Latest posts

Posted by rose ann mckean

Winter in Lockdown

Guest Blogger 1

I love this image, it suggests “hugge”, the Nordic concept of Winter cosiness or comfort.  This sense of cosiness is just what we need right now.  

Getting a bright, crisp day where we can go out walking is amazing.  Even if it’s cold, coming home to a hot drink then snuggling up on the sofa with cushions and blankets is hugge personified.  

Except most of us are in Lockdown and can’t travel to find a nice walk.  The weather has been very wet and we’ve all become a bit too familiar with our sofas in 2020!

We could practice self-care to find cosiness.  I’ve heard a lot about that recently on social media.  From what I can gather you do this by lazing about watching TV, over-eating and taking little exercise.  This is not hugge.  It’s the worst thing we can do from a physical, mental and emotional health perspective.

We need to get moving.  Yoga is the perfect way to do that from the comfort and safety of our homes.  Personally, I love a stronger style of yoga, like Ashtanga, which we practice, (virtually just now) at Yoga Rose.  The harder I work, the better I feel.

With yoga if you can control the breath, you can control the body.  If you can control the body, you can control the mind and we could all do with a bit of that right now.  I skipped a day’s practice last week.  The negative effect on my general well-being was almost immediate – even my husband noticed!

Whilst Ashtanga can be challenging, it can bring lots of benefits including:  being more balanced and grounded, deeper breathing, flexibility and a stronger physical body.  

Meditation after my practice is much more effective than trying to meditate at a different time.  It’s almost as if I’ve conditioned my body, ready support my mind in its “work-out”.  Meditation can bring focus and calmness (sometimes!) and being in the moment rather than worrying about what’s going to happen next.  

After completing my practice, I always feel much better, even if it’s been an inner struggle to get on the mat in the first place.  Sometimes I seem to float through my practice, other times it’s a bit more hard-fought.  However, I always reach the end of my practice happy that I made the effort.

Each class always ends with my favourite bit – yogic hugge.  Otherwise known as Savasana.

Gaenor Aitken Guest Blogger

Posted by rose ann mckean

Yoga Workshops At Nazerene Hall

Yoga Workshops 0

Sarah Hatcher

Andrea Lutz

Rose Ann Mckean

What do all these instructors have in common?

They take the time to put on Yoga Workshops at Yoga Rose at the Nazarene Hall in Blantyre!

We are so very fortunate to be able to run workshops with these ladies taking the lead. Our most recent May workshop with Sarah was a real hit with all the attendees. She challenged us to focus more and be mindful in our practise. She helped us get back to basics to improve our understanding of working with bandhas.

This helped us to improve our Sun Salutations and asanas (postures), no longer were we going through the motions, what a difference it made!

Sarah Hatcher is a well-known Yogi throughout Scotland and is an accomplished student of the founder of Ashtanga Yoga, Shri K Pattabhi Jois, as well as his grandson R Sharath.  She also studied under the internationally recognised, David Garrigues, Dena Kingsberg and Christine Hoar.

Originally from the United States, we are very lucky to have Sarah come to us and share her expansive knowledge and expertise of Yoga.

Before the birth of Yoga Rose, Rose Ann travelled to Edinburgh in order to learn from Sarah, and still continues to attend classes there. They share a passion for Yoga and teaching classes is more than simply going through the motions, it is a way of life.

Sarah knows Rose Ann as a student and as an instructor and has supported Rose Ann’s Yoga practise. It is because of Sarah’s help and mentoring, we at Yoga Rose are beginning to build a Yoga community in Blantyre.

We hold a variety of different workshops and retreats at Yoga Rose, as we find that different Yogi offer different things, even though they are all teaching Ashtanga Yoga.

Students can connect with certain teachers in different ways and respond differently to different teaching styles.

Andrea Lutz is well known throughout Europe and here at Yoga Rose, we were fortunate enough to be the first to host her here in Scotland.

