Yogashona

Yoga and meditation classes based in Newton Stewart, Scotland. Connecting with students locally and �500 hrs Yoga Scotland teaching diploma.

(2013-2015)

�Certified vishoka meditation teacher. Himalayan Institute (2019-2020)

For more detailed info on all current class options and to book please see the website.

11/11/2025

If you’re ready to stop looking outside of yourself for the answers - drop me a DM and we can chat about whether yoga therapy is the right choice for you.

🕊️🧡

09/10/2025

There was a time when I ticked all those boxes.
I didn’t know it at the time, but I was living in a constant state of fight or flight. When problems started to creep in, I thought it was because I didn’t have enough self control. What I know now is that I didn’t know any other way to self regulate.

That changed when I started becoming more grounded through regular embodied movement and breathing techniques.

Now I’ve kicked the alcohol & ni****ne addictions & have been sober for 10 years.

If you want to feel more in control & reduce your reliance on external coping strategies a good place to start is:

1. Regular breath, mindfulness and relaxation practices to shift your physiology out of fight or flight.
2. Short grounding movements to anchor your attention in the present and develop greater awareness of internal body signalling.
3. An embodied systematic approach to riding the wave of urges and cravings - giving you more power to choose not succumb.

You don’t have control over what stressful circumstances life throws at you but you can have control over how you cope.

This is some of what I’ll share with you in GROUNDING INTO FREEDOM - 30 days to steady your nervous system, reclaim control, and replace reactive coping with sustainable grounding.

We start live on Monday 27th October. Comment GROUND to join the waiting list or send me a DM.

I’m 100% behind you friend!

🕊️🧡

07/10/2025

You’re trying to be more self controlled.
You can be good for a while, toughing it out with sheer willpower and determination. Eventually though, a moment of weakness, a s**t day at work or a fly away comment from a family member catches you out, you cave and the floodgates open again. You hate yourself for being being weak and it only makes you more determined to try harder next time.

I see so many people trapped in this cycle when the truth is you’re not weak - you’re resisting.

🩹You see, when you stop numbing out with alcohol, ni****ne, work, exercise, food, endless to do lists, s*x, po*******hy, gambling, retail therapy, Netflix or doom scrolling, you have to face what’s really there - the deep discomforts and unwelcome feelings in your body and mind.

It was Carl Rogers who said:
“The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as l am, then I can change.”

🙏Acceptance is not about giving up, it’s about finding the strength, courage and trust in yourself to face the difficult things you’ve been avoiding and allowing THAT to guide you towards change. It’s not your external behaviour that needs your attention it’s your internal resistance.

👉Becoming more grounded is the first step towards self acceptance because it changes the internal conditions in your nervous system that are driving your self judgment and reactive behaviours.

This is just one of the lessons that helped me free myself from decades of addiction and allows me to continue to mange cravings every day.

🔥🔥It’s why I’ve created GROUNDING INTO FREEDOM - 30 days to steady your nervous system, reclaim control, and replace reactive coping with sustainable grounding.

We start live on Monday 27th October . Comment GROUND to join the waiting list or send me a DM.

I’m 100% behind you friend!

🕊️🧡

12/09/2025

Spiritual practice isn’t about fighting with what is - it’s about leaning into it.

You want to change and you hate that you’ve let things get this bad.

You’ve tried hard so many times. You’ve summoned every ounce of strength and willpower to resist the cravings & temptations again and again.

You hold out for hours or days or weeks and then you cave. You blame yourself for not having enough willpower and tell yourself you’ll try harder next time!

But the problem isn’t that you don’t have willpower and are not trying hard enough.

It’s your resistance that’s keeping you trapped in your patterns and draining your self belief.

It was Carl Rogers who said:
“The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as l am, then I can change.”

Transformation doesn’t happen through resistance - it begins with acceptance.

Acceptance is not about giving up, it’s about finding the courage to face the things that are difficult and allowing them to guide you towards change.

So if the question you’ve been asking yourself is : why can’t I resist my cravings & urges?

The better one would be : what is preventing me from BEING with them?

When you do that, everything changes.

This one shift is how I went from decades of addiction and yo yo quitting to finally
👉giving up alcohol for good
👉stopping smoking
👉giving up a coffee habit that was giving me anxiety
👉being a waaaay less angry & shouty Mum
👉improving my impulse control and spending habits

You’ll get the exact methods I used, personalised practices, the step by step system I still use to this day, and we’ll meet regularly in person online to keep your on track with my 1:1 support for the next 6 months.

