My Yoga Space - Wollondilly

25/08/2026

Life doesn’t necessarily slow down simply because we are moving through menopause.
There may still be work to do, people to care for and responsibilities that need our attention. all while our body, energy and inner world may be asking for something different.

Perhaps there is also a part of you that you haven’t felt connected to for a very long time.
What did you once love doing before life became so full?
Where do you feel most like yourself?

Is there something within you that has been asking for more space, but keeps being placed at the bottom of the list?

Learning more about ourselves doesn’t always come from thinking harder or trying to “fix” what is changing. Sometimes understanding begins when we create enough space to listen.

This Saturday, Glenda and I are offering that space through Embracing Menopause Through Yoga.

It is an afternoon to step away from your everyday responsibilities and dedicate some time to understanding and supporting yourself through this transition.

Together, we’ll explore slow yoga, breath practices, restorative rest, meditation, sound healing and honest conversation about the physical and emotional changes of menopause.

You don’t need to arrive with answers, know exactly which stage you are in or have any previous yoga experience. You are welcome to simply come as you are.

🌸Embracing Menopause Through Yoga
Saturday 29 August | 1:00–5:30pm
My Yoga Space, Thirlmere

Guided by Glenda Clarke and Ruth Pirie

Sliding-scale investment: $79–$99
(The $79 rate is also available to women returning after attending one of our previous menopause workshops.)

With the workshop only three days away, if this afternoon feels possible for you, perhaps this is the moment to choose that time for yourself rather than continuing to wait for it to appear.

Book through our bio or at:
https://www.myyogaspace.com.au/embracing-menopause-workshop-aug-2026

We hope you’ll join us. Glenda and I would love to welcome you.

25/08/2026

When “not enough” keeps you reaching…
One of the things I love about exploring the Yamas is how a teaching that can seem quite simple begins to reveal itself in so many parts of everyday life.

Here in the shala, we’ve been exploring Asteya, the third Yama, most commonly translated as non-stealing.

At its most obvious level, it asks us not to take what isn’t ours. And we can take more than material things. We can take someone’s time without considering its value, receive generosity without acknowledging it, or draw from people, places, the land and the Earth without considering what we offer in return.

Asteya also asks us to look at reciprocity. How willing are we not only to receive, but to recognise what we have received, use it wisely and offer something back?

I feel this Yama relates closely to our sense of enoughness.

Our attention can become pulled towards what we don’t have yet. What we still need to achieve, become or secure. Sometimes beneath that reaching is a quieter belief that we don’t have enough, haven’t done enough, or perhaps that we ourselves are not enough.

When our awareness becomes so occupied with what is missing, it can become difficult to truly receive what is already here.

There are ways we can steal ourselves away from our own lives, too. Through replaying the past, anticipating the future, comparing or criticising ourselves, or filling every small space with the next thing to be done. Moving through experience after experience without leaving enough room to digest what we have already lived.

Perhaps Asteya asks us to notice where we are continually reaching and where we might instead become more present to what we are already receiving.

Not as a way of denying our hopes, desires or the places in our lives that genuinely need change, but as a practice of seeing more clearly what is here too.

To use our time, energy and resources with discernment. To offer something of ourselves back into the relationships and communities that sustain us.

What is supporting and nourishing you? What has already been entrusted to your care? And how might you participate in the natural exchange of receiving, tending and giving back?

22/08/2026

As Glenda moved through her own menopause journey, she began paying closer attention to the small details of her life.

She journalled about her food, movement, sleep, feelings and reflections. She began noticing what helped her feel more grounded and made space for those things in the ways available to he…yoga, meditation, reading, knitting and slow walks through the bush.

She also became more attentive to where her energy was going, what felt sustainable and where she might need rest, support or clearer boundaries.

She gardened, played in the dirt and reconnected with the elements.

While building a pathway from small rocks she had gathered, Glenda found herself remembering the young girl she had once been. The girl who made mud pies and felt at home with the earth.

“I realised I’d missed her. It was like a feeling of coming home. A sense of inner peace, acceptance and contentment.”

This experience became part of the seed from which Embracing Menopause Through Yoga grew.

No two women will travel this transition in the same way. Yet having space to pause, reflect and be heard can remind us that we don’t have to navigate it alone.

Next Saturday 29 August, Glenda and I will hold a nurturing afternoon for women moving through perimenopause, menopause and post-menopause.
With yoga, breath practices, meditation, sound healing and honest conversation.

🌸Embracing Menopause Through Yoga
Saturday 29 August | 1:00–5:30pm
My Yoga Space, Thirlmere

You can read more and book through the link below:

https://www.myyogaspace.com.au/embracing-menopause-workshop-aug-2026

19/08/2026

We often hear about the physical symptoms of menopause. Less often do we speak about the deeper questions that can arise alongside them.

