Reiki has been such an amazing presence in my life I wanted to combine it with one of my other great loves which is Northumberland.  So on Sunday the 22nd April I will be holding my first Reiki share group at a beautiful barn conversion studio space from 5 to 7 pm.  Please do get in touch if you would like to join. 

It is a beautiful way to support ourselves and the community.

xx

Over the last couple of weeks I have had the great pleasure to explore the beautiful Yoga world of Santa Monica and Venice in California with the wonderful Rivkah Parker, a fellow teacher from Triyoga in Soho.  We were able to experience some great teachers and their classes, frequenting Exhale in Venice and then the Bhakti Yoga Shala in Santa Monica.  There was a serious amount to explore with a great choice of Yoga studios, vegan and raw food eateries and Yoga clothing shops in general.  In terms of the food we still managed to eat raw chocolate and cookie dough from Rawvolution in Santa Monica, even when we were supposed to be on a juice cleanse.

The most gorgeous teachers of my experience in Venice had to be Erich Schiffmann, Jason Frahm and Hala Khouri who all taught at Exhale.  Erich Schiffmann taught me more than words can express in terms of meditation and about life in general.  I am so very grateful to him and for being introduced to him by Rivkah.  Every time I entered his class, which was at every available opportunity, I felt as though I was entering an incredibly sacred space.  The energy he exuded was extremely grounding, so that the meditations became the easiest I had ever done.  I loved his phrase which reverberates in my head as I continue my own meditations back in London, ‘get into it, relaaaaaaaaax…make yourself busy with relaxing in a leisurely way’.  You can hear his wonderful voice on his website www.erichschiffmann.com .  I cannot recommend him enough, every single class he gave me exactly what I was looking for, but didn't know I even needed.  Helping me look into my heart and really carve out my heart’s path was definitely the challenge of the trip. Without doubt Erich has a gift for helping one achieve this, helping one come back to one’s self.  In fact, I am so enamoured with Erich’s teachings that I have signed up for his immersion in September at Exhale, so I will be hitting the sunshine of Venice once more.

Me receiving a big hug from Erich


The other two teachers I really enjoyed and hope to experience more of in the future are Jason Frahm and Hala Khouri.  Jason (www.jasoncfrahm.com) taught these really amazing classes filled with this very spiritual Earth energy.  The class was quite slow and sensual, so that you could feel the energy as it moved around you.  The whole atmosphere was made very soft, but at the same time sensual in a masculine way with the deep beats of the music.  Again, Jason like Erich helped form a really juicy practise that was the perfect basis for the meditation that came at the end of the class.  Jason is a wonderful healer and also runs the atonement project.  Hala’s classes were really lovely and focused a lot on alignment, which I really appreciated.  Even though it didn’t always seem that way, her classes managed to surprise you with what they brought up on the emotional front.  Hala has made some beautiful DVDs as well, which you can check out on her website www.halakhouri.com .

The other amazing studio and teacher we experienced when we were in Santa Monica was the Bhakti Yoga Shala set up and run by Govind Das.  It is a donation run studio with a very real and authentic charm deeply imbued in the Bhakti of Yoga with a deep foundation in the Hindu philosophy and chanting as part of the Yoga.  I really enjoyed how Govind Das included a lot of these elements into his classes, which were strong and sweaty.  I spent many evenings wobbling out of the class dripping, but having finished on a truly joyful note with a crescendo in the chanting. Rivkah introduced me to Govind Das, as she is one of his students from years ago. I really forgot how much I loved the chanting practise of the Yoga, it is something I would love to explore a little more in the future. I hope very much to bring more elements of this back to London next year when I hope to partake in the teacher training offered by the Bhakti Yoga Shala in January next year. www.bhaktiyogashala.com

