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Last night I had the pleasure of working with a client to improve their sleep, using Rapid Transformational Therapy. 

They were struggling with not just their ability to fall asleep but also their ability to remain in deep sleep throughout the night. 

And it got me thinking about how much of an issue this is for many of us. The issues we have with it are those two exact things: being able to fall asleep and being able to remain in deep sleep throughout the night. 

But first, lets talk about how important sleep is. 

The importance of Sleep

It is the most important thing for us as humans. Above water intake, above exercise, above healthy nutritious food… 
It is absolute number 1 on the list. It is vital for our mental, physical and emotional wellbeing. 
It was not until I read Matthew Walker, Why We Sleep, that I really and truly understood the vast benefits of it. See here for the book. 
After reading this book I made sure that it was a main priority. 
Now, I will change plans / adjust things accordingly, to make sure I have prioritized sleep. 
And so should you…

Sleep problem number 1: Falling Asleep

So many people say to me they struggle falling asleep, and when I ask them what their pre-bed routine is, they normally answer with…. Watching an episode of X to switch off, doing a high intensity exercise class to get me shattered, going on my phone to reply to emails or look on Instagram….
All of these things are a NO NO. 

We must consciously set ourselves up and prepare ourselves for the best nights sleep possible. Just like we would prepare ourselves for an important job interview, or a fitness class…

Here are some of my top tips to prep yourself:

• Dim lighting, I especially love the Himalayan Salt lamps to produce warm, cosy light
• Playing soft, relaxing music
• Having a hot bath
• Journalling 
• Reading a good old fiction novel 
• Listening to a yoga Nidra on youtube 

Now of course some of you may be thinking, BUT I HAVE 4 KIDS TO FEED, TUCK UP IN BED AND THEN HAVE TO EAT MY DINNER AND REPLY TO ALL MY EMAILS, BY WHICH TIME IT IS 11.30PM!!! THERE IS NO WAY I HAVE TIME FOR ALL THESE THINGS. 

Wrong. 

Because these things take no time at all. 

10 minutes is all it takes. 10 minutes of your time, before falling asleep, will save you 2 hours of tossing and turning before you finally fall asleep. 

So, on this note, and made with nothing but LOVE, here is a sleep meditation I have created for YOU! 
It is as promised, 10 minutes (or so) and will help you have the most deliciously, deep and nourishing sleep possible. 

CLICK HERE to listen, and please share with anyone you may think will benefit. 

Sleep problem number 1: Staying Asleep

So it is one thing falling asleep, but then actually staying asleep is another thing. And staying asleep is really important, as this is when we get our deep sleep or REM sleep, the time when all the magical benefits of sleep take place. 

I highly recommend tracking your sleep cycle using your Fitbit, Apple Watch, or an app I use is called Sleep Cycle.
These can help to really get to know the patterns that are arising. 

Now, I can guarantee that by preparing well for a good nights sleep, you will not only fall asleep easier, but you will stay asleep longer and get all the deep sleep you need. 

Sleep and Rules of the Mind

For some of us who struggle with sleep, even the very word can be scary, because our mind automatically associates it with the times where we have lie awake for hours and when the mind stuff, the chitter chatter, gets louder and louder and it is hard to control.

Now, coming back to the rules of the mind I talk about a lot, we must change the habit of thought, in order to change the habit of action (i.e. difficulty when sleeping). 

So…to reiterate, here are the rules of the mind

1. The mind will do absolutely anything you tell it to

So start telling it how amazing you are going to sleep, how easy it will be for you, and how much deep sleep you are going to get. 

2. The mind will only respond to the pictures and words you give it

So be very careful with the pictures and words you give it. Even if you make a passing comment like….’Oh I am just someone who really doesn’t sleep very well’ or ‘I don’t think I am going to sleep well tonight’
Because your mind will respond. But also, news flash…you’re not. No one is. As babies we slept easily and effortlessly. As humans we are designed to sleep in order for optimal wellbeing. 
So start telling your mind how easy and effortless you fall asleep. 

3. The mind will take you towards pleasure and away from pain

So if you struggle at the moment, perhaps you are attaching it to a time of pain. You must make the time which you go to sleep an extremely pleasurable time. You must make the idea of not falling asleep easily, painful. So the mind will take you towards pleasure (i.e. falling asleep easily) and away from pain (i.e. not falling asleep easily). 

Et voila!

Again, here is a meditation I have created for you to indulge in before bed. Click here to listen. 

I hope this helps and I hope you have the most deep, delicious and nourishing nights sleep yet. 

