Katja (00:00)
Hello and welcome back to Rooted in the Seasons, where ancient wisdom meets modern life with a strong cup of tea and practical tools for real busy women. I'm Katya Patel, Ayurvedic Diet and Lifestyle Educator, Yoga Teacher and Teacher Mentor.
And today is the beginning of a very special series of podcast episodes that I'm going to record together with my sacred retreat partner, Helen Taylor from Shraddhaya Yoga.
Katja (00:50)
today I'm here with lovely Helen from Shraddaya Yoga. Hello Helen.
Helen (00:58)
Katja how are you today
Katja (01:00)
I'm good, thank you. How are you?
Helen (01:02)
I'm
really good thank you. Well I'm a little bit sleepy it's Friday afternoon and I'm not gonna lie I just had a nap.
Katja (01:11)
Same here. Sophie
So we are on the same page here.
Helen (01:18)
We're practicing what we preach, which is amazing.
Katja (01:20)
Exactly.
Pauses or longer pauses as well arrived.
Helen (01:26)
Yeah.
Katja (01:27)
So and we're going to start off a little serious about sacred pauses, which is also
The retreat that we are going to lead together. Right, and we are going to introduce ourselves and what the retreat is about a little bit more over the next months. And today we thought it would be a good idea to start with.
Yeah, how the retreat came about and what is so sacred about Poses? Yeah?
Helen (02:09)
Yeah. Yeah.
Katja (02:12)
Okay. So the name actually, Helen, was your idea?
Helen (02:22)
It was, wasn't it? And it came from the meaning of the word solstice. So of course, our retreat lands the weekend before the summer solstice. So I believe the summer solstice is on the Monday or the Tuesday. It's off the top of my head. So the retreat is in the days leading up to the solstice. And when we were exploring ideas,
I was looking at the true meaning of solstice. And when you look it up, sol is the sun. the particular meaning that I found talked about a sacred day and a time to pause as the sun appears to be still in the sky, you know, at its zenith of the year, the peak of the summer.
it appears to pause, everything appears to pause before it then moves forwards into the rest of summer. And so there's two words, sacred and pause. Well, they stood out for both of us, didn't they, when we were talking about it?
Katja (03:32)
Yeah, it is,
yes. Yes, because pauses they are
I think they are sacred because what what what I also experience is or what I hear the most is I just need a break
Helen (03:52)
Yeah.
Katja (03:53)
or I just need to from a moment. most people they they they don't feel like they need a whole holiday. Everybody's more of just a moment to sort of gather themselves
To stop whatever they're doing and yeah, and have a break from that sort of ongoing activity. And I think now, so more than maybe even 20-30 years ago, pauses are much more relevant because everything seems to be there's always something happening. either we need to do something or we hear something, we see.
See something, and there is no real okay, that's it, me done for five or ten minutes. And in these five or ten minutes, we are not pausing either. Then we might scroll the phone. So there's
Helen (04:56)
Yeah.
Katja (04:56)
always a sense of input coming in, any information that our brain, our nervous system needs to process and digest. And I think that's why pauses are
Becoming even more relevant.
Helen (05:13)
Absolutely, we're feeling every moment of every day. I catch myself doing it. I'm literally putting my phone in a drawer now sometimes because our attention is just being stolen all the time, isn't it?
Katja (05:26)
Easy.
Helen (05:27)
These apps and everything are designed to be addictive, so we're addicted to them. You sit down to maybe relax and then out comes the phone. like you say, you're absorbing information all the time and it's just so...
I believe it's totally unnatural for us to
Katja (05:45)
Absolutely.
Helen (05:46)
be, and we've talked about it before, haven't we, on my podcast, just constant stream of information and it's just overwhelming. So we're never really quiet and resting unless we really take an intentional moment. I find myself throughout the day.
I have to take a really intentional moment and just not do anything. Pause. Literally, I'm not going to do anything. I'm just going to sit.
Katja (06:18)
Yeah. Yes.
And I I think this would
intentional is quite I think that is very relevant and becomes more relevant because as our attention gets drawn away from us from what we want to do the way we thought things are running they are running us unless we actually put an intention in how we want to do it
what we want to do to start off with is to get our priorities in check and yeah.
