Wellbeing from Within

Learn about the stress and relaxation responses and discover what your tendencies for responding to stress are like - how can we learn to widen our window of tolerance so as to retain our ability to connect with our environment and those around us, spontaneously regulate our emotions and make conscious choices?

Have you ever had a negative, habitual thought you could not abandon? How can we slow down to notice the implications that have accumulated, and how can we create the space for grace required to move forward?

Unlocking our body’s innate ability to down-regulate into the relaxation response - its ability to rest and digest is akin to uncovering an Oasis in the desert. While within this Oasis, we must embark on a conscious journey of discovery to peel away all the stressors that modern life has thrown at us. We can drink from the well of this nourishment to prevent burnout and stress-related diseases that chip away at our potential for a fully-experienced life well lived.

Embedded within a Restorative Yoga practice is a mindfulness framework that addresses life’s stressors – emotional triggers, mental rumination, tightly-bound tension that has no means of unwinding, creating havoc in the body.

Gabrielle Mendoza invites you to embark on a 5-part series to discover the tools needed to create spaciousness in your life – so your nervous system can receive the care it so desperately deserves.

Breathwork and meditation will pave the way for a fully-propped passive practice that supports the body as it gradually releases deep layers of held tension with the help of guided relaxation, luxurious amount of time allocated per posture and a deeper understanding of the body and mind relationship to stress.

Episode 1: Increasing our Window of Tolerance – the capacity to handle stress and extend empathy

Episode 2: What we resist, persists – embracing the full spectrum of the human experience with Tara Brach’s 4-step process for practicing mindfulness and compassion

Episode 3: Developing the pause between our breaths, and the space between our thoughts, to respond instead of react, so as to decrease the likelihood of unnecessary conflict in the future

Episode 4: The art of letting go - recognising outdated, self-limiting beliefs, to reveal the silver linings in life

Episode 5: Why moving through is not the same as moving past - The pathway to accepting today, releasing yesterday, and giving up the need to control tomorrow

Unwind from jet lag or stress-related insomnia in a sound healing practice that paves the way for peaceful, quality slumber to come. Effortlessly drift away on the gentle waves of the singing bowls, as they lull your body to release tension and your mind to declutter.

Along with guided relaxation, the vibratory frequencies emanating from the singing bowls create a parasympathetic resonance in your cells which can lower heart rate variability, reduce respiratory rates and relax brain wave patterns. When the heart rate is relatively steady and the breathing is deep and slow, the stress hormones decrease.

Unlock the body’s inner grip by unraveling at an organic pace with non-linear movement accompanied by humming and breathwork to stimulate the vagus nerve which encourages better quality of brain relaxation.

This unwinding practice can help to release energetic and emotional blockages - one can tap onto the body’s innate healing potential to calm the mind and foster inner peace while basking in monaural beats in frequencies within the delta range (0.5hz-4hz) to promote deep sleep and relaxation.

Slow down and unwind from the inside out with a series of 20 minute-long postures and bask in the embrace of a deep meditative state that rewards the mind, body and soul with a profound sense of calm. Along with mindful breathing and customised support with props, the experience can help to elicit the body’s relaxation response to regulate the nervous system.

A traditional Hatha Yoga practice accompanied with hands-on adjustments for personalised posture alignment techniques to maintain musculoskeletal health and improve prana flow within the body.

A healing practice designed to drive stiffness out of the troubled areas in the neck, shoulders and lower back with patient and attentive movements and deep releases to welcome joint mobility and freedom in the connective tissues of the body to promote optimal circulation.

The resonance of singing bowls is used as a form of therapy, as it can guide the brain to switch to the Theta brainwave frequency, which induces a deep meditative state and brings forth a profound sense of calm. The tranquility and rejuvenation that follow this deeply immersive sound healing experience can improve sleep quality, reduce anxiety, increase mental clarity, and restore balance to your entire being.

For those dealing with jetlag and insomnia, this practice offers a gentle path to a peaceful slumber. The practice commences with diaphragmatic breathing that paves the way for one to move into the energetic body; following which awareness of prana, the vital force that rides on the breath, is cultivated as we drift away effortlessly on gentle waves of binuaral beats, lulling your body and mind into a state of bliss.

Throughout, your consciousness remains awake and aware as it journeys back to the center of our being - where our true nature resides without limitation and hesitation. The deep rest the practice provides paves the way for inspiration, wisdom and intuition to reveal themselves as the mind sleeps.

Along with a series of 7 mantras and affirmations that correspond to the unique energy centers that are situated along the spine, this practice involves yoga postures, breathwork and chanting to remove stagnant energy and emotional blockages.