Andrea is the director and founder of Ashtanga Studio Berlin, and has been practising Yoga since 1986, and has been practising Ashtanga Yoga since 1997. Andrea has been by certified Manju P. Jois (the son of founder Shri K Pattabhi Jois) to teach the system of Ashtanga Yoga

Andrea came all the way from Berlin in April of this year and gave us a fantastic workshop over the 3 days she was here!

All of our students learned so much from her different style of teaching, we snapped her up straight away for her to join us again in April 2020!

We will let you know when we are taking bookings for her April workshop, you’ll need to be quick before the spaces get filled!

Passion is at the heart of all of our Yoga Rose workshops and day to day classes. We are more than a business and are committed to sharing our love and knowledge of Yoga with the people of Blantyre.

Please do join us for one of our upcoming workshops, or one of our many classes soon, we would love to have you!


Book Yoga For Hips Workshop Now!
Posted by rose ann mckean

The Art of Vinyasa: Tuning our attention to the Breath a Workshop with Sarah Hatcher

Uncategorized 0
The Art of Vinyasa: Tuning our attention to the Breath a Workshop with Sarah Hatcher

We all had a great time, and we would like to thank Sarah for taking the time to run the workshop for us. We got a lot out of it.

We started off with Pranayama, and Sarah demonstrated several different ways to transition in to the various standing postures.

Following on from working through the standing postures, we then moved on to learning how to work with the breath and the bandas, this allowed us to begin to work on the seated postures – Vinyasa’s.

Sarah then explained and demonstrated in great detail, how to achieve these Vinyasa’s through working with the breath and bandas. She showed us many variations of the vinyasa’s, this was because we were all at different levels and strengths and capabilities, and she wanted us to find the correct variation that would work for us.

After this, we were shown and began to explore some of the intermediate level postures. We were so involved in these postures at the end of the workshop, it was 4pm before we knew it! The Shivasana was very quick, and that is surely the mark of a well enjoyed workshop!

We hope Sarah will come and share a workshop with us again soon.

At this particular workshop we were fortunate enough to have Alexandra Donald with us taking some fantastic photographs. Her photography is always on point, and are always delighted with her shots of our classes and workshops!

Yogarose retreat
Posted by rose ann mckean

Postures & Practice Ashtanga Yoga Retreat

Yoga Retreat 0

Judi and Rose Ann are teaching together again – the best of both or double trouble, you decide…!

We’re inviting you to escape the busyness of your everyday life and immerse yourself in yoga, deepening your asana & meditation practice, and enjoying some downtime amid the wild and glorious scenery of Strathspey and Cairngorm. 

We’ll practice together every morning, and there’ll be afternoon and evening sessions across the weekend too. We’ll get together for dinner in the large sitting/dining room by the roaring log fire. We’ll even have a massage therapist for you too. But don’t worry, there’s also plenty of down time for you to cosy up and relax or enjoy the activities and scenery this spectacular area has to offer.

Step out of your daily life and join us for your yoga retreat in Moray Lodge, nestled within a small private estate in the heart of Grantown-on-Spey in the Cairngorms National Park.

What are you waiting for?

Put down your phone and your laptop and take some time out for yourself to rest, rejuvenate and reflect.

With yoga sessions across the whole weekend, three hearty, delicious meals every single day and an indoor heated swimming pool and spa tub this is the chance for you to relax and destress, take in some spectacular scenery and nurture your yoga practice!

The price for your five-day retreat is £560 (shared accommodation) and this includes:

  • Shared occupancy of your own room with linen, towels & tv;
  • All yoga sessions (excluding massage treatments);
  • Three delicious meals daily;
  • Tea, coffee & snacks.

Deposit (non-refundable) of £100
to secure your place now
Balance of £460
due eight weeks prior to the start date

Join Judi Farrell, owner of Merchant City Yoga merchantcityyoga.com and Rose Ann McKean, our Morning Mysore Teacher and owner of Yogarose, Blantyre who’ll be sharing their practice, passion and knowledge of Ashtanga Yoga over this five-day, long weekend yoga retreat.