Who am I now?
What no longer fits?
Where is my energy asking to go?
What might become possible if I gave myself permission to slow down and listen?

As part of our upcoming Embracing Menopause Through Yoga workshop, Glenda will share what she calls the Road to Rediscovery—the 5 R’s of Realise, Repair, Restore, Re-Imagine and Reveal.

These aren’t rigid stages or another set of things to “get right.” They offer a compassionate way of understanding the inner terrain of menopause: the grieving and letting go, the need for rest and repair, the rediscovery of what nourishes us and the gradual revealing of a more authentic way of living.

We’ll explore this together in circle, alongside accessible yoga, supportive breath practices, meditation and sound healing.

🌼 Embracing Menopause Through Yoga
Saturday 29 August | 1:00–5:30pm
My Yoga Space, Thirlmere

For women in perimenopause, menopause or post-menopause. No previous yoga experience is needed.

Bookings are now open through the link in our bio, or at:
https://www.myyogaspace.com.au/embracing-menopause-workshop-aug-2026

18/08/2026

What if truthfulness begins long before we speak?

This has been weaving through the shala recently as we continue moving through the yamas.

We often think of honesty as something we offer outwardly. Being truthful in what we say, clear in how we communicate, sincere in how we show up with others.

Satya (the second yama) is all of that, and it also asks us to begin much closer to home.

Satya is truthfulness, sincerity or integrity. The Sanskrit word sat points towards what is real. So perhaps this practice is not only about speaking the truth, but learning how to listen for what is true beneath the noise.

This isn’t always easy, right?

Sometimes what is true is that we are tired, even though we keep saying we’re fine. Sometimes the body has been speaking for a while through tight shoulders, a shallow breath, a clenched jaw or a heaviness we’ve become used to carrying. Sometimes something that once felt aligned no longer feels true for the season of life we’re now in.

Perhaps this is why Satya must stay close to Ahimsa. Because truth without compassion can become harsh. But compassion without honesty can sometimes become avoidance.

Yoga gives us a place to practise holding both.

Perhaps living in truth is not about finding one fixed answer about who we are. Maybe it is about becoming more willing to listen often, as life changes us. To notice where we are forcing, hiding, pleasing or pushing through. To acknowledge what is real without using it against ourselves.

I feel Satya asks for a brave kind of tenderness.
The courage to be real and sincere with ourselves, the compassion to meet what we find and the integrity to let that truth slowly shape the way we live.

What is true for you in this season of your life? And can you meet that truth with care?

18/08/2026

SUPPORT FOR LILY HOOPER
For almost a week now, our whole community has been hoping for good news as the search continues for 18-year-old Oakdale local Lily Hooper.

I can’t begin to imagine what Lily’s family are going through right now. While an enormous search effort continues to bring Lily home, the Rotary Club of Wollondilly North has set up a fundraiser to help take some of the financial pressure off her family so they can focus on what matters most, finding Lily.

Rotary has a longstanding connection with the Hooper family through its youth programs, and every dollar raised through this appeal will go directly to Lily’s parents to help with the practical costs they’re facing.

If you’re in a position to help, even a small donation will make a difference.

Rotary Club of Wollondilly North Inc.
BSB: 802-388
Account: 100097885
Account Name: Rotary Club of Wollondilly North Inc.

Please include your name and phone number in the payment description, or leave it blank if you would prefer to donate anonymously.

All donations received for this appeal will be deposited into a dedicated Rotary account and transferred to the Hooper family. No commercial fundraisers are involved, and no administrative fees will be deducted beyond unavoidable banking charges.

The Rotary Club Wollondilly North have also set up a support page for Lily and her family which can be found here - Lily Hooper & Family Support Page

Above everything else, please keep Lily, her family and everyone out there searching for her in your thoughts. Our whole community is behind them and hoping desperately for Lily to come home safe.

17/08/2026

Prayers for Lily 🙏🏽🤍

SEARCH & RESCUE OPERATION UPDATE | HIGH RANGE

Our volunteers and teams continue to operate 24/7 alongside the NSW Police Force and partner emergency services in the intensive search for missing 18-year-old Lily Hooper, who is from Oakdale and was last seen in the High Range area.

Across the operation, more than 200 NSW SES personnel have deployed to the field, working around the clock alongside specialist Remote Area Bush Search and Rescue operators to navigate the dense, steep, and demanding bushland terrain around Nattai National Park.

At the High Range Forward Command Post, emergency services remain fully integrated and working side by side to bring Lily home.

How the community can assist:

*Stay Alert: If you are travelling through or living around High Range, the Southern Highlands, or nearby trailheads (including the Bonnum Pic area), please remain vigilant.

*Review Footage & Outbuildings: Local residents and motorists are encouraged to check dashcams, private CCTV, sheds, and rural acreage boundaries.

