the inner nest
The Inner Nest came about following a challenging period in my life. I was experiencing a lot of personal heartache and loss and was teaching a very full schedule of yoga classes at the time. I struggled with feeling completely unworthy to teach a practice of embodiment and connection. Through complete exhaustion and emotional overwhelm, my yoga practice was forced to shift to become an exploration of the more softer and subtle feeling tones of the practice - like presence and self-compassion. Daily yoga became a practice of simplicity, I’d notice how I felt in my body and move from that place - and if that was lying on a bolster for 10 mins, or focusing on my breath for a few minutes, I honoured that. That’s where the concept of the inner nest came from.
By practicing self-care through yoga it felt like I was going into the centre of myself to heal - an internal space that felt safe to be with all my emotions that were beneath the surface.
the essence of our true self
The ‘inner nest’ is the safest part of a bird’s nest reinforced with fibres and feathers to provide a snug cradle for the young. This feels like such a beautiful way to think about nurturing ourselves.
I teach my classes and from my understanding of what self-compassion means to me. I can’t see into people’s minds or hearts but I can invite people into their body through self-inquiry and ask what feels right for them in that moment. The medicine of present moment awareness can be so powerful. It’s a conscious weaving all of parts of yourself that feel fragmented back to your centre.
Trauma Sensitive Yoga provides us with an awareness of how it feels to be in our body in a safe way, with our thoughts and our emotions and build the pieces into an integrated whole. We all deserve to feel safe and secure and that can’t come from anywhere else but within. To me, the place that we feel all of that from – that’s our inner nest, it’s the essence of our true self.
Since launching The Inner Nest in 2018, I have recently expanded my work to include my private counselling practice. You can read more about my Counselling approach here.