Well Woman Yoga Therapy Training with Uma Dinsmore Tuli
I've been practising yoga for over a decade now and I feel so lucky to have trained alongside some incredible teachers and I've been able to practice a diverse range of yoga styles. In my twenties I practised a lot of dynamic flow, ashtanga and vinyasa, as I felt like I had a lot of yang energy to release and let go off. As I now meander into my thirties I have found a little shift in my yoga self practice. Instead of the powerful yoga flows making me feel awesome and energised, there have been times where I've felt this style of yoga wasn't always suitable and I would feel depleted, uncomfortable and not supported in these practices.
I started turning my attention to restorative yoga, which has been deeply healing and enabled me to find a sense of stillness which I had really struggled with before. Then I found a book called "Yoni Shakti" by Uma Dinsmore Tuli. The word “Yoni” has a few meanings, one is the female reproductive organs, but it also means source. The word “Shakti” is the infinite divine feminine power. So Yoni Shakti means - Source Power! Sounds pretty cool eh?
This book was all about taking a feminine approach to yoga practices and had a huge sense of nourishment, support and ancient wisdom behind it which really spoke to me. Uma's book combines functional, fluid and intuitive practices which I had been graving for. Full of mudras, yoga nidras, gentle asana, kriyas and pranayama and all beautifully presented together to create an intelligent feminine yogic cocktail (if ever there was one).
After delving into these practices I knew I wanted to deepen my understanding so I decided to study under Uma this November. The training was over five days in the beautiful shrine room of the Tibetan Buddhist centre in London. The training was amazing and transformative. We spent our days in nidra, sharing in our Shakti circles, practising and applying our learning through movement and exploring through experimental anatomy.
The yogic practices of Yoni Shakti ignite freedom, power and support into our femininity. As humans living on this divine planet, we are exposed to various different types of cycles all the time. We have the cycles of our breath as we inhale and exhale, the cycle of the seasons, the moon phases and many more. Women also have their own inner biorhythms and cycles which presents itself as the menstrual cycle. The teachings of Yoni Shakti inspires us to greet these cycles with respect and in turn use these cycles to draw great wisdom. And it doesn’t stop there, we have insight, shakti and wisdom pouring into pregnancy, motherhood, the postnatal period, into peri-menopause and menopause. All life cycles that can be abundant for women when honoured and respected.
Yoni Shakti for me, has been a place of security and deep connection. Also feeling confident and empowered to fully embody all life cycles as a woman. Creating a relationship with your own body and your own rhythms is wonderfully powerful.
I would be delighted to share these thoughts, principles and practices with you. Please get in touch if this sounds interesting to you. As the nature and application works through a yoga therapy perspective, one to one sessions would be ideal so you can get a personal approach.
These can be particularly great practices for;
couples trying to conceive
if you’re looking for nuturing support in pregnancy through to the postnatal period
support for peri-menopausal and menopausal women
...or generally for any women who wants to explore some juicy intuitive yoga...
Layna Winckworth // LAYNA YOGA
Email: laynayoga@gmail.com
Telephone: 07795 418445