If you’re ready to begin your own inner transformation and healing journey and you want my help to plan how you’ll get there then drop me a DM today.
I only have 1 space left and today’s the last day I’m offering this level of support so don’t miss your chance for change.

I’m 100% behind you friend!

🕊️🧡

11/09/2025

Yogic philosophy teaches us that all craving arises from an ignorance based on a belief that we are separate.

This feeling of disconnection creates a sense of emptiness in the mind and inspires a host of activities to fill the void.

We suffer because we crave external things, yet nothing outside of ourselves can bring the lasting fulfilment we are looking for.

Spiritually, cravings are not failures to be punished, they are messengers directing you back to wholeness.

Addiction isn’t the problem — it’s a symptom.

It’s your nervous system, grief, loneliness, or unmet longing trying to get your attention.

Meet each urge with presence, with curiosity, and with kindness, then act from a place of wholeness — not from a place of shame.

You don’t need any more willpower.

You need practices that help you come home to yourself.

If you’re done struggling with abstinence & avoidance and are ready to do the deep inner transformative work of coming home to who you really are, then 6 months of my 1:1 support is the best way I can guide you.

We’ll meet weekly or fortnightly depending on your circumstances either online or in person.

All yoga practices whether movement based or more contemplative will be tailored to you.

I’ll teach you the practices that have been instrumental in my own recovery.

I’ll support you to establish a regular practice that fits with your lifestyle.

Plus, you’ll learn the exact step by step method I still use regularly to navigate cravings and temptation with presence and without willpower.

DM me SELF to get started. This offer goes away on Friday 12th, so don’t miss your chance for change.

I’m 100% behind you friend.

🕊️🧡

10/09/2025

It took me years and years of knowing that I was struggling before I could finally reach out for help with my problematic drinking.

The only people who came close to knowing the full extent of it were me and the kerbside recycling crew. Let’s be honest, most of us are justifying the hell out of every drink we have and taking at least some of the empties to the bottle bank ourselves.

All of these things were the result of this one hidden issue, yet it took me a very long time to realise the influence it was having on my life.

The societal stigma of addiction & our internalised feelings of failing, inadequacy and low self worth mean that shame is worn like a heavy yet invisible cloak trapping us in behaviour patterns and stopping us from reaching out for help or understanding. Then it quickly becomes a self-reinforcing cycle.

As Brené Brown insightfully states, “Shame needs three things to grow: secrecy, silence, and judgment.”

When it’s kept in the shadows, shame festers, making recovery an uphill battle.

Therapeutic yoga offers a transformative space for healing from shame and it’s something I still work on in myself to this day.

The 8 limbs of yoga is a complete system. It forms the backbone of our spiritual journey, guiding us towards remembering our innate wholeness, healing the wounded parts of ourselves along the way.

Healing from the pain of shame forms part of the work you’ll do with 6 months of my 1:1 therapeutic support.

If you want my ongoing help on your recovery journey then DM me SELF to get started.

I don’t know when I’ll next be able to offer this extended level of support, so if you’re ready for a much deeper transformative experience then drop me a message before Friday. Only 1 space left.

I’m 100% behind you friend.

🕊️🧡

Now let’s talk in the comments and bring shame out of the shadows. Have you or someone you know struggled with feelings of shame related to addiction, compulsive behaviour, or cravings? What has been helpful for you?

09/09/2025

This was tough to write but here goes…..

Dear little Shona, Your ability to adapt will be second to none. Life will quickly teach you that being sensitive isn’t safe so you should toughen up & develop a thick skin. You’ll do what you can to survive in a world that’s confusing & painful, but it will never feel good enough. And to do all that you’ll become someone you barely recognise and don’t even like.

To fit in, to avoid disappointing people, to protect yourself from getting hurt again, & to feel safe & loved - you’ll learn to keep quiet & ignore your own feelings in favour of pleasing & pacifying others.

The price you’ll pay for surviving on other people’s terms is to stay numb until that also becomes too painful to bare.

You’ll see your addictive behaviour as a weakness & yet more proof that you should be better & trying harder.

