Manaia Wellbeing

Yoga, Health and Wellbeing in Westport, Buller, Rangiora and North Canterbury

Wisdom from the Yoga Mat #2

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What do you do when you come up against those tight areas in the body?

What does it feel like to be restrained?
What does it feel like to find yourself stuck in something that you do not like?
When you’re caught in a tight spot?

During the earlier years of my Yoga journey, I didn’t enjoy uncovering these places of holding, of tightness, of rigidity in the body. I felt stuck, cornered, confronted and out of control.

As I was learning I tried many things… to ignore it and continue breathing in the hopes it would disappear. It didn’t.

I tried pushing against the restriction and it held tighter.

It was not until I could truly witness that sensation, be with it fully, that I noticed a little space would open. Using my breath, breathing fully into the rigidity, getting fully into my feeling body I could start to create more space, to find some ease with this feeling.

Through the space that I uncovered I realised I wasn’t stuck. That in this “so called” corner there was the ability to move, to explore, to open up to the experience. By being with it gently, holding it with love and the soft caress of my breath, change happened bit by bit…

Wisdom from the Yoga Mat # 1

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Our breath… our natural, radiant, consistent breath teaches us about a deep peacefulness that can be found through creating balance in our lives.

When we breathe in, the body expands and this can be felt as the “doing” phase of the breath. When we breathe out, the body condenses, it softens and this can be felt as the “relaxing/receiving” phase of the breath. In our natural breathing rhythm we also have pauses. For most this will be felt at the end of the out breath but can also be experienced at the end of the in breath. These pauses are moments of “being”.

Every time we breathe in and we breathe out, we get to experience all parts of the breath… the doing, the receiving and the being. Each as important as the other.

Through relaxed, natural breathing that dances with our receptive bodies we can reach deep states of peacefulness. And we can apply this learning to our day-to-day lives…

Allow time for working, for doing and create time for softening, receiving and being.

As we find a balance between doing, receiving (accepting) and being, I believe we can all find a deep peacefulness from which to BE in the world.

Our Juice Fasting Experience

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Fasting gives the digestive system a well-deserved rest. This allows the body to use energy that it normally would to digest food, instead to heal, cleanse and detoxify the body. When we eat continually, we build up a toxic load in the body, in particular in the fatty tissue. Fasting creates the space, time and energy for the body to find these toxins and eliminate them.

I was excited about doing a juice fast – always one for a challenge – but as we moved into our transition days the mightiness of this challenge became that much more real. It began to feel rather daunting this whole prospect of not eating food. Of no longer being able to enjoy that satisfying feeling of a warm and satiated belly, and not just for one day but for a whole seven days!

The three transition days into the fast involved eating no dairy, sugar or meat, caffeine or alcohol. This wasn’t too much of a stretch for me, as I don’t usually eat dairy or drink caffeine and only very occasionally do I drink alcohol. [Read more…]

End of Year Musings…

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Here we are approaching the end of another year and what a year it has been!
I would like to thank each and every one of you who have attended my online and in person Yoga classes this year. I would like to extend my gratitude to each and every one of you who have experienced Craniosacral Therapy, Angelic Reiki and Relaxation Massage as part of your healing and wellbeing journey. I value you and appreciate your support. Thank you, thank you, thank you. 🙏
I’ve taught Yoga classes from Waimangaroa, Clarkville, Rangiora, Mapua and Pitt Island! This online teaching is a wonderful way to connect over distance but the internet is unfortunately not always so reliable. I thank you for your patience, acceptance and flow with what arose in the domain of online teaching this past year. It has been a joy to share Yoga philosophy in some of my classes. Small bite size pieces of information that hopefully are allowing you to deepen your Yoga practice and embody the richness of this practice. Through sustained and aware practice, we have the opportunity to abide in our true nature, in this ground of being awareness, and to engage in our lives from this open, heart inspired space.
This year has been interesting for me with a new flow of coming and going. Yet in amongst this constantly changing environment I have discovered and connected to this part of myself that feels at home wherever I am. This year has involved deep inner child healing and shadow work. Time spent comforting, validating and unconditionally loving my inner child. [Read more…]

The Journey Begins…

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Many of you know that I have moved to Waimangaroa, on the West Coast of Te Wai Pounamu in Aotearoa. According to Wikipedia, there were 231 people living here in 2018 so it is substantially smaller than Rangiora with its population of 19,000 people! Having only been here for 3 weeks I am still settling in and adjusting to the rhythms of life here. What I am discovering with this being a new home without fixed routines in place, is that I notice and respond to what is arising in the moment more easily. I am blessed to be living 2 minutes from the beach and after dinner last night I felt the desire to go for a stroll along the beach. Feeling the sand on the soles of my feet and noticing how the texture of sand changed as I wandered along was an enjoyable and grounding experience. By the end of my walk my head was clear and my heart open. I felt grateful, refreshed and alive.

For some time now I have known in the depths of my heart that my Soul needed to leave the hustle and bustle of Rangiora and find a quieter place to call home. A place where I could effortlessly connect with nature, be present and ultimately connect with myself, my True Nature on a deeper level. Although this calling in my heart has been present since returning to New Zealand from Pitt Island back in 2018, it has taken this time and an encouraging hand through the recent governmental mandates to allow me to take this step.

In our Monday morning classes last term we began diving into Yoga Philosophy [Read more…]

Returning to my Roots

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~ A Reminder to find Balance between Structure and Fluidity

View of Pitt IslandOur flights were booked for Tuesday July 10th to fly to Pitt Island. However, the plane was unable to get out to New Zealand, from the Chathams, due to bad weather. I made the most of being at home and finished laying newspaper and straw in the garden. This is part 1 of an 8-part mission cutting out blackberry, pruning bushes back to waist height, and replanting in my attempts to tame the wilderness along the hill face directly below our house. Tuesday night I was feeling excited about returning home to my roots. However, I also noticed a part of me that was wanting to stay and use this time, whilst I’m not teaching, to continue working through my ‘to-do’ list. We live on a 15-acre property that needs loads of tender loving care and my extensive and ever-changing to-do list reflects this.

We arrived on the Chatham Islands one hour and forty minutes after leaving Christchurch Airport on the Wednesday. It was a real treat the next morning to practice Yoga and be able to hear the sea lapping on the shore just outside our bedroom window. I enjoyed a late shower, followed by a windy walk along the beach. Plenty of time to rest… the body and mind slowly unwinding… my extensive to-do list moving to the back of my mind.

[Read more…]

Our Deepest Fear

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“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.

We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.

[Read more…]

Almond Milk Recipe

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Almond milk is a yummy alternative to cows milk, and is great for building up the Ojas (essential energy) in the body. It contains good amounts of vitamin E and calcium, has no cholesterol or saturated fats and is great for strong bones and glowing skin! [Read more…]

An Introduction to Yoga

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By Lorna-Jean Paulot

I am an ordinary 50+ woman with the standard too busy hectic life style that has become routine, so I decided to try Yoga to find a little balance and went along to Melissa at Manaia Yoga & Wellbeing.

I had no expectations and Melissa’s classes gave me much more than balance… it gave me equilibrium and served as the catalyst to start the process of change that previously I did not have the courage to make. Each week I eagerly waited for Monday to come round to engage and experience this inner sanctuary and the joys that come from within. [Read more…]