More Breathing Space

More Breathing Space Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from More Breathing Space, Health & Wellness Website, Mill Lane, Lancaster.

09/08/2026

What if part of your yoga practice was learning to stop forcing things?

There’s an area of the body between the ribcage and the pelvis that Ayurveda associates with the fire element. It’s where our digestive organs sit, and where we find the diaphragm and that lovely space after the exhale.

It’s also an area I think of when I’m considering how much effort we put into life.

We can spend an enormous amount of energy pushing, insisting, fighting and trying to make things happen in the way we want them to. Sometimes that’s necessary, of course. But sometimes we’re creating a lot of inner heat simply because we haven’t learnt how to let things be for a while.

Ayurveda places enormous importance on digestive fire and sees healthy digestion as fundamental to health. It also makes a connection between digestion and our mental state. When we’re angry, frustrated, irritated or continually discontent, it’s not unusual for our digestion to feel it too.

So one of the practices I’m interested in is contentment.

Not pretending everything is fine. Not giving up on things that matter. And certainly not becoming passive.

Just learning how to be with things as they are sometimes, without immediately needing to push against them.

You can explore this physically in your yoga practice too. Notice the little pause after an exhale. Try some gentle twists. Let the spine undulate rather than holding it rigid. See if you can create a little more space around the abdomen rather than always bracing and holding.

And then notice how this translates into your everyday life.

Can you have a moment where you don't try to fix anything?

Can you eat and then leave some space before eating again, allowing digestion to complete its work?

Can you experiment with a longer overnight gap between dinner and breakfast, if that feels appropriate for you, rather than eating right up until bedtime?

These aren't rules to follow perfectly. They're things to become curious about.

Because this is what I love about Ayurveda. It isn't really saying, “Here is another list of things you must do to be healthy.”

It's more like, “These are some of the ways nature works. Try it out

07/08/2026

5 principles of practice are supposed to be presnt before the yoga postures and breath.

Because yoga isn't only about what we do with our bodies.

It begins with how we live.

Stop wasting your precious energy.

And its twin principle:

Be dedicated to the routines you have chosen to support you.

These two belong together.

Every day we make hundreds of little decisions about where our energy goes.

What we give our attention to.
What we say yes to.
What we allow to interrupt us.
What we repeatedly put off.
What we make time for.

And this is where routines become powerful.

Ayurveda has long understood the importance of rhythm, with morning routines, evening routines and seasonal routines designed to support our natural rhythms and help us live in greater harmony with them.

But a routine only supports us if we actually dedicate ourselves to it.

That doesn't mean being rigid or perfect.

It means deciding:

This matters to me, so I am going to make some space for it.

And that often requires boundaries.

Because if we give too much of our precious time and energy away, there is nothing left for the things we have chosen to nourish us.

So this principle is really about our mental attitude towards our day-to-day health.

Not “What else should I be doing?”

But:

“What am I wasting energy on?”

And:

“What have I chosen to support myself, and am I dedicated enough to make space for it?”

That's very earthy. You're working with the Earth Element here.

Grounded.

Steady.

Anchoring.

Stop leaking energy and become more devoted to what already matters.

🌿

This is a yoga Principle — the things that come before we even get onto the mat.

River Room Wednesdays 11:15am
Sunday SOMA 10am

Chi and Flow with Nicky and Sonia
Chi Kung and Yoga
August 19th
2 hour - extended class time with two classes, 2 teachers
£22
Booking in bio

01/08/2026

Do you remember when life stopped occasionally?

🛍️ Shops closed on Sundays. Half day shopping Wednesdays.

📺 The TV simply ran out of programmes.

🎄 Christmas was a stopping point for work and a reconnect point to your people.

📞 You didn't call someone late in the evening.

There were natural pauses built into life.

Now there's always something else.

Another email.

Another reel.

Another podcast.

Another series.

Another sale.

Another notification.

We've created a world that keeps asking us to breathe in...
..without ever allowing a natural pause to breathe out.

No wonder so many of us feel overwhelmed.

This is why Nicky and I are so passionate about teaching Chi Kung and Yoga together.

Chi Kung literally means energy work. It teaches us how to notice, direct and regulate our energy rather than constantly spending it.

Yoga teaches us to create space—not just energetic space, but between ourselves and our thoughts, so we don't have to be carried away by every one of them.

Together, they help us rediscover something modern life has quietly lost:

✨ The pause.

