Some mornings I wake up and everything works.

I'm excited to get on my mat and move through my practice with ease. I feel positive, supple, and ready for the day.

Other mornings — and frustratingly, with no obvious explanation — I feel stiff, depleted, and the plan I had for the day already feels like too much before I've made coffee.

For a long time, I treated the second kind of morning as a problem to solve and I was riddled with guilt (sometimes I still am).

I'd punish myself for not being the version of me that I expected to be — and worse yet, the version that some yoga teachers told me I should be by practising first thing every morning, without exception.

I fought with this yo-yo routine for more years than I care to admit.

Then I started to learn about my menstrual cycle and the seasons, and something began to shift. I stopped trying to be the same person every day and started asking a different question: what does today actually need?

Variation in energy levels isn't a bad thing or a problem. It's information.

My body is a living system, not a performance machine. It responds to sleep quality, to stress, to weather, to the moon, to the seasons, to things I ate three days ago, to emotions I haven't fully processed yet. Of course it isn't the same every day. How could it be? Why should it be?

Productivity culture vs. Internal motivation

The challenge is that productivity culture has wired routine and sameness into our weeks and days — the 5am club, the optimal number of training days, the right macros, the perfect eating window. And when we fall outside these recommendations, the message is swift and unkind: you're doing it wrong, you don't belong here, try harder.

I'd argue that the real skill — the real measure of a life that feels both full and sustainable — is learning to be internally motivated rather than externally driven. To respond to the inner workings of your own life, not somebody else's prescription for it.

This is harder than it sounds.

Because most of us have spent years being rewarded for overriding our body's signals. For pushing through. For delivering regardless. We've built entire identities around being the person who shows up, who doesn't let people down, who keeps going.

And those identities make it almost impossible to hear the body saying: not today. Not like this. Something needs to change.

What this looks like in practice

When I work with coaching clients, this is part of the map we trace together. From the symptoms — the fatigue, the flatness, the variations in energy that don't seem to make sense — we explore what's been depleting. But also where energy is leaking out into things that don't feel true to who you actually are.

The goal isn't to give you more energy to get through the life you already have.

It's to help you build a life that doesn't require you to override yourself to survive it.

If you've been curious about practising with me online but haven't yet taken the step — this is for you. An hour on Zoom, completely free.

Sign up via the link below and use the code FIRST28 on checkout.

I'm opening a small number of 1:1 coaching spaces for women who are tired in a way that varies day to day and never quite resolves.

Who are starting to suspect that what they need isn't more discipline, it's a different relationship with their own body and energy.

If this is you, reply to this email, or send me an email here: [email protected] and tell me a little about where you are.

Until the full moon —

Sarah x

(All times are in the UK, please check your local timings for online classes & events)

Free online taster — Monday 28 July, 5:15pm:

If you've been curious about practising with me online but haven't yet taken the step — this is for you. An hour on Zoom, completely free. Sign up via the link below and I'll send you everything you need, including a discount on your first class pass if you want to come back.

Work with me this summer:

Tuesdays, 7pm, Barnoldswick (KL Health Hub)

A small-group class blending yoga, functional movement and mobility to help you move well, build strength with integrity, and support recovery from the demands of modern life.

These sessions focus on joint health, steady strength, and nervous system regulation — so you leave feeling clearer, more connected, and capable in your body.

Accessible, progressive, personal and thoughtfully paced. *You don’t need to be a gym member to join.

Tuesdays online 5:15pm and Thursdays 6:30pm, Clitheroe

An intentional and inwardly focused practice rooted in breath, core strength and deep presence. Forrest Yoga invites you to build physical confidence while staying connected to feeling — developing resilience without disconnecting from yourself.

Expect intelligent sequencing, long dynamic holds, and space to work honestly with what arises.

Wednesdays 7:15pm in Barrowford & Sundays 6:15pm in Clitheroe (fortnightly)

A deeply nourishing online practice designed for the darker months. Slow, supported postures, longer holds, and conscious breathing help calm the nervous system and replenish energy.

This is a space to soften, reset, and allow winter to do its quiet work within you.

I am offering one more class online in this format on Friday 27th March, 7pm. After this date, I will explore how to integrate this deeply nourishing rest practice when the evenings are lighter and so many of us prefer to spend more time outdoors. Watch this space.

I also teach this class twice a month in Clitheroe and Barrowford.

Tuesdays 10am in Clitheroe

Left to your own devices, you'd probably take it easier than this.

Signature Flow is a set sequence - spiced-up sun salutations, standing postures, strength work and it builds heat! You come back to the same practice each time, which means you can feel yourself getting stronger. That's the point.

A morning class that sets the tone before the rest of the day gets in the way.
Suitable for all levels. If you're newer to yoga, the structure gives you something real to build on. If you already have a practice, this is the one that keeps you honest & rooted in tradition.

Fridays 5:30pm in Clitheroe (Fortnightly starting July 10)

These sessions take you on a journey of self-discovery, helping you find your strengths and embrace your imperfectly perfect flaws, all while syncing movement and breath in a creative, energising flow.

HOT FLOW is practised in a studio heated to around 35°C, allowing you to move deeper into poses, raise your heart rate, and enjoy a mental challenge that clears the mind. You’ll explore flowing sequences, vinyasas, and mindful breathwork, leaving you sweaty, empowered, and accomplished.

Some yoga experience recommended.

with grace and gratitude,

Supporting individuals and businesses towards authentic freedom and wellbeing