Downdog

Downdog Yoga studio. www.nxt-u.be

Permanently closed.
31/12/2025
15/11/2025

Ken jij al? ๐ŸŒˆ









Some days are justโ€ฆ spectacularly bad.Not character-building bad. Not โ€œIโ€™ll laugh about this somedayโ€ bad.Just bad bad.T...
04/11/2025

Some days are justโ€ฆ spectacularly bad.
Not character-building bad. Not โ€œIโ€™ll laugh about this somedayโ€ bad.

Just bad bad.

The kind of bad that makes you question if Mercury went retrograde, joined forces with an evil twin from a questionable galaxy and a bunch of very bored conspiracy theorists, and decided to ruin your life for funsies.

No lessons. No silver linings. No phoenix rising from the flames. Just a big fat pile of ashes.

Iโ€™m not even going to bother asking ChatGPT to give this post a positive spin, because I wouldnโ€™t want any of this to accidentally trickle into your algorithms and choke up your mojo.

As of tomorrow, Iโ€™ll be my chirpy self again, available for projects that donโ€™t require a fire brigade, therapy or mercy likes from my network. But in the meantime I just need to stew in a very large pool of self-pitty. ๐Ÿซฉ

I sincerely hope yours was better than mine.
๐Ÿ€


Today is ๐—ช๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—น๐—ฑ ๐— ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—›๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—น๐˜๐—ต ๐——๐—ฎ๐˜†, and Iโ€™ve been thinking about how grateful I am to have been teaching yoga for as long ...
10/10/2025

Today is ๐—ช๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—น๐—ฑ ๐— ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—›๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—น๐˜๐—ต ๐——๐—ฎ๐˜†, and Iโ€™ve been thinking about how grateful I am to have been teaching yoga for as long as I have.

First, because I love it.

Second, because it connects me with people who do fascinating things with their lives. As most of my classes take place in corporate environments, I get to learn from people working in fields far removed from my own (from magistrates to engineers to entrepreneurs).

Third, because it gets me off my backside from time to time; which is much needed, considering that writing involves a lot of sitting and being stuck in your head.

What I find most interesting is how yoga has evolved. Itโ€™s no longer seen as something woo-woo, but is now widely recognised as a ๐˜€๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฒ-๐—ฏ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ธ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ for body, mind, and soul. We know it lowers cortisol, regulates the nervous system, improves sleep, and strengthens emotional resilience. In simple terms, it helps us come back to ourselves.

If youโ€™d like to bring yoga or wellbeing into your workplace, donโ€™t hesitate to reach out โ€” either directly or via The Circle of Wellbeing for more embedded programmes, strategic implementation, and events. ๐Ÿง˜โ€โ™€๏ธ๐Ÿ’›







Today I taught a yoga class to a young woman with a ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ ๐—ถ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜.Hence the little mic clipped onto the collar of my ...
05/07/2025

Today I taught a yoga class to a young woman with a ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ ๐—ถ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜.

Hence the little mic clipped onto the collar of my shirt. Knowing my cues were being processed into an ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐—น๐—ผ๐—ด ๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ด๐—ป๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—ถ๐—ป๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ ๐˜€๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฒโ€™๐˜€ ๐—ฏ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ถ๐—ป was a humbling experience that made me incredibly mindful of every word I said.

As yoga teachers, we tend to use ๐—ฎ ๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ด๐˜‚๐—ฎ๐—ด๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜โ€™๐˜€ ๐—ณ๐—น๐˜‚๐—ถ๐—ฑ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ถ๐—ป๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐˜๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป. But as I started to teach, I suddenly wondered how all of my poetic prompts would sound as they travelled through a tiny bit of high-tech fluff attached to my top. To someone with impaired hearing, most of them must come across not just as weirdly roboticโ€”but probably also as mildly insane. So I decided to cut the cosmic drivel and be as concise as I possibly could.

The ๐—ผ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐˜ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐—บ๐˜† ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ด๐˜† involvedย โ€˜acting normalโ€™. While many thoughts raced through my mind, I tried to tone down the output of all my mental meanderings to make sure no one felt overlooked.

To my great relief, after class the young woman came to collect her microphone and told me how much she enjoyed the session. That alone made my day.
She also had one of the warmest smiles Iโ€™ve ever seen.

๐—•๐˜‚๐˜ ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒโ€™๐˜€ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—น ๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ธ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐˜„๐—ฎ๐˜†:

As I hopped into my car, I called my mom to tell her about my experience. ๐—ฆ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ธ๐—ฒ, sheโ€™s developed a soft spot for stories about people making the most of the cards they were dealt. So I made a concerted effort to capture every single detail about the mic, the implant, the class, and that big warm smile at the end of it.