Helen (07:00)
Absolutely.
Katja (07:01)
And this is going to happen in our retreat question mark.
Helen (07:07)
Yeah, yeah.
We're gonna make it. I'm so excited, aren't you? I'm really excited.
Katja (07:13)
Okay. Totally.
Helen (07:15)
It's in, I don't know if we should talk about the location now, but it's in a beautiful location in the
Katja (07:21)
Mm-hmm.
Helen (07:22)
Lake District. And I think it's that kind of place as well. You've said it on your description on the sales page on your website.
We got out, this is exactly what happened. We got out the car, didn't we? Actually, even as we were driving, we
Katja (07:37)
Yes.
Helen (07:37)
wound down the windows and we're like, the air, air. you
Katja (07:40)
Yeah, that's
Helen (07:42)
remember? The air, because we'd had the air come on.
Katja (07:45)
Road away
and yes, yes, yes. I make the roads.
Helen (07:49)
And then
we got there and we got out the car and we just literally, we didn't say anything, we just breathed the air. And I think places
Katja (07:58)
Yeah.
Helen (07:59)
like that are a natural, they make you stop because of the natural beauty. Yeah.
Katja (08:05)
Yes. They make you
slow down because I mean there also there's not much happening, right? There are not gazillions of cars come passing by.
Helen (08:15)
Exactly.
Katja (08:16)
It's lots of trees and you hear the birds and and that's it. So and I think it is
Helen (08:25)
Yeah.
Katja (08:26)
and yeah and and this is great. And I think this is I have to say
I had already a booking and and that's what the lady what she said was I I want to
stop and want to go more sort of inwards and and more also what it ha what happens when we go more inwards or when we pause is we have that moment where we can assess the situation, you know, assess what we are doing and if that really is that what we what we want to do.
Helen (09:11)
Mm.
Katja (09:12)
and it and it gives us that time and I think in a because the
retreat is sort of over four days with coming and going as well but sort of three full days of doing something completely different
of moving away from from our day-to-day life into a completely different space and in
Helen (09:41)
Yeah.
Katja (09:42)
completely different energy. And I think that's also what retreating means, right? It is removing ourselves from from this day-to-day running here and there and can actually yeah
Pause.
Helen (10:04)
Yeah,
I think
you're so true, actually. And I did an episode a while ago on my podcast about what it means to retreat. And it was really interesting. I had the idea and then I really sat down and explored it. And although you can do, you know, at home retreats, which are also super beneficial and you can have mini retreats. We're going to come back to something similar, aren't we, in a moment throughout your day, like little mind breaks, little body breaks
Katja (10:32)
Yeah.
Helen (10:33)
throughout the day.
little natural pauses, intentional pauses. But I
Katja (10:38)
Yes.
Helen (10:38)
think there's something really powerful about taking yourself, like you say, to a different space, because then you are really, you're literally kind of coming out, like you say, if your natural routine, your natural life that I've got to do that, I've got to do that. You're in a new place. And it's, it's very liberating, isn't it?
Katja (10:58)
It is, yes, it is very liberating because my experience is
Lots of what we are doing is location bound. So as soon
Helen (11:07)
Hmm.
Katja (11:08)
as for example I step into the office, then there is something particular going on.
Helen (11:14)
Yeah.
Katja (11:15)
There's a different focus. As soon as I go to my mother's, for example, there are different things that I do that I have done before wh when I grew up there, but haven't done since, or not doing when I'm here, right? So
Helen (11:31)
Yeah.
Katja (11:31)
so so locations they do have
memories and I think they also do hold our patterns that we have which is not scientifically proven but you know I that's just that's what I experienced that all of a
Helen (11:47)
literally
Katja (11:48)
sudden I think hold on how come words out all of a sudden they they are not using anymore on that
Helen (11:57)
Hmm.
Katja (11:58)
behavior as well and
Yeah, and so the retreat takes us away from from that naturally. What we're doing, what we are concerned about, and and gives us the chance to look at it from a different perspective.
