Unwind Body and Mind

05/09/2026

Hi Yogis 😊

The next step in our journey through the body takes us to our hips.

Our hips are an amazing ball and socket joint, meaning hip mobility involves 360 degree range of movement. This area of the body is well scaffolded with reinforcing ligaments and muscles, which can become chronically tight because we sit so much.

Our hips drive our legs, so are involved in moving us forward in life, and also hold a relationship with balance (physically and energetically).

This week's practice aims to connect with sensation, explore range of movement, and practice asana (postures) that strengthen, open and mobilise our hip joints and associated muscles and facia. It's also an opportunity to reflect on your relationship to how you can flow through life with a sense of balance: physically, energetically, practically.

I look forward to sharing this practice with you 💜 see you soon!

Renee 🕉🪷💜

New/casual yogis welcome.
All sessions are beginner friendly.
Bookings required, our sessions are popular!
Read the pinned post & message me ASAP to book your session 💌🙏......

01/09/2026

When you meditate regularly, you may start to experience observations, epiphanies and other cool revelations. Today I'm sharing one I've recently had 😊

Have you ever heard of Pavlov's dog? Pavlov was a researcher who stumbled upon something interesting: dogs would start to salivate in response to a particular door opening because they were expecting food to arrive. He then tested this theory by ringing a bell then feeding the dogs straight after. After a while, the dogs would salivate upon simply hearing the bell.

It's called "classical conditioning" and we can use this knowledge to help our meditation practice. How? If your body and brain learn to associate a certain stimulus with what happens next, they can learn an appropriate response. By following certain rituals in the lead up to every meditation, lighting a candle, holding a crystal, taking a deep breath and letting it out with a sigh, etc. the body and mind will prepare for meditation, they will relax into a more calm, meditative state.

This explains why coming to our meditation circle helps facilitate meditation. You arrive, you lay out your mat, you take a breath, take a crystal. All of these little steps are significant! They are recognised by the brain and the body which interpret these signals and then what to do. They know it's time to meditate!

Join us! 🧘‍♂️🙏 🧘‍♀️🙏

Community Meditation Circle ~ 7:15pm to 8pm Wednesdays
Caters to varying experience levels, beginner friendly, all welcome
180 Swensons Rd Mount Crosby.
$15 casual / 10 sessions for $120
Book via text/dm
See you soon! Renee 🕉🪷💜...

31/08/2026

Hi Yogis, just thought to share this quick video which succinctly explains what my menopausal brain couldn't articulate so well in yesterday's class 🙄 the visual helps also. This is how we are working our core muscles in this week's practice and why maintaining a long, flat position of the spine is so important. As soon as we arch the back, we lose the intra-abdominal pressure 🎈 I trust this share is helpful!

Intra-Abdominal Pressure = Breath-Based Core Stability 💨🧠Your cor...

30/08/2026

Good morning 🌞 Happy !

Huge thanks to Jo who found a very fitting perpetual calendar for our check in desk and bought it for us. So we no longer have to scratch our heads and try to remember the date when filling out our yoga cards 📅😊

I'm sure I'm not the only one who is going to be expressing their gratitude for this brilliant idea and thoughtful gesture!

What are you feeling grateful for today? 🙏

29/08/2026

Hi Yogis 😊

This week we continue our journey through the body, moving on to our lower back. Another very important area to attend to and also a part of the body where people quite commonly experience imbalance, tightness, and pain.

Caring for the lower back is something I'm very passionate about but not something I've always been good at. As a young zookeeper who did strenuous manual labour before WHS was a priority, I've done things that caused damage in this area, and am living with the result. I've experienced lower back issues for most of my adult life including a time where I was incapacitated for many months. It's been, and still is, an ongoing healing journey.

As we were discussing last week, everything in your body is connected, so aiding the lower back includes strengthening certain muscle groups and lengthening others. The lower back is near our centre of gravity and receives top down forces (carrying the weight of the upper body) as well as bottom up forces (impact from each step you take, running, jumping, etc.). It can become compressed as a result of several factors and movement patterns.

In this week’s practice we will consciously create space for, and reinforce the scaffolding around, our lower backs. Expect some core work and stretching along with your usual dose of breathing and relaxation. I look forward to sharing this practice with you 💜

See you soon!

Renee 🕉🪷💜

New/casual yogis welcome.
All sessions are beginner friendly.
Bookings required, our sessions are popular!
Read the pinned post & message me ASAP to book your session 💌🙏......

25/08/2026

Sometimes when I sit to meditate, or prepare for sleep, the thoughts come thick and fast 🤯 This tells me two things:

1. I haven’t provided space in my day:

If we completely fill our day, going from one thing to the next and the next, we haven’t allowed opportunity to re-presence ourselves. It’s in moments of pause that the mind can process what’s been going on and offer ideas, solutions, creative sparks, etc. If we hop into bed and this is the first time we have stopped all day, it’s no wonder that the mind is busy and not ready for sleep! It’s been saving up all these important thoughts waiting for you to be still enough to hear them!

