A new year, full of promise! And I hope that all my readers and students had a beautiful Christmas celebration filled with love, connection, divine food and lots of fun. For me, one of the loveliest things about the Christmas break is the lack of a rigid routine. Unstructured time gives one time to breathe, reflect, plan and think out the box, and it opens up creative thinking. I use this time to reflect on new habits for 2023 and also to pull together all the inspiration for our upcoming Yoga Retreat (29/3 – 2/4/23). The retreat is about your microbiome, and I design the yoga classes, the breathwork, the meditative practices, and humanistic practices like EFT and acupressure massage to shift blocks in our physical, mental and emotional bodies. It’s fun, it’s huge and you will leave quite changed.

Your biggest microbiome is in your gut and this unique population of bacteria, fungi and viruses works synergistically to keep you healthy. And one of the emotional characteristics of a healthy biome, is that of resilience. It makes sense. Your gut is your engine and your immunity. This is where you take something like an apple and by the miracle of digestion turn parts of this apple into skin cells, eye cells, new neurons and blood platelets.
The efficiency and effectiveness of this transformation depends on how robust and diverse your biome is. A healthy biome fights disease and makes sure you extract everything nourishing from that apple and via the vagus nerve (your gut talking to your brain) and lets your endocrine system and your nervous system know how you need to respond to life. A happy gut equates to resilience, nourishment, calmness and joy.

Resilience is a worthy NY resolution for 2023. If we can recover from difficult experiences: adapt, move forward and even experience growth, then we are resilient. An individual’s resilience is dictated by a combination of genetics, personal history and environment. In all the studies over the last 50 years, the most significant determinant of resilience is the quality of our early attachments to parents and caregivers. How loved you felt as a child is a crucial predictor of how you manage all kinds of difficult situations later in life. In a loving, stable environment, if you were allowed to fail and try again, you would grow into a resilient adult.

Other characteristics common to resilient people are realistic optimism and cognitive and emotional flexibility. Resilient people often have a moral compass and are not afraid to speak up against injustice. Connection to something greater than themselves through religious or spiritual beliefs is a common characteristic of resilient people and of course, resilience requires social connection. Supportive relationships help us navigate life. Wishing everyone a happy new year, and classes resume on the 16/1/2023.

Margot Wagner
Yoga Under the Bodhi Tree

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