If you would like to discuss an RTT session with me then please CLICK HERE for more info or CLICK HERE to contact me for a free consultation. 

Lots of love, 

Grace <3 

Yoga and brunch club…what can I guarantee? Hmmmm…
Good yoga, good food and good company.
What more would you want on a Sunday morning?

I am SO excited to be collaborating with the incredible Juice Smith in Cobham. It is a vegan cafe serving deliciously damn good juice, coffee and food.

Join us for Yoga and Brunch Club

On Sunday November 10th from 9AM I will be hosting a yoga and brunch club with the Juice Smith We will start with an invigorating and energising yoga practice, to wake you up and thus get you ready for your Sundays. We will be surrounded by their beautiful interior and a load of delicious juices!

Delicious brunch will be cooking during our sun salutations and then ready awaiting you for when we finish – doesn’t get better than that.
The Juice Smith is kindly allowing us 10% of the bill – reeeeesult!
Included in the ticket price is the yoga and a hot drink of your choice. They have a great selection of herbal teas and also all types of lattes, think beetroot, tumeric, chai…mmm!

Of course there is the option to leave after the yoga, I understand that people have plans on Sunday’s. However I would love to have brunch with you after the practice. It would be a pleasure to get to know you a little more and give you the opportunity to meet other like minded people.

The Juice Smith are my absolute favourite for completely guilt free, plant based, srum diddly rumptious food!
To see the menu please click here.

This event is open to absolutely anyone and everyone, so if you think it is something you’re friends or family may be interested in then share the event with them here.

Contact me to book on or pre buy your ticket by clicking here.

If you can’t make it this time then I really hope that this will be a regular thing, so make sure you make the next one!

Otherwise, sign up to my mailing list to receive fortnightly newsletters with free yoga classes, audio meditations and info on upcoming events and workshops.

You may not have ever heard of a Gong Bath or a sound bath before? Or perhaps you have and you have no clue what it is…
But you will most definitely have heard of the gong instrument.
Well, a gong bath is it is, as it sounds, the practice of bathing in the sound of a gong.

Tell me more…I hear you say…

It is said, “The sound and vibrational energy of gongs is an ancient and powerful tool used to help still the mind and allow the body to deeply relax.”

So a gong bath or otherwise known as sound therapy is when a gong is played to aid healing. It is played softly to purely relax you. They are an amazing way to unwind and disconnect from anything that may be going on in your life. Disconnecting from anything in the past or future. By disconnecting we therefore start to beautifully connect with the present moment. Connect with the stillness. With how you feel right here, right now, in mind, body and breath, and how wonderful is that?

Benefits of a Gong Bath

There are many benefits of a gong bath including: lowers stress, decreases mood swings, lowers blood pressure, lowers cholesterol, teaches pain management, lowers risk of heart disease and stroke and improves sleep. Therefore it is a no brainer!!
But of course, it comes back to the idea of taking time out of our busy lives to stop and just receive.

Please see here for an example of what a gong bath would sound like:

…Imagine listening to this LIVE!! In a beautifully dim lit room, with cosy clothing and a blanket to keep you warm, surrounded by other yogis who are also experiencing the same thing.

…Imagine also listening to this after a deeply nourishing and grounding 45 minutes of yin yoga practice….pure bliss!!

That is why I have invited Coral from Om Sound Therapy (see here) to join us on November 17^th for a gong bath following our usual yin yoga practice.

Coral is an amazing gong bath practitioner who may also use other instruments intuitively depending on what comes up on the evening.

All you have to do is lay, in stillness in order to absorb, feel and experience the incredible sounds and vibrations being played.

It is going to be a very, very special evening so I really hope you can join us for it, especially as it may be a completely new concept for you!

November 17^th 6.00-7.30pm in Long Ditton Village Hall.
Bring warm clothes, blankets, pillows and an eye pillow if you would like. Bring water if you wish.
Contact me, email info@gracefulmindandbody.co.uk to book on or click here to pre book.

Tell absolutely everyone who you may think be interested, by sharing the event on facebook with them HERE!

I hope to see you there,

Grace x

P.S. Sign up to my fortnightly newsletter with free yoga classes, audio meditations and upcoming events and workshops!

We’ve all heard the saying ‘you are the yin to my yang’ but do you know what yin really means? And do you know what Yin Yoga is?

Well, let me tell you now, yin and yang are the opposite to each other.
Just like female, male. Dark, light. Cool, warm. Smooth, hard. Soft, Rough. Busy, still. Quiet. Loud.
And in life, we need both of all of these things. Because both of all of these things create a BALANCE.

Therefore, bringing that practice of yin yoga into your life can create a huge amount of balance.

