The most astounding fact is the knowledge that the atoms that comprise life on Earth—the atoms that make up the human body—are traceable to the crucibles that cooked light elements into heavy elements in their core under extreme temperatures and pressures. These stars, the high mass ones among them went unstable in their later years. They collapsed and then exploded, scattering their enriched guts across the galaxy. Guts made of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and all the fundamental ingredients of life itself. These ingredients become part of gas clouds that condense, collapse, and form the next generation of solar systems. Stars with orbiting planets, and those planets now have the ingredients for life itself.
So when I look up at the night sky and I know that yes, we are part of this universe, we are in this universe, but perhaps more important than both of those facts is that the universe is in us. When I reflect on that fact, I look up. Many people feel small because they’re small and the universe is big, but I feel big, because my atoms came from those stars. There’s a level of connectivity. That’s really what you want in life, you want to feel connected, you want to feel relevant, you want to feel like you’re a participant in the goings on of activities and events around you. That’s precisely what we are, just by being alive.
- Neil deGrasse Tyson
Good morning ✨
Have you taken time for yourself today?
Have you closed your eyes and asked yourself how you're doing?
Have you turned inward and checked in?
How are you?
And now—how are you, really?
I recorded a short meditation for you. You can listen to it at the top of this newsletter whenever you'd like. I hope it reminds you that you are expansive, limitless, vibrant, and bright, and I hope that it provides you with some ease as you head into this new week. ✨ ✨ ✨
Yoga of movement ✨
I'm teaching online and in-person this week with a few changes to our weekly online classes:
Tuesday ✨ Rocket 60 *in person* + online (book)
Wednesday ✨ Power yoga 60 *in person* (£6 drop-in)
Wednesday ✨ Rejuvenate 45 (book)
Saturday ✨ Saturday soul 75 (book)
Please try to sign up at least 3 hours before the start of class, and if you can't make it in real-time, you'll get the recording in your email.
I'm also available for private and corporate classes. I'm offering complimentary corporate classes to nonprofit and not-for-profit organizations. Reply to this email if you're interested!
If you're looking for a few quick fixes of mindfulness + movement this week, try out one or a few of these:
Meditate 🔥 Rainbow meditation
Soothe 🔥 Yin forward folding
Ground 🔥 Gentle hips + heart flow
Recorded class 🔥🔥 Sweet + slow flow
Recorded class 🔥🔥🔥 Rocket-ish flow
Yoga of action ✨
I'm tithing 10% of my income from my online yoga classes to organizations that fight against white supremacy. Every month, I'll pick a new charity and highlight it below. If these charities call to you, please consider contributing (no matter how small).
My August donation will go to Survival International, a global nonprofit and movement decolonizing conservation and supporting tribal peoples’ rights. 80% of Earth’s biodiversity is in tribal territories and when indigenous peoples have secure rights over their land, they protect the land at a fraction of the cost of conventional conservation programs. But governments and NGOs are stealing vast parts of land from indigenous communities under the claim that this is necessary for conservation. Survival works in partnership with tribes to amplify their voices on the global stage, stop human rights abuses committed in the name of conservation, and put indigenous peoples in control of wildlife protection.
Have a suggested charity? Leave a comment to share.
Yoga of words ✨
Grab a pen, grab your journal. Have a seat somewhere comfortable. Close your eyes, take a breath in, and let it go. Your weekly writing prompt is below.
What inspires you? Start writing down all the things that inspire you and explain why. (10 minutes)
Feel free to share what you've written by clicking the link below. Of course, you’re also welcome to keep this practice as just yours.
Other musings ✨
I hope you forgive, I hope you are forgiven (Instagram)
Finding beauty in broken places (The Isolation Journals)
We are thinking of you; we love you (Humans of New York)
The pandemic demolished a delicate support system for girls (PRISM)
Simone Biles, Naomi Osaka, and the revolutionary power of Black women's rest (Glamour)
Plant medicine and psychedelic-assisted therapies—a free one-day summit! (The Embody Lab)
On repeat: Things I Thought Were Mine by Alfie Templeman (Spotify)
I'm here for you—for class, for advice, for anything that you need or would like to share. Always a phone call/text/DM/reply button away.
LBC ✨
P.S. If you like this newsletter, please share it with your friends! And if someone sent you this newsletter, you can subscribe below!
Just by being alive