Helen (12:21)
Yeah, and the very word retreat is in my mind when I was just thinking about the word retreat as I was listening to you, it's almost like someone going, no, I need to stop putting down whatever they're carrying, turning around and retreating, going back the opposite way. So it's like a walking
Katja (12:39)
Mm.
Helen (12:40)
away and moving away from
Katja (12:42)
Yeah.
Helen (12:44)
the everyday.
everyday life everyday hello hello beauty
Katja (12:53)
No, those
well, okay. Wh where's retreat
Helen (12:56)
The cat is beautiful.
Katja (12:58)
happening? I want to go as well.
Helen (13:01)
Catch this beautiful dog as this popped up. Hello. She's so lovely.
Katja (13:05)
She says,
she says, Can we retreat from hearing or something?
Helen (13:10)
She's
like, I wanna come, I wanna come.
Katja (13:19)
Yes. Yes. I think that's that really is what it is, you know, having the time to step back and to notice the pauses. Because
We have lots of pauses in throughout the day, but we are not noticing them. We
Helen (13:42)
Hmm.
Katja (13:43)
are we always stop finish something, complete something and start something else. And and there is a pause there as well. but it it doesn't register in in our in our mind, in our awareness. So it just feels like this is on
going stream and there is something that we thought you know we do every day on that retreat is to create a little bit of or creating a pause
in our day-to-day life for just that what we want, a little break, a little breather, and placing that in intentionally.
Helen (14:39)
that she is again. Yeah, I think it's
I think it's, first of all, it's back to like yoga foundations, isn't it? You've got to be aware, you've got to be aware that A, you're feeling the need to stop, which all of us do, I think. And especially this is, you know, a retreat for women. And I think
Katja (15:05)
Yes.
Helen (15:05)
as women, we carry and do so much for other people. You know, even if you're not a mother, you're going to be giving, giving, giving all the time.
to your friends, your neighbours, your community, maybe your aging parents, your kids, your grandkids. There's a lot that women
Katja (15:26)
Mm.
Helen (15:27)
give and hold, isn't there? So...
Katja (15:29)
Yes, I think hold
much more than men do, or not more differently.
Helen (15:37)
in a different way, yeah, yeah.
And I think the way I think about it is the first step is feeling that need to stop and then addressing, you know, if we're gonna bring it into the everyday, how can I, where can I pause? What
Katja (15:59)
Yes.
Helen (15:59)
can I change?
Katja (16:03)
Exactly. And this is what we hope to really implement in a way maybe already leading up to the retreat, starting with that and and then definitely taking it back from the retreat into everyone's life.
Helen (16:30)
Yeah, we'd
like to give you some very simple, we want to keep it really simple, don't we?
Katja (16:36)
Okay.
Helen (16:37)
With each of these little mini episodes that we do, something that you can take home and just go, okay, that's easy, I can do that. Something really, really easy, because there's, on the retreat, we're going to be diving deep, we're going to be doing beautiful stuff. Really lovely, powerful, but gentle. When I say powerful, I mean...
going to shift things internally, not powerful physically with gentle yoga, but you know, powerful practices, practices that will help people go within and really get in touch with their true nature and their true selves. And I'm going off on a tangent now. that's a draw me back. So yes, we, we want to create little takeaways that you guys can implement leading up to the retreat so that you're already
already getting into that zone because
Katja (17:32)
That's right, internet mind space, yeah.
Helen (17:36)
mind space.
And then because we don't want this to just be a four day thing for you guys and then go home and nothing has changed.
Katja (17:45)
Exactly.
Helen (17:46)
We would like it to be something that is a really lasting change for you, stuff that you can carry on into your life. You know, a year after the retreat, six months a year after the trip, can
Katja (17:56)
Yeah.
Helen (17:58)
still be doing those practices. Small, simple.
Katja (18:02)
Exactly. Small, simple, doable, fitting into
Helen (18:06)
Yeah.
Katja (18:07)
everyday live stream. Yeah. So should we reveal the one that we are the the most
Helen (18:16)
Yeah, let's do it.
Katja (18:18)
away from today is. it's something
that I also use in my day-to-day in my yoga sessions as well what I teach and what I ask people to do before we start and it is breath related it is simply noticing the in-breath and after the in-breath there is a natural pause and I'm
Helen (18:52)
sweet.
