The penny drops's podcast

In this episode, Laurent offers a 30-min simple deep relaxation yoga Nidra (conscious sleep meditation), which intends to rest the body and the mind for rejuvenation and building gentle energy. Laurent's simple guidelines and practices suggest bringing peace and calm into the most profound part of our being to encourage growth, recovery and strength.

This practice is designed to be accessible to all levels.

This yoga Nidra was recorded during Laurent's one day retreat at St Mary Church, Wimbledon Village, London – Winter 2022.

Have you ever heard the beautiful sound of chanting in Sanskrit?

Sanskrit is an ancient Indo-European language of India used in Hindu scriptures and classical Indian epic poems. The beauty of its sound has the power of enchanting and calming the mind and the soul!

In this fun episode, Laurent meets Elena Jessup, a native New Yorker who has been teaching Sanskrit to children and adults for over twenty-five years in the UK.

She is an author, a scholar and the founder of Modern Sanskrit Collective, which aims to promote Sanskrit in the wider community. They speak about the origins, history, structure, uses of this language, but the highlight of this episode is Laurent's attempt to learn the Sanskrit's alphabet – worth a listen!

Learn more about Elena's work, teaching and events on www.modernsanskritcollective.org

In this episode, Laurent speaks to two guts and digestive health specialists: Beth Jeffries, a registered and nutritional therapist and health coach and Samantha Koch, a gut health and wholefood advocate.

Together, they speak about the importance of keeping our gut healthy and its relationship with mental health and give some tips to improve wellbeing and be happy in life.

Beth Jeffries blossomwithbetsy.com Instagram - @blossomwithbetsy

Samantha Koch Instagram- @healthyhappy.biz Upcoming retreat - mandali.org/retreats/healthyhappy

In this new episode on The Penny Drops, Joey and Laurent discuss equanimity, compassion and mindfulness joyfully and with humour to bring fresh insights and understanding to those self-explorative and meditative techniques. Expect some Aha moments!

Dr Joey Weber is a lecturer at the University of Bolton. He researches and studies equanimity to improve mental health, and he spent many years in a residential centre for Tibetan Buddhist studies.

Have you ever told yourself I am too old to do this? Or I can't move that way because my body is stiff or hurts?

In this episode, Laurent speaks to movement and fascia specialist Caz Hitchcock who doesn't believe that we need to stop moving or being mobile and flexible because we passed fifty or sixty or seventy years old. As she says it herself, 'it is totally rubbish!' and she explains why.

She also speaks about her love for fascia anatomy, yoga therapy, and keeping the body young and healthy.

Caz Hitchcock is the creator of a movement method called 'the Gravity Technique'.

In this episode, Laurent had the privilege to meet one of the grand dames of British yoga, Senior yoga teacher Ruth White. She shares her memories of her long practice with her teacher B.K.S Iyengar and gives her insights into how yoga must be felt and understood. Ruth has been teaching a quiet and precise physical, breathing and meditative practice for over twenty-five years in the UK and Internationally. She embeds the non-dualistic Advaita philosophy in her teachings and invites her students and trainees to embrace their practice in an explorative and peaceful way.

She is the creator of 500-hour Karuna Yoga Teacher Training and the author of the book "Presence- The Truth of Yoga".

www.yogawithruthwhite.com

This 45-minute extended meditation was recorded during Laurent's Early Morning Meditation class.

In this episode, we are travelling through the body and our sensory world. This explorative meditation allows us to open and free our senses to reconnect and experience life and the world around us afresh.

In this episode, Laurent meets Daniel Simpson, the author of the famous history yoga book "The Truth of Yoga". Daniel is a scholar from the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies and SOAS in London. The conversation was about yoga as an ancient tradition and how it is perceived and shared in the context of modern yoga. Most importantly, Daniel and Laurent speak about the origins of Pranayama, its purposes according to different methods and its evolution through the centuries until our modern time. Daniel offers courses and workshops about yoga history and philosophy. To take part in his events or buy his book, visit truthofyoga.com

In this episode, we connect to the beautiful and subtle fluidity and primal movement of the backbone in our body, the spine.

During this meditation, we are discovering that the spine is like a living and energising creature constantly moving and undulating under the influence of the breath and other movements and pulsations coming from our being. These intimate and embodying sensory reflections and experiences are energising and vitalising.

This Mindfulness meditation offers parents, children and families an opportunity to share and focus on the benefit of expressing gratitude for the things in life.

This technique has the benefits to make us feel happier and increase psychological well-being, enhance our positive emotions and self-esteem.