Fall into a routine of yoga, delicious meals & cosy rests surrounded by scenery and wildlife you can’t find anywhere else. Before you know it you’ll be blissfully relaxed and wanting to stay longer!

Who’s coming with us?

Places are limited so hurry and book now, we’d love to have you!

About Grantown-on-Spey

Grantown-on-Spey, the Capital of Strathspey is in the centre of the Scottish Highlands and only 14 miles north of Aviemore. A traditional Highland town on the River Spey on the northern edge of the Cairngorms National park, it has many historic buildings, a tree lined Square and striking Georgian and Victorian architecture.

The town is surrounded by ancient woodlands, much of which is community owned and which offer a unique habitat for a wide variety of wildlife. These Anagach Woods have way marked trails and a purpose-built cycle trail.

moray lodge yoga retreat

About Moray Lodge

A wonderfully comfortable and relaxed Lodge House with luxury indoor heated swimming pool and spa tub. It’s located on a leafy avenue sitting at the bottom of the Dreggie Hills in its own private and secluded garden grounds offering privacy and seclusion.

It’s only a five-minute walk to the vibrant town square of Grantown-on-Spey where you’ll find a thriving Scottish Highland community with great places to visit, lots to do and a high street full of independent shops and eateries.

The architect designed Lodge has been built around a central courtyard and the south facing patio to the rear of the pool leads to the garden – the perfect place to enjoy a stroll or sit, well wrapped up, in the winter sunshine.

This highland home even boasts a home cinema and a well-equipped games room with pool table, darts and table football!

About Cairngorms National Park

Twice the size of the Lake District, the Cairngorms National Park has more mountains, forest paths, rivers, lochs, wildlife hotspots, friendly villages and distilleries than you can possibly imagine!

Five of the UK’s six highest mountains lie inside the park, and there are 55 Munros – mountains over 3,000 ft. The Cairngorm plateau is the highest, coldest and snowiest plateau in Britain. You can still see snow patches there in the heat of summer and in winter it’s a place of savage beauty.

Loch an Eilein is a jewel of a loch with a 13th century island castle. You can see the ospreys at Loch Garten Nature Reserve, walk along the outstanding beach at Loch Morlich and if you’re feeling brave hire a canoe or windsurfer from Loch Morlich water sport centre! Jump aboard the Funicular Railway and wind your way up the Cairngorms to the Ptarmigan station or take a trip on the Strathspey Steam Railway. Should you be into husky racing you can do that too!

In addition to snow-sports, walking, cycling, golfing and water sports, golf is taken very seriously in Strathspey and Grantown golf course is only a few minutes’ walk from Moray Lodge.


Contact Roseann for more info on you book
Posted by rose ann mckean

What Happens When You Can’t Do The Thing You Love?

Injury 0

What happens when you can’t do the thing you love?

13 weeks ago I broke my ankle. I had just returned home from my Wednesday morning yoga class at Merchant City and opened the back door.

Bang.

I would like to tell you that something made me trip but in fact I just tripped over my own feet. The first thing I thought was, stand up, get a coffee and brush it off, but as soon as I tried to put pressure on my right leg I could feel straight away that something was wrong.

One trip to Hairmyres Hospital later, and it was confirmed that I had broken my Lateral Malleolus (essentially the side of my right ankle), I was given a ‘moon boot’, a pair of crutches and told to rest.

After my 10 days of keeping completely off my ankle, I started to gradually build up my strength again. At this point I was lucky enough to receive some help and advice from Antony Daffurn, a Sports Injury Therapist. He gave me a variety of exercises, and he also crucially helped me to build up my confidence about actually using my ankle again. And through his guidance, my confidence and my yoga postures and flexibility has improved, and still continues to improve.

