The third annual mm…Yoga! retreat is coming up in Bali in November and one lucky person can win $1000 towards it.

This is how: the person, in Melbourne or elsewhere, who squats the longest with good form, wins the $1000. Easy right? Well, not that hard, anyway, given it’s been all squats all the time at mm…Yoga! this year. This is an excellent guide for getting you squat ready. Pop over & read it.

Here’s what we are looking for (and maybe you will actually do better, since I have that sticky outy lower back thing going on):

Rules:

• You may enter in person, at any mm…Yoga! class. Your teacher will assess your form and time you – you get one go and can only make your attempt if you’ve entered here.
• You may enter via video, by filming yourself and placing a clock on your mat so we can see the passage of time.
• You have until June 30 to make your attempt. You must enter your details in the form below to qualify.
• You must be in good health and your entry must not compromise your wellness. If we find out it has, you will be disqualified. Also, you will be in pain. Which is silly.
• You may use the entire $1000 towards funding your own retreat payment, or you may split your winnings with a friend. Prize is not transferable – it will be used to discount the cost of your mm…Yoga! retreat. If you can’t take up your prize, it will be allocated to the person who came second.

 Enter here:

Please keep giving us feedback so we can get even better!

It’s pretty cool, especially given it’s free. And we are in it this month!

This sequence quite literally takes five minutes and if you do it every day it will change your life. Okay, maybe not your whole life, but you’ll feel way less achy, your muscles will be stronger and more flexible, and you are likely to have a lot less headaches and the like.

Five minutes. Consider it your homework. Click on the image to get a downloadable high-res PDF, or just click here.

The last time I wrote about Kindness in Business, I was writing about how better boundaries mean better business.

It’s even easier to observe good boundaries when you know where they are. One of the best ways to get clear about this is to figure out your core values, and those of your business.

Core Values.

Sounds like such a business-speak term, doesn’t it?

But really, you will have certain deeply held values that govern how you go about life. And business.

My three personal core values are safe, strong, and sovereign. I go through life living to those. For example, several times every day, I ask myself:

Am I safe, and am I doing anything to create safe (or unsafe) space for those around me? 

This is a very important value for me because I had an unsafe childhood. So I am always checking: am I creating safe space for myself, and for those I work with, those I have relationships with? One of the big ways people create UNSAFE space, apart from obvious forms of violence, is by not being clear on their values, and therefore allowing and creating violations.

My personal values aren’t QUITE the same as the mm…Yoga!  business values. 

Sovereign shows up in both, but otherwise they are a little different. I must confess, it came as a bit of a surprise to me to find that the business values were not exactly the same as my personal values. But, really, of course they weren’t going to be: mm…Yoga! exists to serve a group of people who have different needs to me, but as a group the needs are well served by these four values: Affordable, Accessible, Sovereign, Fun.

Let’s take a look at Accessible.

It’s very important, in the context of this business, that anyone feel welcome at a yoga class we are running, regardless of age, physical wellness, or level of experience. Loads of people SAY these things but then ask their students to do bendy stuff they really can’t or shouldn’t, or wear skimpy clothes that make people feel uncomfortable, or talk about bra-straps when there are men in the room, which is NOT an accessible way to give a man an instruction.

I try to make the classes accessible to as broad a range of people as possible by doing things like giving people detailed information on how their poses should feel and how they might feel if they needed to rest and joking about my own limitations so people feel comfortable to honour theirs.

I feel this is a way of showing true kindness to people – seeing them as they really are and showing acceptance for that.

It’s funny how that went: by figuring out my core values, and the core values of my business, I found a way to show a great deal more kindness to myself, the people who work in the business with me, and also, most importantly, our clients.

I hope, and from your feedback (like the lovely note below) believe  we are getting this right – if not, you’ll tell us, yes?

Nadine made a massive difference to us here at Microsoft through her corporate yoga program. Her intuitive and customised approach to each individual’s levels of competency of yoga was amazing and valued by the beginners to advanced class participants. Her advice to listen to your body throughout the classes was welcomed as was her bubbly personality and wicked sense of humour!

Trudi Grant, Microsoft Australia

A towel will do just fine, or, if you are ok with being on the floor, the floor is fine too. At least to start with.

Nobody needs to be buying fancy sporting equipment until they’ve decided they are really into the activity, right?

I can’t think of anything sadder than a yoga mat joining the elliptical glider that’s now used as a drying rack, in the junk room. Or worse, the garage.

But if you DO decide you are into yoga, and you want a mat to practice on, or as a barrier between you and the daggy carpet at work, here a are a few suggestions:

My favourite all-time mat is the lululemon Un-Mat. It, and its bigger cousin The Mat, have the best grip of any mats I’ve ever used. I’ve been using my un-mat since January 2010, and although it’s a bit marked, the surface is still completely intact. As someone who shredded a Jade Mat to unusability within two years, this is a BIG selling point for me. The Un-Mat has the advantage of being very thin and light so you can easily carry it around with you or even leave it at work.

If you want more choice, the good people over at Design*Sponge put together a whole selection of yoga mats. I actually had no idea there was so much choice. See, down there, number 8? It’s the Mat again. And number 6 is a yoga towel from Target, which is both easy on the wallet and easy to transport. Not sure if the Australian stores carry it, but it’s worth a look. Pop over & see the rest of their picks here.

Also from D*S, once you HAVE the mat, you could indulge in a little DIY and sew yourself a yoga mat bag, or get someone to sew it for you, of course.

Enjoy x