And then, in her serendipitously beautiful way, my mom asked:

โ€œ๐——๐—ผ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ธ ๐˜€๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—น๐—ฑ ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—บ๐˜‚๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ฐ ๐˜๐—ผ๐—ผ?โ€

๐—ก๐—ผ๐˜ ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฒ had I thought about the music.

So that big smile at the end of class?

It had very little to do with my studentโ€™s need to hear. ๐—œ๐˜ ๐˜„๐—ฎ๐˜€ ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐˜„๐—ฎ๐˜† ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ธ๐—ป๐—ผ๐˜„๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ฑ๐—ด๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—บ๐˜† ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ณ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—น ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ป.

The moral of the story? Boy is it tempting to get caught up in your own fluff.

Thank god for moms - and cochlear implants. ๐Ÿ’›

๐—ช๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—œ ๐—ฎ๐—บ ๐—ป๐—ผ๐˜: ๐—ฎ ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ต.I am a yoga teacher.Iโ€™ve spent years studying the human body, memorizing ancient scripture, and e...
22/05/2025

๐—ช๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—œ ๐—ฎ๐—บ ๐—ป๐—ผ๐˜: ๐—ฎ ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ต.

I am a yoga teacher.

Iโ€™ve spent years studying the human body, memorizing ancient scripture, and exploring the space we often accuse of creating divisionโ€”when in truth, itโ€™s really what keeps us from falling apart.

I was trained to prompt big questions without giving away the end.
Part of my mindful mission is to keep stories unfoldingโ€”and that includes keeping track of my own.

The parts I struggle with are mine to disentangle. I am a glorious mess, worthy of that effortโ€”and ๐™ฉ๐™๐™–๐™ฉ is precisely what makes me a teacher. My job isnโ€™t to reveal the big picture, but to revel in the fact that I am part of the frame.






โญ•๏ธ

I just heard the most amazing definition of the word โ€˜resilienceโ€™: โ€˜๐•€๐•ฅโ€™๐•ค ๐•ฅ๐•™๐•– ๐•ค๐•ก๐•’๐•”๐•– ๐•“๐•–๐•ฅ๐•จ๐•–๐•–๐•Ÿ ๐•Ÿ๐• ๐•ฅ-๐•œ๐•Ÿ๐• ๐•จ๐•š๐•Ÿ๐•˜ ๐•’๐•Ÿ๐•• ๐•œ๐•Ÿ๐• ๐•จ๐•š๐•Ÿ๐•˜โ€™.If y...
17/02/2025

I just heard the most amazing definition of the word โ€˜resilienceโ€™:

โ€˜๐•€๐•ฅโ€™๐•ค ๐•ฅ๐•™๐•– ๐•ค๐•ก๐•’๐•”๐•– ๐•“๐•–๐•ฅ๐•จ๐•–๐•–๐•Ÿ ๐•Ÿ๐• ๐•ฅ-๐•œ๐•Ÿ๐• ๐•จ๐•š๐•Ÿ๐•˜ ๐•’๐•Ÿ๐•• ๐•œ๐•Ÿ๐• ๐•จ๐•š๐•Ÿ๐•˜โ€™.

If you have fashioned yourself to be someone academically talented, youโ€™ll know that this space can feel profoundly uncomfortableโ€”frustrating, even.
But hereโ€™s the thing: feeling frustrated means youโ€™re on the learning curveโ€”and thatโ€™s a gazillion times better than being nowhere at all.

So here I am, practicing my Arabic once again. Progress is painstakingly slow, and the frustration is real. But if this is what learning feels like, then bring it on.
Surely, a language that has 19 different words for โ€˜loveโ€™ is worth every effort.

Right? ๐Ÿฅด







๐Ÿค

Every now and again, I am in complete awe of what humans are capable of. I left the movie theatre yesterday feeling extr...
27/01/2025

Every now and again, I am in complete awe of what humans are capable of.

I left the movie theatre yesterday feeling extremely proud of the remarkable feat and his brother Monir put together.

๐—•๐—ซ๐—Ÿ is heart-wrenchingly candid. Itโ€™s real, raw and quite literally rough at the edges. It simultaneously exposes a malignance in our society we would much rather keep concealed, and the reason why we can no longer afford to be oblivious to it. ๐—•๐—ซ๐—Ÿ also reminds us of how love and loss burden us equally, regardless of our backstory.

Seriously, go watch this movie. Bring all your friends. In a world gone cynically mad, ๐—•๐—ซ๐—Ÿ will reinstate your faith in humanity. Because perhaps the antidote to all the bitterness lies in adopting the perspective of two brothers who invite us to rethink the cards we are dealt with. I canโ€™t wait to see and learn more from them.

ุฃุดูƒุฑูƒ ุฌุฒูŠู„ ุงู„ุดูƒุฑ
be

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