I almost forgot to mention, as I only got to experience him in the last few days of my trip, but Matthew Coen of Sacred Energy Arts was an incredible teacher and body worker.  I was privileged to experience the most intense and intuitive body treatment I have had for a really long time.  Matthew picked up on things that really hit home and gave me some energy exercises to carry out on a daily basis, which I have found very effective.  Matthew is a Master of Chi Gong as well, which he integrates into his Yoga classes giving you again an amazing energetic experience, whilst seriously challenging you on every level.  I am very happy to say that he will be visiting the UK around April next year. www.sacredenergyarts.com

My final night in California came all too quickly after just over two weeks there. I spent this time at the Bhakti Yoga Shala which was hosting a beautiful Kirtan night with Saul David Ray (Govind Das’ teacher) in aid of the charity www.sharenecessities.com which was set up by someone who was previously homeless.  I was truly, truly humbled when I heard the founder’s story of how he set up this worthwhile charity that delivers things like socks and underwear to the homeless of Venice and Santa Monica.  For those of you who have not been there, Santa Monica and especially Venice has quite a high number of homeless, largely living by the beach.  We were told of how the charity regularly delivers these staple goods to around 400 people.  After hearing all about this beautiful charity, what made it even more poignant, is how we were then asked to place all our intention and energies into this charity as we sang. I cannot express the joyful and positive energy that was generated as a result of this.


The kirtan at the Bhakti Yoga Shala below

Last weekend I am blessed to say that I finally overcame one of my own fears and taught a workshop on fear and Yoga. This workshop had been something I had been building up to for quite a long time and involved me having to work through a lot of my own fears so that I could fully understand the concept and where people were coming from.  The transformation through my Reiki Masters' training was truly helpful and a blessing in so many ways on this journey.  

I felt passionate about teaching on this subject, as I see so many of my students both in the public and private spaces that I teach, being held back in their lives and being unable to explore their full selves owing to fear.   The joy of being a Yoga teacher and I suppose a Reiki Master is that you get to see how truly incredible your student friends are and the extraordinary potential of each and every one of them.  It is with the intention of breaking through these barriers of fear that I created this workshop space, so that people could explore themselves in a very safe, loving environment with me as their guide and support system on this journey.  

The day consisted of various meditations and Yoga.  We explored through the language of Yoga fear within both the mind and the body.  Each student friend went away with several meditations and a practice sheet on fear.  I very much hope that it was transformational for each and every one of the small group- I definitely felt as though it was when I saw all these smiling, positive faces.

This is the first of many workshops on differing topics such as fear, anger, vulnerability, coming into your power and connecting with your family and heart space.  Also there will be workshops on Reiki Level 1 with small groups.  I am very open to suggestions on any topic, should you wish to suggest any or if you are interested in coming to future ones do get in touch.


May the sun shine in your heart and warm you from the inside out,


Monica

Dear fellow Yogis and Yoginis,

How fast the year has flown by! It has been an absolute pleasure meeting and working with you all. So many of you have been an incredible inspiration to me.

In February/ March time I met a whole group of beautiful Yogis whilst doing David Sye's training. David himself has been a wonderful teacher and inspiration in every sense of the word. I have also had the pleasure of being introduced to Tibetan rebirthing breath through David and it has indeed been one of the many transformational moments of this year.

In October I headed to Rishikesh in India with one of my beautiful teachers and friends Rivkah Parker. Rivkah led us on this very sensuous and feminine journey on the banks of the Ganges just outside Ramjhula. I was blessed to share this beautiful space with a group of wonderful women. Each and every one of them has added another layer of richness to my life. Being in India always has really interesting energy consequences and I could feel the bit of my ego that was about to be dissolved seriously misbehaving! I would say my India journey was the beginning of my most transformational and important phase for me in 2013. After being in the UK for a couple of weeks I then embarked on my Reiki Master's training with my wonderful teacher Charaka Satyam. The work in and around this training has totally transformed my Reiki giving, my teaching and myself on a very personal level. I am extraordinarily blessed to be able to offer a deeper sense of healing and teaching through this experience than I ever thought possible. It gave me the confidence to teach my first workshop and go further in this sphere. When I look back on how much my life has transformed and how much I have learnt in this past year, gratitude cannot be expressed in words.

