exploration of the body. It focuses on internal awareness through a feed back loop with the nervous system, thus helping to release tension, soothe the nervous system, and support stress or chronic pain relief. Suitable for all levels.

23/11/2025

Engineering Heath Part 4
Reducing Inflammation
Inflammation isn’t always visible, sometimes it is a quiet fire in your body that slows energy, stiffens joints, and affects your mood. The good news? Gentle lifestyle choices can help calm this fire, creating space for healing and ease.

Ways to Reduce Inflammation Naturally

1️⃣ Anti-inflammatory foods
Bright, colourful vegetables and fruits
Omega-3 rich foods: salmon, sardines, chia, flax
Herbs and spices: turmeric, ginger, rosemary, cinnamon

2️⃣ Move gently
Low-impact yoga, restorative flows, and mindful stretching support circulation and reduce stiffness without aggravating joints.

3️⃣ Manage stress
Chronic stress fuels inflammation. Breathwork, meditation, and grounding exercises like savasana or a quiet walk in nature can help your nervous system relax.

4️⃣ Prioritise sleep
Deep, restorative sleep allows your body to repair tissues, regulate hormones, and keep inflammation in check.

Try This Practice
Next time you are on your yoga mat or seated. begin with a gentle twist, first straighten up your body then inhaling fully, exhaling slowly twisting
Visualise tension leaving your body with each breath
End in a restorative pose, feeling warmth and ease flow through your body
Calm the fire within, and your body will thank you with lightness, clarity, and energy
Stay tuned for Part Five: The Power of Rhythm, where we’ll explore how aligning with natural cycles enhances energy, digestion, and overall well-being

16/11/2025

Engineering Health
Part 3

Part Three: Gut–Brain Flow
Did you know that your gut talks to your brain constantly? This connection is called the gut–brain axis. This influences your mood, focus, stress levels, and even your sleep.
A balanced gut doesn’t just support digestion it goes a lot further than that, it supports emotional clarity, calm, and mental resilience. When your inner ecosystem thrives, your mind flows more freely, both on and off the mat.
Ways to Support Your Gut–Brain Connection
1️⃣ Eat for harmony
Whole, fibre-rich foods and fermented favorites like yogurt or kimchi support beneficial microbes that produce mood-regulating chemicals like serotonin and GABA.

2️⃣ Move your body
Gentle yoga, stretching, or mindful walking improves circulation and encourages healthy signaling between gut and brain.

3️⃣ Practice mindful presence
Slow, deep breaths, meditation, or journaling help regulate your nervous system, calming stress that disrupts gut–brain balance.

4️⃣ Sleep for clarity
Quality rest helps your brain and gut reset, repair, and communicate effectively.

Yoga practices to support Gut Brain Axis
During your next yoga session, bring awareness to the connection between your belly and your mind.
• Place a hand on your belly.
• Take three slow, deep breaths, feeling your belly rise and fall.
• Imagine energy flowing between gut and brain, creating calm, focus, and clarity.

A happy gut is a quiet mind; a nourished mind is a vibrant body.

Stay tuned for Part Four: Reducing Inflammation, where we’ll explore simple ways to create space for healing and ease tension in body and mind.

10/11/2025

Part Two: of Engineering Health

Cellular Energy & Flow
Awakening Your Inner Power Plants

Every movement you make, every breath, every heartbeat depends on the tiny powerhouses inside your cells: the mitochondria. They turn food and oxygen into the pure energy (ATP) that fuels vitality, clarity, and resilience.

When mitochondria are nourished and supported, you feel it: steadier energy, clearer focus, and smoother recovery both on and off the mat.

Ways to Support Cellular Energy

1️⃣ Nourish your cells
Include magnesium-rich greens, good fats (avocado, olive oil, nuts, seeds), and whole grains. These nutrients feed mitochondrial enzymes that create clean energy.

2️⃣ Move mindfully
Gentle yoga, breathwork, or a slow walk in sunlight encourages oxygen flow and mitochondrial renewal. You don’t need intensity, consistency is key.

3️⃣ Balance stress
Chronic stress drains cellular energy. Try slow exhalations, gratitude journaling, or a grounding savasana to reset your nervous system.

4️⃣ Rest deeply
Sleep is when your mitochondria repair themselves. Honour rest as part of your self- care practice.

Try This Practice
During your next class or home practice, bring attention to your breath.
With each inhale, imagine light and energy entering your cells.
With each exhale, release what no longer serves you.
Vitality is the quiet hum of balanced energy born from every cell that remembers how to breathe

Stay tuned for Part Three: Gut–Brain Flow, where we will explore how your inner ecosystem shapes mood, focus, and emotional balance.

03/11/2025

28/10/2025

See you on the mat

25/10/2025

Namaste
Yoga teaches us to be fully present and aware through the practice of asana (postures) and pranayama ( the yogic practice of breath control to regulate the life force), These two limbs of yoga give us the opportunity to focus on the task at hand while on the mat. When we take this awareness off the mat it translates into how we relate to the world around us.

This is especially valuable when supporting someone who is anxious. Often, the greatest comfort we can offer others comes from quiet, unhurried presence, by simply being there without trying to fill the space with words or action. Creating this quiet healing environment can speak louder than anything else.
Om shanti

08/10/2025

A 40 day challenge of the Gayatri mantra
40 Days of Sunshine – Gāyatrī ✨
17th October -25th November
For forty days we rise with the light, attuning our hearts and voices to the radiant Gāyatrī mantra. Known as the Mother of the Vedas, Gāyatrī is a prayer to the divine sun — the source of wisdom, vitality, and illumination.

Each repetition is like a sunbeam, dissolving shadow, clarifying the mind, and awakening our inner brilliance. Together we enter a simple yet profound discipline: daily devotion, steady rhythm, and the quiet unfolding of light within.

40 day online chanting program

03/10/2025

Back on the mat next week

02/10/2025

My yoga path was a calling and I listened. It has continued to tap me on the shoulder for over 30 years now. Even after all this time, I still need gentle reminders that I have a choice and an opportunity to step away from the chaos around me and return to clarity and grace by being present. For this, I am deeply grateful

I welcome you to step on the mat with me
Monday 5.30pm Men’s only yoga
Tuesday 5.00pm Restorative Hatha
Wednesday 5.00pm General Hatha