And from that pause comes a calmer mind, steadier energy, clearer thinking, better digestion, reduced pain and a nervous system that finally has space to exhale.

If you'd like to experience it for yourself, we'd love to welcome you.

✨ Booking link in bio.

August 19th
Wednesday 11:15-1:15
Chi and Flow
£22
Nicky and Sonia
Two classes in one 😍 Chi Kung flow with Nicky/tea break/restorative Ayurvedic Yoga with Sonia

29/07/2026

Our culture teaches us that strength looks like pushing harder, moving faster and doing more.

But Yoga and Chi Kung have been teaching something very different for thousands of years.

Slow movement isn't doing less.

It's noticing more.

When we slow down, our breath deepens. Our nervous system begins to settle. We become aware of tension we've been carrying without even realising it.

Research shows this kind of mindful movement can help improve balance, reduce stress, support recovery and build resilience.

From an Eastern perspective, it goes even deeper.

Rather than focusing only on muscles and fitness, Yoga and Chi Kung work with the breath, energy and the whole person. They invite us to support not just how we move, but how we digest, restore, recover and live.

Sometimes the greatest strength isn't pushing through.

It's listening.

If you'd like to experience what slow movement can really do, Nicky and I would love to welcome you to our extended Yoga & Chi Kung class.

Wednesday, 19 August '26   11:15am – 1:15pm BST

Halton Mill, Mill Lane, Halton, Lancaster, LA2 6ND

12 spaces available

Details

Extended classroom time and two classes in one offering a carefully held rhythm of movement, stillness, and integration using both Chi Kung and Ayurvedic Yoga —
designed to support the body in softening, circulating energy, and coming back into balance.

£22

✨ Booking link in bio.

24/07/2026

Maybe you're not becoming antisocial... maybe you're becoming a Forest Dweller. 🌿

I've noticed a pattern in my yoga classes and consultations.

Many women in their 50s begin asking, "Who am I now?" Then I hear similar questions again from women in their 70s and beyond.

Ayurveda has understood these transitions for thousands of years.

It calls them Vanaprastha (the Forest Dweller) and Sannyasa (the Renunciate).

The Forest Dweller doesn't reject the world. She simply stops living at its centre. She begins choosing quieter mornings, time in nature, fewer but deeper relationships and starts letting go of the identities she's carried for decades.

The job title.

The role of always being needed.

The pressure to prove herself.

Then comes the Renunciate.

This is a different kind of letting go. We realise we were never those roles to begin with. Even our changing body no longer defines who we are. Our attention shifts towards peace, truth, creativity, nature and the bigger picture of life.

Both stages often bring a desire for more solitude.

That isn't the same as loneliness.

Loneliness isn't about how many people are around us. It's about how connected and accepted we feel. We can spend more time alone and feel deeply connected.

Perhaps these aren't seasons of becoming less.

Perhaps they're invitations to become freer.

I explore these two beautiful and often misunderstood stages of life in this week's newsletter. I have a feeling many of you will recognise yourselves somewhere within it. 💚

DM me your email to receive them and more

WomenOver50

23/07/2026

If you live with migraines, you'll know your brain notices everything.

Light. Movement. Screens. Notifications. Noise. Touch. People. Well, everything...

From an Ayurvedic perspective, migraine isn't just a headache - it's often an overwhelmed nervous system along with inflammation, congestion and accumulation.

Why I include Trataka (steady gazing) in my migraine support practices.

Every day our eyes process hundreds of visual stimuli. Trataka is the opposite.

🕯️ One point.

👁️ One steady gaze.

🧠 One chance for the mind to settle.

Traditionally, Trataka is said to: ✨ Calm Prana Vata ✨ Support Sadhaka Pitta (clarity and emotional processing) ✨ Ease eye strain from screen use ✨ Improve focus and mental steadiness

Ayurveda also recognises that migraines can involve all three doshas, with one usually leading the charge:

🌬️ Vata – throbbing pain, overwhelm, shivering, confusion, needing silence and stillness.

🔥 Pitta – burning pain, light sensitivity, anger, nausea and heat or hot flushes.

🌧️ Kapha – heavy, dull headaches, congestion and brain fog.

🌀 Sometimes Ama (poor digestive capacity leading to 'backlog') is involved too, leaving you feeling toxic, tired, weak and worse after trying to eat or receiving an oil massage.