Eventually, yoga will show you that you were never broken in the first place, you’ve been resisting.

You’ll think each moment of craving and temptation is something to be ashamed of so you’ll keep it a secret and continue living a lie.

You’ll come to understand that each craving is really your soul’s yearning for your own love and acceptance.

Living as some broken version of you will feel lonely and empty.

Yoga will remind you that you’ve always been whole.

You’ll wish you had never been born to get yourself into this mess.

You’ll come to see your deep pain & suffering as the most transformative gift you could have been given. One that wakes you up to the inner peace, strength, love, happiness & potential that was always inside of you.

Your journey to recovery & realising who you really are will happen through:

Self awareness
Self acceptance
Self compassion
Self regulation
Self surrender

🫶

If any of this resonates then these 5 SELFs of self healing are exactly what I’ll share with you in 6 months of my 1:1 therapeutic support.

If you want my support on your recovery journey DM me SELF now to get started.

Offer ends on Friday and only 1 space left so don’t miss out.

I’m 100% behind you friend

🕊️🧡

07/09/2025

14 years ago, I was stuck in the cycle of addiction and yo yo quitting and I discovered yoga.

My yoga time was my favourite 90 minutes of the week. As a lone parent it was a precious bit of time to myself where I could forget about everything that was going on a home and relax.

Any chances I got to get away on yoga workshops and retreats - I took them. Yet despite the feel good yoga buzz I felt after each class, every night I was still going home, putting the kids to bed and opening a bottle of wine.

When we use yoga as an escape, the stretched out calm after class can feel like relief.

But if it’s the main tool you use to avoid cravings, difficult feelings, or past trauma, it doesn’t build the inner resilience recovery requires.

Escaping teaches avoidance;

Recovery needs presence, processing, and new emotional skills.

Instead of relying on fleeting calm, it requires you do the deeper, committed work:

Learning to sit with discomfort,
Identifying triggers,
Emotional regulation techniques,
Processing painful memories,
Practicing grounding tools you can use anywhere.
Support and accountability to progress.

This is the work that happens both inside yourself and by shifting the way you practice yoga.

Your healing requires you to meet all the aspects of yourself, including the uncomfortable ones.

If you’re ready to move from escaping to true healing the best way I can help you is with 6 months of my 1:1 therapeutic support, helping you build lasting presence, so you can finally free yourself from the pain of your cravings or addiction without wasting any more time with unnecessary suffering.

This offer ends on Friday 12th and I only have 2 spaces available so DM me today to get started.

I’m 100% behind you friend.

🕊️🧡

05/09/2025

Whether it’s alcohol, ni****ne, substances, or behaviors like gambling, po*******hy or binge eating, addiction rarely happens overnight. It evolves slowly, subtly, and often silently.
One drink becomes two. One click becomes hours. And before long, a habit turns into a craving, then a compulsion, and finally something that feels beyond our control.

What most people who feel trapped in the yo yo cycle don’t understand is that it’s not you that’s not strong enough to resist or quit, it’s that the self control pathways in your brain have been hijacked over time.

You see compulsion and addiction start to hijack the brain’s habit system, particularly the dorsal striatum, which plays a role in automatic, habitual behavior (Everitt & Robbins, 2016). At this point, it’s no longer just about wanting or needing, it’s about not being able to stop, even when you truly want to.

The feeling of a loss of control is one of the clearest signs of addiction. You might set limits “just one drink,” “only on weekends”, but consistently find yourself breaking them. You might try to quit and even succeed for a while, only to relapse often with guilt and self-blame.

This loss of control isn’t about willpower. Research shows that long-term substance use weakens the brain’s prefrontal cortex, the area responsible for decision-making, impulse control, and self-regulation (Goldstein & Volkow, 2011). So even though you know the risks, the brain’s capacity to act on that knowledge is impaired.

Fortunately, the brain’s in built capacity for neuroplasticity mean change is possible.

3 ways that yoga strengthens & improves the healthy functioning of the prefrontal cortex:

1. Planning movements by learning yoga postures
2. Mindful awareness
3. Increasing the calming neurotransmitter GABA

Recovery doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to begin - and it’s only one yoga practice away.

These changes don’t happen overnight, which is why I’m now offering 6 months of my 1:1 ongoing support to two people who want long term change.

DM me CHANGE to start your transformation now.

