Why is Yoga so good for the mountain lifestyle?
Yoga is the perfect practice to wake up the body for a day on the mountains and stretch it out at the end of the day. Focussed poses and a regular practice can build strength, flexibility and endurance to maximise time playing on the mountains and avoid injuries. With a focus on the breath, Yoga can also help to maximise the body’s ability to perform at lower oxygen levels found at altitude.
Bringing awareness to the breath, the moment and the body can help enhance calmness, concentration and clarity – helping to maximise performance and focus on the slopes and bringing peace throughout the day.
Yoga also helps you feel greater connection to the moment and the space you are in. When practicing in the mountains Yoga and Meditation can bring a much greater connection to the magnitude of nature, bringing a presence to that experience which is both humbling, beautiful and gratitude-inducing.
And finally, bringing an attitude of mindful compassion can help us strike the balance between finding our edge to improve our performance and letting it come from a place of kindness and compassion, taking care of ourselves rather than being driven by a strong inner critic. Letting go of what we feel we ‘should’ be doing and instead listening to our heart and what it is we actually need in each moment.
How do you make your living in the French Alps?
I run Soulshine Retreats offering transformational, healing and empowering retreats in Ibiza, the Alps and pop-up locations around the world. During summer we run retreats in our home in Ibiza and in the winter we head to the mountains for the season to run our Soulshine Snow Yoga Adventures. 2018 will be our 5th winter in the mountains running seasons of Yoga, Skiing & Snowboarding Retreats.
What brought you to the slopes?
I’ve been skiing since I was six and have always been a lover of adventures with a passion for adventure, travel, nature, the mountains and a healthy dash of adrenaline! Before setting up Soulshine Retreats my plan was to start a retreat company combining extreme and action sports with Yoga. As I went deeper into the healing and transformational aspect of Yoga this became more of my focus for the retreats, but the dream for combining the mountain sports and Yoga continued and so I began the Snow Yoga Adventures to chase the dream of winter fun.
What do you love about living / working here?
I love being surrounded by the overwhelming presence of nature and feeling it’s ever shifting nature. I love how my breath can be taken away each day by the natural beauty. I love that I get to do what I love teaching Yoga and facilitating beautifully empowering, transformational and fun experiences and then get to play on the mountains. I love the view from my office. I love the freshness of the air. I love having an aching body from using it so much to do the things that I love. I love how the mountains is made up of people living a dream and willing to work hard to do so. I love how alive I feel in the mountains.
Ski or board?
I’ve been skiing since I was 6 years old. I dabbled (fairly unsuccessfully!) with Snowboarding one winter but returned to skiing.
Summer or winter?
I’m definitely a sun and ocean-loving girl – that’s my first love. I feel so lucky to have created a life that allows me to enjoy summer in Ibiza and winter in the French Alps and to travel the world with pop-up Soulshine Retreats and personal adventures throughout the year.
Favourite yoga move?
Just one is impossible! All restorative heart opening poses, a cheeky Astavakrasana and I love Wild Thing to get the heart opened and the energy flowing.
Tell us about Soulshine Retreats
The entire ethos and dream for Soulshine Retreats and all that it encompasses, is to provide healing, empowering and utterly digestible life-changing skills and experiences that allow individuals to embrace positive transformation and live to their greatest, healthiest and most joyful potential. All Soulshine Retreats are an ongoing expression of this desire to take people on this journey. A journey back to all the vibrant brilliance that exists in every moment, within each and every one of us. To shine bright!