⚠️ CRITICAL - PLEASE DO NOT REPORT SIGHTINGS IN THE COMMENTS:

Operational reports and sightings must go straight to investigators immediately.

Crime Stoppers: 1800 333 000 or online via nsw.crimestoppers.com.au
Immediate/Active Sightings: Call Triple Zero (000) straight away.

Please refer to the shared NSW Police Force post for official descriptions, photos, and key details.

Thank you to the entire community for your continued support of our search crews.

17/08/2026

What if menopause wasn’t something to fear but something to honour?
A threshold of becoming and a pivotal time to return to yourself with deeper wisdom, to tend to your intelligent body with care and find an inner strength within you.

We’ve been taught to see this transition as a loss.
But what if it’s a homecoming or a second spring?

Embracing Menopause Through Yoga is a wholesome offering that will help create space for the woman you’re becoming beneath the surface of change.

Join us Saturday August 29th - nourish your emerging self.
>> Swipe to view more info

✨Embracing Menopause Through Yoga
🗓️ Sat August 29th | 1-5:30pm
🤍 With Glenda Clarke & Ruth Pirie
📍My Yoga Space, Thirlmere

A sliding payment scale is available for this offering

✨Secure your booking 🔗 in bio
or at:
https://www.myyogaspace.com.au/embracing-menopause-workshop-aug-2026

10/08/2026

What does courage look like in your life right now?

I’ve been sitting with this question recently, both in my reflections and through what we’ve been exploring together in classes.

When we think of courage, it’s easy to picture the bigger, more visible moments. Making a difficult decision or doing something despite being afraid. But I feel some of the courage we draw upon most often is much quieter.

Like the courage to pause and listen to ourselves,or to acknowledge when something doesn’t feel right. To stay present with discomfort rather than immediately trying to escape it. To admit that we feel afraid or uncertain without believing that means we aren’t capable of moving forward.

The root of the word courage is connected to the heart, so perhaps courage isn’t really about getting rid of fear. Perhaps it’s about how we remain in relationship with ourselves when fear is present.

This has been weaving into our exploration of ahimsa in class. Ahimsa is non-violence, an invitation towards care, reverence and compassion in the way we meet ourselves, each other and the world around us.

I feel this is where ahimsa and courage intertwine in our life.

Some fears are wise. They protect us and ask us to pay attention. But what about the fears that quietly begin shaping our lives? We wait until we feel ready or certain. We hold back from beginning something, changing something or allowing ourselves to be fully seen.

Perhaps courage is being willing to become curious about the difference.

We’re living through a time where uncertainty seems to be touching many parts of life. I don’t feel the answer is to become harder or learn not to feel it. Maybe the courage these times ask of us is a kind of emotional resilience; our capacity to stay with ourselves through uncertainty, to feel what is here without being consumed by it and to keep finding our best way through even when fear is present.
To notice how courage gathers slowly through the choices we make and the ways we keep showing up for ourselves.

What does courage look like in your life right now? And is there a fear you’re beginning to see differently?

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17/07/2026

How many of us are quietly carrying the pressure to be well, present, productive, calm, connected, healthy and available… yet still feel as though we’re not doing enough?

Somewhere along the way, balance became another thing we were expected to get right. Another quiet measure of whether we are coping, achieving or somehow “doing life well enough.”

Recently in our classes, we’ve been exploring the deeper meaning of balance.
Not balance as something fixed or perfect, but as something living. Something that shifts with the seasons of our lives. Something we are always in relationship with.

Alongside this, I’ve been reflecting on success and what it truly means to me.

It’s easy to become caught in the narrative that we should always be wanting more, doing more and becoming more. Perhaps it is part of our human nature to seek growth.

But perhaps the systems we live within also teach us never to feel satisfied. That success must be visible and look like productivity, achievement or accumulation.

So I’ve been sitting with these questions:

What does success really mean to me?
What does it feel like in my body?
What am I no longer willing to sacrifice in the name of it?

I’ve never found peace in growth that requires me to push beyond my means.
Nor in a version of success that asks me to sacrifice my health, my presence or the quality of my relationships.

Success, to me, is beginning to look more real, raw and honest.
It is time in true connection with my children, husband and my community.
It is walking upon the earth and remembering I belong to it.
It is feeling aligned with my dharma and the small daily ways I choose to live my purpose.
It is learning to accept, befriend all parts of myself.

I feel balance and success are deeply connected.

So here we are: beings who yearn for balance.
But what kind of balance are we truly seeking?

My heart is yearning for a new paradigm. One that is more human, honest, kind. One that remembers we are cyclical beings, not machines. A paradigm where balance is not measured by how much we can hold, but by how deeply we are listening.

Yoga continues to bring me full circle, home to the understanding that we already have what we need.

That perhaps we don’t need to become more worthy.
Perhaps we need to remember that we are already enough.