I want to thank all of my teachers, friends and students who have taught me so very much this year. It has been a blessing and delight to work with them all and to watch their evolution on the physical, mental and spiritual levels. Each student has gifted me with the joy of loving my job and my existence through the offerings of Yoga and Reiki.

Thank you all so very very much.

Blessings and Much joy.

Monica

I am very excited to say that my colleague Ben Barnett and myself have launched The Transformation Package. This is a complete package for those looking to transform their lives through their mental and physical selves. The package includes in depth consultations and life readings by both myself and Ben along with Reiki and meditational hydrotherm massage. We work as a team in unison with the client to be able to identify and achieve goals of transformation in a highly bespoke way. I feel blessed to be able to offer this to my clients and have Ben working with me on this. The package has been reviewed by several wonderful journalists and has appeared in this month's Bodyfit magazine on page 99. Read the press section on my website for Kate Evans' ( the editor of Bodyfit) view.

Also checkout more details on our websites: http://www.holistictherapiesbybenbarnett.co.uk/integrated-holistic-approach

A couple of weeks ago I was honoured to meet up with David Sye for him to introduce me to the Tibetan Revealing Breathwork. I must admit, I was expecting some really complex process, but that was far from the reality. Tibetan Revealing Breathwork is used to take people back to their past lives and/ or to help give them a kind of direction for the next step of their spiritual evolution.

David set a very relaxing atmosphere at first giving me some idea of what was to happen with a gentle introduction in the garden. Once that was done, he told me just to lie and relax on his chaiselongue for what was to come. In a very simple manner he gently introduced me to the revealing breath. To help me get deeper within myself, he also gave me some very useful tools for the breath, which I have started to use with my students. The revealing breath was very odd in that it is difficult to explain how one feels- you enter into a space of greater knowledge and wisdom. It is as though you have known all these things before, but they are rising to the fore. It is like being in a breath induced trance, with David leisurely sitting nearby taking note of your movements and words. It is a very intriguing and beautiful space to be in. David supportively leads you throughout making sure you never feel as though you are lost.

My session didn't last too long and I had a bit of a wind down, whilst David prepared some yummy halva and water. When I was ready we went out into his lovely garden filled with gorgeous plants from his travels to look at what had come up in the session. David really is in his element with the revealing breath, he has a true gift for this work and I felt blessed to be experiencing it. We discussed all my body movements and words and so much made sense. At first I had felt overwhelmed, at times as though my head were about to explode, but by the end I had that sense of a new invigorating awareness and direction. I feel as though it gave me exactly what I had been looking for in the last few weeks to go forward with my life and enter into a new chapter. I would highly recommend this to anyone. The more of a spiritual or yogic practice you have, the more you will get out of it. I was so humbled by it all and so blessed. Thank you so very much David, it was truly an amazing experience which I hope to continue with in the future.

David has more details on his website Yogabeats.com- I have merely written of my experience here, so please go and experience this for yourselves!

Having seen David Sye at the Yoga Show over the last couple of years and taken part in some of his classes I was truly inspired by his Yoga ethos. I am very lucky to say that I had the joy of furthering my knowledge of his Yoga teachings when I took part in his foundation course earlier this year with a group of inspirational fellow Yogis. During this time I got chatting to David and his colleagues Sara and Paul who all blew me away with their passion for Yogabeats Conflict- please go to the Yogabeats website for more details, the work they do is magical.

I am very happy therefore to be attending David's Yogabeats Conflict fundraiser on the 27th July in South Kensington at Baden Powell House - please do come for a very groovy Yoga session with David and fellow Djs. This particular event is to raise funds for his trip to Israel and Palestine in October. His trips are non political and aim to bring groups of people together of different religious affiliations in order to re identify with each other in a humanitarian way.