For support for those who struggle with migraines in number and intensity, I like this simple evening rhythm:

🌿 Foot massage

🌿 Gentle alternate nostril breathing

🌿 2-5 minutes of Trataka

🌿 Rest with cool ghee-soaked eye pads

🌿 Bed before 10pm

One gentle reminder... Trataka is a practice for migraine-free days, building resilience over time. During an active migraine, when the brain is already hypersensitive to light, you'll naturally not be able to do treatments or prevention due to intense pain and disability having to choose darkness, quiet and rest instead.

Not every migraine is under our control. Opt for a reduction in the number of your migraines and a lessening in intensity rather than feeling like a failure if you get them.

How do you do migraine support?

YogaTherapy HolisticHealth Menopause StressRel

04/07/2026

The wellness world is full of things to add.

A new supplement. A new morning routine. Another practice. Another habit.

But both yoga and Ayurveda begin somewhere much quieter.

Before we fill, we empty.

When we arrive on the mat, we bring the day with us.

When we seek peace, we often bring months—or years—of what hasn't yet been processed.

Peace doesn't arrive because we force it in.

It arrives when we create enough space for it to be felt.

Perhaps the question isn't:

"What else do I need?"

Perhaps it's:

"What am I still carrying?"

10am SOMA SUNDAY
11:15am River Room, Halton
Booking in bio 🥰

27/06/2026

The ancient teachings of yoga were never only about what we do with our bodies.

They were about how we relate.

The Yama and Niyama — the first two limbs of yoga — are not rules to follow perfectly.
They are attitudes.

Ways of bringing more awareness, kindness and balance into our practice and our lives.

They invite us to ask:

Am I forcing my practice instead of listening to it?

Am I truly understanding what my practice is offering me?

Am I focusing so much on what is missing that I miss what is already here?

Am I making my practice harder because I believe harder means better?

Am I comparing my journey to someone else's?

Because yoga is not about creating the “perfect” practice.

It is about creating a more conscious relationship with ourselves.

The mat is where we practice.

But the way we move through the rest of our lives is where the practice reveals itself.

A peaceful mind does not come from finally getting everything right.
It comes from learning to meet ourselves differently along the way.

Sunday 10am SOMA
Wednesday 11:15am River Room, Halton

17/06/2026

There's a lot of talk a lot about manifestation.
A new home.
A new job.
A new relationship.
A new version of our life.
And there’s nothing wrong with having dreams.

But yoga invites us to look somewhere deeper…
Because the first thing that changes is not always our circumstances.
It’s our attitude.

The way we meet ourselves.
The way we meet other people.
The way we meet the moments we didn’t plan for.

The ancient teachings of yoga begin with 10 inner attitudes to cultivate.
Not because they make us better people…
But because they change the quality of the life we experience.

Kindness.
Truth.
Wise use of our energy.
Knowing when enough is enough.
Simplicity.
Contentment.
Dedication.
Self-awareness.
Surrender.
Connection.

Before we go out into the world and interact with everything around us, yoga asks us to tend to the world within us.

Because the greatest thing we can manifest may not be a different life…
It may be a different way of being with the life we already have. ✨

13/06/2026

Ayurveda has a beautiful understanding of the body-mind using marma.

Marma points are described as places where the body and mind meet.

There are traditionally 107 marma points throughout the body — found at important junctions such as:
✨ joints
✨ nerve plexuses
✨ places where tissues, vessels and pathways meet

They are places of connection.
And this is why the joints are so interesting.
Because joints are not just where movement happens…
They are meeting points.

Places where we often feel the mind holding, tension and restriction.

This is also why Ayurvedic practices like marma point massage and Ayurvedic reflexology focus on these areas.

Not because we are simply “working on the body”.
But because the body is where we experience the mind.

And this is where yoga comes in.

Yoga was never considered exercise.

Ayurveda has another word for exercise:
Vyayama.

Yoga is something different.
The movement, the postures, the breath…
They are ways of bringing awareness into the body.
A way of meeting the places where we hold mental tension, protection and old patterns.

Not to force.
Not to fight.
But to listen.

So yes — choose your exercise.
Walk. Lift. Dance. Move.

But come to yoga for the mind.
To find the places where you are battling with yourself…
And gently begin to soften.
🤍

Sunday SOMA 10am
Wednesday River Room 11:15am
Booking in bio 🤗

Address

Mill Lane
Lancaster
LA2 6ND

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when More Breathing Space posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Practice

Send a message to More Breathing Space:

Shortcuts

Share

Category