2. This is an invitation to work with the mind:

The awareness (the part of you who receives the thoughts) is your true essence, your inner wisdom. This awareness is manager for your mind if you choose to work consciously with it. When you sit to meditate (or lay in bed) with a busy mind, know that you don’t have to put up with chaos. You have a choice: you can receive the thoughts, even take notes if this is helpful (I call this a brain dump). Or you can teach the mind what you want it to do in that moment.

I’ve been leaning into a new way to work with my mind to gently encourage it into stillness and it’s really helping! So that’s what I’m sharing in this evening’s meditation circle.

There’s no right or wrong: what works for me may be super helpful to you, or you might find something you prefer. That's ok! What matters is that you come to your mat with the intention to meditate and be with what unfolds. When you practice meditation regularly, you learn more about how your mind works and how to be a benevolent leader for your mind.

So who’s in for a more peaceful day and a better nights sleep? 🙋‍♀️🙋‍♂️

Join us! ‍🙏

Community Meditation Circle ~ 7:15pm to 8pm Wednesdays
Caters to varying experience levels, beginner friendly, all welcome
180 Swensons Rd Mount Crosby.
$15 casual / 10 sessions for $120
Book via text/dm
See you soon! Renee 🕉🪷💜...

23/08/2026

Good morning 🌞 Happy !

Other than my yoga mat, and my home sanctuary, I’ve found my new happy place…

If you haven’t been to Trevallan Lifestyle Centre yet it’s a place you must visit in nearby Brassall. Amazing coffee, gifts, a great range of plants and pots, Chelsea’s service is second to none, and she’s a fountain of knowledge if you’re needing garden advice.

Grateful to spend a whole day in this wonderful place on Saturday and looking forward to doing it again next month. Thank you to the yogis who popped in to say hi 🥰🙏🫶

What are you feeling grateful for today? 🙏

22/08/2026

Hi Yogis,

The spiral as a symbol has many layers of meaning and is very appropriate for the logo of Unwind Body and Mind. Yes it looks like rolling out the welcome mat, or your yoga mat. But the symbolism of a spiral is so much deeper...

The spiral:
🌀 Is connected with movement, energy, and growth
🌀 Represents the cycle of life: birth, death, and rebirth
🌀 Is also symbolic of the spiritual path, we are continually growing and evolving
🌀 Going within to truly know ourselves and returning with power and wisdom
🌀 Is found in everywhere in nature and also within our bodies!

Through our body are myofascial lines: an integrated network of connective tissue which as well as having a physical function, also house our meridians that direct the flow of energy. Like a spider’s web, energy and movement are transferred through the myofascial lines from one part of the body to another, a release in one part of the line can effect all it is connected to 🕸

The myofacial spiral lines are opposing spirals of facia starting either side of the skull crisscrossing the body several times and also spiralling down each arm and leg. They help the body to maintain balance, create spiral movements (twists) and link in with the other myofacial lines.

In this week’s practice we will move gently with awareness untangling tension and creating space in our spiral lines which ripples through the whole myofacial web to bring a sense of ease to the entire body and being. I look forward to sharing it with you 😊

See you soon!

Renee 🕉🪷💜

New/casual yogis welcome.
All sessions are beginner friendly.
Bookings required, our sessions are popular!
Read the pinned post & message me ASAP to book your session 💌🙏......

18/08/2026

Much of the distortion (noise) we experience results from resistance, sometimes to something within us: a thought, an emotion, a memory ...

In meditation last week, we simply held space for ourselves. Acknowledging that what we resist (or ignore) persists, and by sitting with what is waiting to be seen, we give it an opportunity to be witnessed. Then the thought/emotion/memory is no longer stuck, it is able to pass through. This can be an uncomfortable process if difficult thoughts or emotions surface, but ultimately frees us from the dissonance.

When we do this we start to re-align all parts of us, reconnecting with our natural state of harmony, balance and ease. Another way to access our natural state is to go within. At our centre, a space of complete peace exists, and we can access it through consciously taking our awareness within ... to the heart space. It's a very different process.

One reason why I offer different types of meditation practices each week is that each one has it's own benefits, each one lands differently. A meditation practice that is most helpful in connecting with our inner peace is heart coherence. Research by the shows that heart coherence has many beneficial effects on us at a physical, mental, and emotional level.

I look forward to sharing this very simple but profound practice with you in our meditation circle this evening.

Join us! 🧘‍♂️🙏 🧘‍♀️🙏

Community Meditation Circle ~ 7:15pm to 8pm Wednesdays
Caters to varying experience levels, beginner friendly, all welcome
180 Swensons Rd Mount Crosby.
$15 casual / 10 sessions for $120
Book via text/dm
See you soon! Renee 🕉🪷💜...