Adapting to Change and Embracing Chaos with Naomi Annand

May 13, 2020

Naomi has been teaching yoga full time since 2002. Over this time she has developed a deeply compassionate style of teaching that emphasises the therapeutic benefits of yoga and also its potential to uplift and inspire. In 2012, she set up Yoga on the Lane with the intention of creating a dynamic community of teachers and students united by their commitment to practicing mindful, breath-led, vinyasa yoga. And then, in 2015, she designed the 200hr Yoga on the Lane Teacher Training Programme, which has set more than fifty brilliant new teachers off on their own paths. In October 2019 her first book, Yoga: A Manual for Life was  published by Bloomsbury, and is currently being translated into six languages.

In this episode:

• Adapting from having a neighbourhood yoga studio, ‘Yoga on the Lane’ in Hackney, London, to an attic studio teaching classes online during lockdown
• The surprising intimacy of continuing classes online and connected community
• ‘Yoga: A Manual for Life’ came out in 2019 
• The reality of being on screens more 
• A time to renew, challenge and push boundaries
• Managing highs and lows and finding balance with Type 1 diabetes
• Daily space to meditate or practice yoga to support energy levels and lessen anxiety
• The link between autoimmune conditions and empathetic personality types
• ‘Little and often’ practices are little moments for yourself
• Many people don’t ever have their ‘Teacher’ or a lineage, but we can all tune into our own experiences and find our own way
• Noone ever feels ready
• Naomi joined the Royal Ballet School at 12 years old and was in a competitive environment but experienced camaraderie and deep friendship
• In the Royal Ballet Company from 17 until 21 and retired following a stress fracture in her foot
• Contradictions between ballet and yoga - working on turnout (Charlie Chaplin stance), so standing with parallel legs was a challenge initially 
• Initially Naomi practiced Bikram (hot) yoga and brought competitiveness, striving and pushing to her practice.
• She studied pregnancy yoga with Francoise Freedman founder of Birthlight and her soft, rounded approached opened up a new way of teaching
• Not a hierarchy but a collective
• Celebrating what your body can do
• The power of yoga beyond the mat
• Evolving from an extreme yoga practice to one that’s more poetic 
• “Connecting to the body and feeling part of an experience beyond my skin”
• Yoga is democratic- everyone is breathing. 
• Naomi remembers creating meditative space and doing visualisation as a child
• Retreats at Gaia House 
• Explore meditation by finding a space, making time, and start by sitting and watching the breath for 2 minutes
• The nervous system can’t take on too much change at once, it wants to shift gently over time
• Sit with your hips higher than your knees, against a cool wall
• You can create a shrine for yourself with an image that’s meaningful and a candle to burn if you want to, but these are extras
• If you’re struggling with sleep, try not to implement practices just before going to bed. Instead, affirmations such as “I am resting well” or “I am supported by my sleep” can be helpful to repeat throughout the day. Then, a restorative yoga practice later in the evening can be supportive, such as lying with the legs above the wall to drain the effort of the day, or lying over a cushion on the belly. Some yoga postures in the morning can help to raise energy levels if you haven’t slept well
• Practicing with children as a playful exploration and embracing the chaos. Seeing children as guides in order to break through patterns

Resources:

Yoga On the Lane 

Yoga: a Manual for Life book 

Instagram

Instagram: Yoga on the Lane