Welcoming Summer & a free summer morning mini guided meditation!
- emmasyogahut
- Jun 1
- 5 min read
I hope this blog post finds you well! It might feel like summer is already fully underway after last weeks pretty full on heatwave! It is a funny adaption for me, I always loved the summer and the sunshine and the warmth, but recently I have found it too much. Though, as a friend of mine pointed out, a hot day in the UK used to be 24c, and now it is 36c - so maybe it isn't so much a shift within me, but more a shift in what a hot day is now! June 1st marks the start of Meteorological summer, Astrological summer puts the start of summer as the Solstice - June 21st.
Summer in yoga is associated with Agni – inner fire – our will to get things done and get out into the world. For some of us the pull to get out and get going when it is light and warm is a really strong, others of us may feel a little resistance, either way it is fine! All things come with light and shadow, and often in summer that shadow is over-doing it, taking too much on and reaching the end of the season run down and some how feeling a little let down that it wasn’t all we hoped for. After all, in reality there are only technically 12 weekends in the summer, which means some sort of focus and discernment might be needed to prevent ourselves exhausting ourselves.
The key to this is knowing what it is you WANT from your summer, last year I wrote about having a summer “love to do” list which had all sorts of things I wanted to do over the summer months – they were varied and wide ranging, from going to the world yoga festival, to visiting sunflower fields, to having cocktails in the garden with friends. This is a useful starting point, and if you create such a list you might notice a theme, maybe its travelling to do things, visit places, see people. Maybe what you really want is to focus on a project: perhaps the garden, perhaps rekindling a hobby that you have dropped along the way.
The key issue is that we only have so much energy, so much Agni, and ideally we choose carefully where we send that. Otherwise, we just end up with time and effort being drained. For me, it is quite often my phone, like a lot of people I can get suckered into something and then an hour later realise I have done nothing except scroll aimlessly.....These drains don’t just take away time, they use up your focus and attention, they eat up your energy.
At the moment I am trying to rekindle my art practice, I have always loved art, art galleries and drawing and painting. I love making things and places beautiful, and I love photography too. I have no qualifications beyond an A-level in any of this! It is just some thing I always loved to do. And then when I became a mum it stopped. I got JUST enough art as a teacher planning and running art lessons in school, and being art subject co-ordinator at school too gave me an illusion of an art practice! Then I ran my own business and the art became making spaces beautiful and welcoming and filled with love and care. But my OWN art practice stopped about 16 years ago! So I have promised myself to make time every day for art this summer.
But, I know already I will not do my art practice every single day. Simply because life will inevitably get in the way, so I am approaching it with non violence and gentleness (good old Ahimsa!) when the art does not happen I will do my best to be kind to myself; accepting of the fact that I am not an artist living on an artists retreat, I am a normal human being juggling teenager, elderly parent, a home, a business and all the messiness of life!
The problem is the time and energy leaks we all have, some of which are unavoidable (bad nights sleep, overwhelm, illness, looking after a family member unexpectedly) But others are not. I heard someone describe it thus: they had a bathtub when growing up with a terrible seal on the plug, so as soon as you turned the taps off you knew the water was going to flow away down the drain, so it was a race to get clean before you were left in an inch of chilly water. Not the bathing experience anyone wants! And so it is with our energy, some things just drain our time and effort and attention and leave us feeling rushed and a bit disappointed rather than rested and nurtured.
So, what can you do to protect your energy in summer?
First and foremost, be aware, just notice when you are doing the things that are non essential energy drains! trying to develop a gentle meditation practice can be helpful here. This does not need to be 30 minutes of sitting in lotus pose attempting to clear your mind. Just a few minutes of quietness and stillness, of checking in with yourself whilst you are in a quiet place and a comfortable position. I have recorded a little 5 minute guided meditation for you to use if you would like to give this a go - it has been designed specifically for first thing in the morning in the summer months.
As always - the link looks a bit long and clunky - but click here and away you go!
Summer at Emma's Yoga Hut!
Weekly classes begin again the week of 8th June! There are a couple of spaces available on Mondays for Chair Yoga and on Fridays Gentle Yoga at Earley Crescent Resource Centre.
JUNE deep rest online guided meditation: 930pm - 10pm Friday 5th June: If you enjoy our guided meditations in class then join us for a bedtime meditation to leave the week behind and help ease you into deep peace for your weekend! You are very welcome to join from the cosiness of your bed!
SUMMER Seasonal Sound Bath - Friday 17th July: Allow your cares to be washed away on waves of beautiful sound from crystal singing bowls, chimes, ocean drums and other beautiful instruments. We will finish with chocolate dipped strawberries and oracle cards.
FULL MOON MINI LUXURY SOUNDBATHS AND REST: YIN, NIDRA AND SOUND EVENTS are back for the summer, lots of places have gone already! They will reappear in the winter too, after my daughters mock exams and their associated drama are out of the way!!
Community Yoga: the first Tuesday of every month I run a 30 minute chair yoga session at Lower Earley Library, it is totally free! So, if you know anyone who is interested in having a try at a spot of chair yoga then please let them know! Booking is via Lower Earley Library as places as limited!
Look forward to seeing you soon!
With love,
Emma xx
(Emma runs Emma’s Yoga Hut in Earley. A teeny garden studio for nurturing holistic small group yoga. She is a yoga student and yoga teacher and has practiced yoga for nearly 30 years. She trained with the Traditional Yoga Association right here in Reading between 2016 and 2018 to achieve her 500 hour yoga teaching accreditation. She has additional teaching qualifications in Yin Yoga and Yoga Nidra. She is an Internationally Accredited Sound Bath Facilitator and specialises in singing bowls. She teaches Chair Yoga classes at local community centres where there is almost always a coffee and a chat after class. Emma is passionate about getting the beautiful benefits of yoga out to as many people as possible, and she tries her best to practice yoga every day, and at the moment that is very much outdoors in the garden to make the most of the summer months!)
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