Jessica Inman

Ayurvedic Morning Routines for Busy People

Ayurveda, India's ancient holistic system of medicine and wellbeing, teaches that our first activiites of the morning have a huge impact on how we feel for the rest of the day. In this course, you'll learn some simple routines, based on Ayurvedic principles, that your can easily incorporate into your mornings. Most of us are busy first thing in the morning and this course has been designed to help you to integrate a simple routine when you don't have the time for long practice.

You'll learn som simple meditation and breathing practices that you can do while you're still in bed, some quick ways to detoxify your body and stimulate your digestive system as you get up, a quick and easy oil massage for nourishment and strength, and a quick morning stretch to get you moving, with each practice taking just a few minutes to complete. Throughout the course, you'll also learn some Ayurvedic theories and principles and the benefits of adding each new practice into your day.

This is a five-day celebration of the Celtic festival of Samhain with meditations and exercises to connect with the energy of the season. Occuring on the 1st of November in the Northern Hemisphere, and the1st of May in the Southern Hemisphere, Samhain marks the beginning of the winter and the beginning and end of the Celtic year. The third of the three Celtic harvest festivals, at Samhain, we turn our energy inwards for the winter and acknolwedge the ancestors who lived before us and the mysteries of the unseen realms.

During the course, we'll explore some ways to celebrate Samhain, we'll look at some Ayurvedic techniques to supporrt your body and mind over the winter, we'll practice a meditation exploring the spaces between our breaths, and we'll do some reflection and meditation exercises connected to the season. Samhain is a time to pause and reflect, and to explore the mysteries of the spirit world and the inner world, and this course is intended to bring you inspiration and joy at this time.

Music by Jumping Bunny at Pixabay

Image by Julie at Pixabay

This is the story of Gwaynten, the guardian of an ancient sacred spring, as she travels into the Otherworld to retrieve her stolen chalice.

In the ancient days, when the land was considered special and sacred and its importance was far more greatly understood, water was revered as a precious element that was essential for life. Each well, due to being such a cherished and vital source of water, was therefore appointed a guardian: a maiden whose duty it was to care for and protect the water. The Maidens of the Wells would offer refreshment to those who passed by and were also healers and oracles, with the ability to divine the future. Each Maiden possessed a chalice with which to draw her water, which was considered to be a sacred and magical tool, and its use was at the very heart of her work.

One day, King Amangons raped one of the maidens and took her chalice from her. He then bid his men to go and do the same, ordering them to take the cups and bring them back to him. The Maidens of the Wells were deeply afraid and, without their chalices, could no longer do their work. They retreated into the Otherworld to hide in fear. Without their presence, healing, and magic, the wells became dry and the Earth began to suffer. Eventually the whole of the land became a barren wasteland as all signs of life withered away.

Gwaynten lives a peaceful life as Maiden of the Well, guarding the water and tending to weary travellers. But when her healing chalice, Kerensa, is stolen and the land begins to wither, she retreats to hide in the Otherworld: a mystical world not quite like this one, where things, and time, happen differently.

She learns that the Maidens of the Wells are in great danger and that many others have disappeared, robbed of their chalices and unable to perform their duties at their wells. The disappearance of the Maidens has caused the Earth to lose its connection with the healing energy of the feminine, and the once thriving lands have become barren.

Gwaynten vows to find her chalice and restore harmony to her well and the land around it and embarks on a great adventure. Magical beings cross her path along the way and challenges arise at every corner. With no indication of where her chalice may be, will she ever regain it and return to her world? And what will become of the other Maidens, their lost chalices, and the barren lands?

Based upon the legend of the Lost Maidens of the Wells, this is a story of courage, mysticism and romance, which will remain with you long after you have finished reading.

A collection of sleep meditations to guide you into peaceful, continuous sleep. Each track includes yoga nidra inspired relaxation techniques including body scans, counting and visualisations. You are encouraged to let go of any pressure you feel around sleeping or any tendencies to try and force sleep, and to simply enjoy the meditations and allow sleep to naturally happen as and when it comes.

Deepening Your Yoga Nidra Practice

This course is a follow-up to 'The Art of Conscious Napping,' although you are also welcome to listen if you haven't listened to the first one - the first course sets a foundation but it is not essential to have completed it to benefit from this course. During these nine sessions, we'll explore the philosophy and theory of yoga nidra in more detail and you will move more deeply into your personal practice with some longer daily sessions. We'll be taking a look at some of the yogic philosophy that influences our yoga nidra practice with a special focus on the five koshas, or the five sheaths or layers, that make up our incarnate selves - these are the physical body, the breath or energetic body, the mind, the intellect and the bliss or causal body.

We'll spend some time looking at each one of the koshas and exploring how the techniques in our practice work to relax, heal and give us insight into that layer. We'll also explore the inner resource, the felt sense of safety and security that allows us to feel safe and held as we practice, and the Sankalpa, the deep prayer or vow from the heart.

The first eight sessions contain five to ten minutes of information and a twenty minute(ish) practice, and the final session is a longer 55-minute practice which brings together everything from the course. Each of the practice sessions are also included as stand-alone tracks so you can return to repeat them at any time without having to skip through the lesson material.

Background music by Relaxing Time

Cover image from Pixabay

An introduction to the Master Plant Teachers Ayahuasca and Wachuma. This introductory series answers the most common questions that many have when approaching these Sacred Plant Spirit Medicines, including what to expect, information about the plants and their traditions, how they may help you and some of the myths and misconceptions surrounding them.

These recordings are adapted from blog posts and are aimed at curious seekers who are looking to learn a little more before potentially embarking on your Plant Spirit journey.

This is a five-day celebration of the Autumn Equinox with meditations and exercises to connect with the energy of the season. Occuring between the 19th and 22nd of September in the Northern Hemisphere, and between the 19th and 22nd of March in the Southern Hemisphere, at the Autumn Equinox, the days and nights are of equal length, after which the nights will be longer than the days and will continue to lengthen until the Winter Solstice. The second of the three Celtic harvest festivals, the Autumn Equinox is a time to celebrate abundance, to pause at the time of balance, and to prepare ourselves for the winter months to come.

During the course, we'll explore some ways to celebrate the Autumn Equinox, we'll look at some Ayurvedic diet and lifestyle considerations for the autumn, we'll practice some alternate nostril breathing for balance, and we'll do some reflection and meditation exercises connected to the season. The Autumn Equinox is a time of abundance when we receive the rewards from our hard work earlier in the year and celebrate the bounty of nature, and this course is intended to bring you inspiration and joy at this time.

Music by Jumping Bunny at Pixabay

Image by Mulama Mushitu

A 12-part course exploring sleep from the perspective of Ayurveda. During the course, we'll explore the factors that can inhibit, and factors that can help, your peaceful sleep, looking at the Ayurvedic concept of the three doshas and how the doshas influence our sleep patterns. We'll look at the times of sleeping and waking, the bedroom environment, the evening routine and the time os of eating during the day, examining the affect that each of these has on sleep and looking at what can be done in each of these areas to encourage deep and peaceful sleep.

By the end of the course, you'll have identified any factors that are negatively impacting your sleep and will have the tools to make changes to your habits and routines that will greatly benefit your overall sleep quality.