I’m really grateful to Antony for his help, and am especially thankful to have such a supportive family behind me. It is due to their support, I was able to continue to teach Yoga throughout this time.

Trying to stay positive in a situation like this was hard. I’m self employed and yoga is my life. Having a broken ankle would have stopped me doing my job, hobby and my passion. But did I let it? No.

Life is what you make it, it’s not about how many times you fall down, it’s about how many times you get back up again. Literally.

Back to doing my Back Bends now, as you can see below!

yoga backbending yoga rose
Posted by rose ann mckean

Yoga Backbending fundamentals workshop

Yoga For Back Bending 0

Yoga Backbending Fundamentals

Backbending workshop Sunday 22nd April

Workshop Times

10am to 12noon Yoga   1pm to 3pm Back Bending

Our spines are an incredible combination of strength and flexibility – of Sthira and Sukha. Strong bones and large muscles give us structure and protect sensitive nerves while flexible ligaments and tendons allow the spine to move in all different planes.

With regular backbends we can help to protect this wonderful balance by increasing mobility while strengthening the supporting muscles around the skeleton.

Backbends can be broadly divided into three categories

1. Traction

Where the body is bending with gravity and the muscles on the front of the body are active, helping to control the range and rate of movement. These are poses such as Camel Pose (Ustrasana) or dropping back to Wheel (Urdhva Dhanurasana).

2. Leverage

Where the strength of the arms or legs are used to deepen the backbend, Poses like Bow (Danurasana) or Cobra (Bhujangasana).

3. Contraction

Where the muscles on the back contract to overcome gravity. These are generally poses where you are lying on your front such as Locust (Salabhasana).

The workshop will give and enhance a strong foundation to explore back bending. Whatever your level of mobility or experience you’ll find this workshop really useful!

Hurry and book now for just £45 – there’s just a few spaces left!

Rose Ann is renowned for her dynamic and approachable style, her caring guidance and most of all her sense of FUN – book your place now!

yoga for hips
Posted by rose ann mckean

Yoga For Hips

yoga for hips 0

Are you interested in Yoga For Hips

Do you want to relieve hip pain, feel more comfortable when walking, more flexible when moving. Then book your Yoga for Hips course with YogaRose

Yoga For Hips

Hip Opener course Sunday 18th February

For most of us, the groin muscles (adductors) tend to be tight, pulling the heads of the thighbones into the sockets. The thighbones are meant to be centered in the socket and stabilized by the abductors, which oppose the groin muscles. But when these abductors are weak and stressed, as they often are, the resulting imbalance causes grinding, deterioration in the joints and the hip pain you may be experiencing.

Yoga gives us the tools and the understanding, not just for the sake of our spiritual lives, but also for the health of our hip joints and the graceful aging of our bodies. Yoga aims for balance and harmony at every level of life, can help us stabilize and revitalize our hip, and to prevent hip pain and injury.

gluteus maximus
hip injuries

There are two sets of adductors or “groin” muscles. The shorter set extends from the pubic bone to the inner thigh, and is often injured. These muscles tighten from prolonged periods of sitting, driving, or postural stress. This tightness is increased by activities that torque the pelvis, such as running with bad form, carrying a growing child on one hip, or performing asymmetrical yoga postures improperly. This tension can also be brought on by emotional stress, which causes us to contract and huddle the thighs together.

The resulting injury is the classic groin pull. Sudden or forceful stretching, especially when muscles have not been warmed up, causes muscle fibres and tendons to tear. When a runner’s forward leg crosses over the mid-line, for example, the short adductor muscles tighten and strain. The stress increases when running uphill—including when running on a treadmill.

This course of Yoga helps with the balancing of these muscles  Looking to assist with hip pain and preventing further stress.

Exploring postures for yoga students who want to develop their practice whether in the primary or second series. We will be covering postures including

  • ·         SUPTA KURMASANA
  • ·         BADDHA KONASANA
  • ·         EKA PADA

We will have blocks and straps supplied to help with these positions.