International Lifestyle Magazine Issue 55 | Page 16

Laurent began, two years ago,
teaching his own Mindful Yoga
and Yoga Nidra classes, of
which there are three stages.
Awareness, acceptance and
mindfulness. This is not an easy
thing to learn, or teach, but
the end results will be worth
the effort and time. You will
be learning how to bring the
mind inside the body to use
our inner ears and inner eyes,
developing senses we may
have allowed to dwindle. This is
combined with vigorous yoga
sequences as well as static
postures. Each class, and this
is in my opinion where Laurent
excels, is different. Your mind
will follow what your body is
able to do in that moment, as
you become one you will flow
as one, just as a river reaches
the ocean. You cannot “tell”
your body how to react at a
given moment, you need to
listen and follow the flow. This is
balance, this is harmony, this is
one.
Through mindful yoga you
will develop a much deeper
understanding
of
yourself
as you develop your inner
core with the process of
movement and postures that
you approach with a mindful
kindness. This is why no one
approach can be taught to all,
we are all different, that is what
makes us unique, and it is being
unique that makes us who we
are, and who we should love
and respect.
Meditation and Yoga Nidra are
also high on list of important
with Laurent. We all need that
time to pull away from the
toxic world around us and turn
inwards to focus on who we
are. I personally believe that
those both mindful techniques
are great healers, it allows our
mind and body to work as one,
uninterrupted or influenced
by anything other than self.
Laurent allows his classes the
benefit of 15 - 30 minutes at
the end of a session to connect
and reflect. So powerful is the

use of meditation and Yoga
Nidra that schools are now
beginning to try it, bringing calm
to the students, the classrooms
creating an overall feeling of
wellbeing and positivity. So
much energy is focused on
labelling children when in fact,
what they really need is space
and the ability to understand
peace and being able to
center themselves. They live
in a world of chaos of course,
they are going to react to this,
but we need to show them
a different way, one that will
benefit them for the rest of their
lives. Laurent has also been
working with children from ages
4 to 10 up to teenagers aged 16.
He feels that even if they do not
continue on from being young
yogis to fully fledged adult
yogis the seed will have been
planted and that in time they
will look back and remember
their early lessons and pull from
them or return to them.
Meditation and Yoga Nidra
work because it helps you to
relax, to deal with pain, stress,
depression, panic attacks,
anxiety and addictions. We
need to turn to ourselves to
find healing, yes we may need
assistance on how to achieve
this, but the answers lie within
us. We need to understand
our inner strengths, we need
to identify with the very thing
that makes us who we are, we
need to learn to listen and we
need to learn to visualise. We
do not need outside noises or
visions to influence us, we need
our own inner self to show us
and through meditation you
can do this. Think for a moment
about walking in nature. In no
time at all all your can hear is
the sounds of nature around
you, from here you drift off into
your thoughts, you go through
things, possibly rejecting some
but finding solutions for others,
this is a form of mediation, and
think how good you feel after
this. Laurent helps take you
further and for everyone, this is
where the magic truly begins.

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