Definition of Yin

The actual definition of the word yin is: the passive female principle of the universe, characterized as female and sustaining and associated with earth, dark, and cold.

So, in relation to Yoga, yin is the calmer, slower, more meditative form of the practice.

And this is quite the contrast to a more yang practice, where there are a lot of flows and standing on your feet. Yin yoga involves holding postures for anything from 1-5 minutes. You may hold a posture, which at first may not feel like much, but after 5 minutes in that shape, you really, really will.

Physical and Mental Benefits of Yin Yoga

Physically the practice of yin yoga does wonders. It improves flexibility, improves blood circulation, releases the deep connective tissue – fascia – and improves joint mobility.

Mentally, the practice of yin does even more wonders.
I will not lie to you; the most challenging part of yin yoga is being able to remain deeply connected to the practice, mentally.

Because holding postures for such long periods of times means that you are faced with complete stillness. And it is in this stillness where the mind will trick you, it will start to think about the things on your to do list you haven’t yet completed, the washing you haven’t done, what you’ll have for dinner, what happened last night when you were out. It will start to think about what the future holds for you, what you’re doing with your life blah blah blah blah blahhhh.

The essence of Yin Yoga

So the real practice with yin and the essence of it comes with staying deeply connected to the physical sensations that arise from the postures and focusing on the breath.

And it is these two things that will take you out of your head and into your body….mhhhhhmmm.

What a luxury that is, to be able to take time out of your busy daily life, take time out of your head, for an hour of your day, to just breathe and feel. Because this is something that we all NEED to fit in.

In the definition of the word yin that I spoke of at the beginning,  refers to yin as earthy, because it forces you to slow down, dark because it brings up a lot of feeling and emotion and cold because in comparison to a yang practice where there is a lot of heat in the body created, yin is far more cooling.

And so as a result of practicing yin yoga, I can absolutely promise you that you will leave a yin practice feeling lighter, softer, more open and clear. Not just physically, but also mentally.

Join me for some Yin Yoga

I hold a beautiful fairy lit, candle lit, yin yoga fortnightly on a Sunday evening 6.00-7.00pm. Please see here for more information, because you do not want to miss out!

It is an especially great thing to implement into your week now that we are coming into the colder months, to nourish and ground you before the week ahead.

I hope you get to join me.
Grace x

P.S. Click here to sign up to my fortnightly newsletter, with upcoming events, yoga videos and audio meditations. You will also receive your first FREE yoga video right into your inbox.
And be sure to share this with any friends / family that you may think benefit!

The first I Am Enough Workshop, at the beautiful studio Milo and the Bull in Clapham Junction was a HUGE success.

It was an honour to lead the ladies who attended the I Am Enough workshop through a powerful and transformative workshop. I carefully created this workshop combining my skills as a yoga teacher and Rapid Transformational Therapy Practitioner. The two wellness practices go hand in hand together!

The theme of the workshop was centered around I Am Enough. Through my studies and through my personal struggles, I believe that once we start believing I Am Enough, we can overcome all of our anxieties, fears, lack of confidence etc. Once we start believing I Am Enough, we can do anything.

Outline of the I Am Enough Workshop

So in this I Am Enough workshop we begun with a mindset discussion. In this there are some hands on exercises to get us really thinking about where in our lives we lack this feeling of being enough. We all lack in this feeling somewhere. Whether it is not good enough, pretty enough, thin enough, clever enough, funny enough etc. So each person figured out what their most important I Am not Enough was to them, to work with for the rest of the session. With the aim to free themselves from not being enough, to being enough.

Yoga and Hypnosis

After this we practiced a slow flow yoga class, to feed and nourish the body. Focusing on feeling the sensations to get out of our heads. Most of us in our daily lives live in our heads, constantly going from one thought to the next. So the purpose of this class was to get OUT OF THE HEAD and INTO THE BODY.
And then straight from the yoga practice we went into a group hypnosis session. Here I use powerful and descriptive words all around the idea I Am Enough.

The hypnosis straight after a yoga practice worked SO well because you are already in a deeply relaxed state. Then the hypnosis only takes you deeper into this state of relaxation. Being hypnotised in a group is also very powerful, as you feel the energy of everyone else in the room around you.

Finally, I gave out goody bags to all the lovely ladies who came, filled with all things to do with I Am Enough and self love. Brands like Space NK, Holland and Barratt kindly helped with this. The next goody bags are set to be even bigger and better!

It was an amazing, amazing, AMAZING workshop and I highly recommend you attending the next one.
To book on please click here, or for more information please contact me.

P.S. you are enough!!! <3