I’m 100% behind you friend.

🕊️🧡

03/09/2025

It’s not you that has to change.

It’s your relationship with you.

You care deeply about your family and friends, and the state of the world. You care enough about your cravings or addiction to desperately want to change.
You don’t like to make a fuss or let people down because you care so much.
To the outside world you’re lovely and kind and generous and successful.

But what no one sees on the inside is
That voice in your head that is harsh, judgemental & unkind.
You feel guilty about your lack of self control.
You wish you were a better person.
You blame yourself for not being strong enough to change because everyone else isn’t struggling like you. You feel weak, hopeless and pathetic.

I’ve been there, and what my own spiritual journey and recovery has taught me is that the problem - is not you. It’s your relationship with you.

You know, almost everyone walks around with this idea of who they are – shaped by everything they’ve been through, all the things they’ve learned, and the way they think they should act. But here’s the thing: that “identity”, your inner dialogue, your habits and patterns, spirituality speaking - none of it is actually the real you.

When you start to peel back the layers, you’ll realise it’s just a collection of beliefs and strategies you’ve created to navigate life. To feel safe, loved and accepted in a hostile world.

By becoming more present and seeing these thoughts and beliefs, you will find the space to be more self-accepting. Then those constructs of your identity won’t define you. They’re just a way you’ve learned to cope.

Everything transforms when you change your relationship with the inner you. The you you’ve had to become for yourself to survive in a life that’s been hard.

If any of this resonates and you’re ready to change your relationship with yourself so you can finally free yourself from your craving or addiction without any more struggle watch this space for more info coming soon.

I’m 100% behind you friend 🙌
🕊️🧡

02/09/2025

As a spiritual practitioner and recovered addict I’ve spent the last decade or more examining my lived experience of cravings.

So often I see good intentioned people who are so determined to change their old ways and bad habits, but they struggle to make their new behaviour stick. Feeling stuck, frustrated and hopeless in the cycle of yo yo quitting.

Here are the 3 things that most people miss that will completely transform how you’re going about it so you can finally give up the struggle for good :

1. Cravings are thoughts about enjoyment that may trigger a reaction, but they’re not the experience itself. It’s an important distinction to understand when we look to free ourselves from their control.

2. When you really get the previous point, then you can start to change how you are identifying with them.

2. Craving is never in the present moment. It is always about past and future moments.

Becoming more present & reducing the potency of cravings and our identification with them is the work of spiritual practice.

If you’re done with your yo quitting & want my help to get started and plan how exactly you’re going to finally free yourself for good then keep a close eye out because I’ve got a special offer for you coming later this week.

I’m 100% behind you friend 🙌

🕊️🧡

29/08/2025

Here’s a little insight from the perspective of a recent yoga therapy client.

If you’be been thinking about whether it might be the right thing to help you physically, mentally or emotionally, send me a message and I’ll get back to you to arrange a chat about what’s involved.

🕊️🧡

Address

Newton Stewart

Telephone

+447587815719

Website

http://www.yogashona.co.uk/, http://www.yogashona.heymarvelous.com/

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Our Story

I completed my 500hr teacher training diploma with Yoga Scotland between Sept 2013 and June 2015. I began teaching during my training and have been steadily adding classes to my weekly schedule since. As well as the general classes, I also offer a chair based class, a beginners class and classes for the students and staff at the Douglas Ewart High School. Everyone can do yoga and there’s something available for a range of needs and abilities. I will also do taster sessions when invited by local groups. Your yoga practice is about you and where you are right now. My teaching style reflects this as I offer variations and modifications throughout to make the postures accessible while encouraging students to practice safely and to their own level. You might just surprise yourself with what you can achieve. In each class we bring together the body, breath and mind through asana (physical postures), pranayama techniques (breathing) and guided relaxation. The general theme of the class varies each week and is presented through a range of postures in a structured and balanced format. You will leave the class feeling both relaxed and refreshed. Developing a regular yoga practice will improve your physical and mental health and wellbeing. The awareness and techniques that you learn on the mat can be taken off the mat to help you navigate the ups and downs of daily life.

Classes run on a 6 week block basis for the purposes of payment and I offer two payment options. Either pay up front for each block, or just pay as you go on the weeks you can make it. Cash or online payments are accepted. Booking is essential as class sizes are limited by the room size.