Katja (18:53)
seeing the outbreath and after the out breath there's also a natural pause and just noticing these pauses and you can also focus on these pauses after two or three breaths you will notice that something starts to shift.
Helen (19:17)
Can
you lead me through that Katja? Can you use me as you're, as saying you were teaching me in class?
Katja (19:21)
As you're
teaching you t Helen, okay.
Helen (19:26)
So I'm
going to take my glasses off and close my eyes because then I can have a little pause.
Katja (19:31)
Yeah, exactly. And you
can have a little pause. But you can also do that. Helen pauses at the moment, but you can also do that. You don't need to close your eyes. You don't it is only when you sit in front of the traffic lights, sit in a tube, any of that. So you focus on your breath, notice the in and the out breath coming naturally. And
Then you expand that on noticing the in breath and the pause after the in breath.
Without changing anything, without influencing, manipulating, you notice the outbreath and pause after the outbreath.
then the in breath again. Pause.
Exhale. Call.
Let's do one more inhale and pause. Exhale and pause.
And you will notice just listening to that, even if you wouldn't follow it, it will take you a little away from whatever busyness was there.
Helen (21:04)
It's amazing actually how quickly that works because your attention is just fully on your breath and it's quite surprising because you don't really, until I started doing yoga, I didn't really realize there was a pause. You kind of think it's just this continuous cycle of breath, don't you? But
Katja (21:21)
Exactly.
Helen (21:24)
it's really not. And actually the slower you breathe naturally,
Katja (21:29)
Mm.
Helen (21:29)
or if
you've done a pranayama practice, the gap is longer, can be very long actually between.
Katja (21:34)
It can
be very long, yes, it can be very short and very long. But without practice
I think the beauty is it is not manipulating it, it is not aiming for anything, it is just looking at what is. And it will mirror as well the state that you you are in, you know. If you if you feel rushed, the the sh the pause might be very short at the beginning, but after three breaths also it will expand already a little bit more.
Helen (22:06)
Mm-hmm,
purely
by having your attention on there.
Katja (22:09)
Shu
exactly, just by now. There's no yoga in quotation, Mark was y what yoga is all about, what people believe what yoga is all about, posture work and and breathing techniques and and what it is, but we can start so much early with the awareness and the breath and they are always there. So we don't need to do
Anything, need to go anywhere, we have them always with us as well. So that's something that we thought would be a good little practice to implement into day-to-day life. And if you want to do that a little bit more structured or make sure you don't forget it, the best is to implement it on a point that is always there, either straight after the
in breath or I think even better in the evening before you go to bed because that then helps also to bring some distance between the day as it was and the night.
Helen (23:23)
I love that. Yeah, I really love that. And anyone can do that. You can do it anywhere.
Katja (23:30)
Nice.
Helen (23:31)
Like you say, while you're driving, because it's, it's it's a tension, but it's not, it's not 100 % focused. So you can do other things while you're doing it.
Katja (23:42)
Exactly, exactly.
So that was that little leading into our retreat, what we what we're planning to do, obviously, much more to come.
Helen (23:58)
I was going to say we can sit here and talk
for hours about it because we're both so excited and there's a lot there's a lot to talk about but we could be
Katja (24:06)
Just just the pause we talked about at least two hours while we're driving back from from from
Helen (24:12)
Exactly!
Katja (24:15)
from visiting Yewfield and so we could go on and on and on, absolutely, but we're not.
Helen (24:24)
No, this is bite size. We're keeping it bite size. But tune in for the next one because...
Katja (24:26)
This is quite nice, exactly. Tune in for
the next one. But before the next one,
Helen (24:34)
Yeah.
Katja (24:36)
Helen, where can people find you? you always also you also have a a podcast,
Helen (24:43)
Mmm.
Katja (24:44)
you can talk a little bit, you know, what you're covering there.
Helen (24:49)
So my podcast is called Be Still and Notice, a yoga podcast, and you can find it on wherever you find podcasts, really Apple podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, YouTube Music. It's, yeah, it's been something I'm working on for, gosh, how long has it been now? It's been well over a year,
Katja (25:12)
Mm.
Helen (25:12)
well over two years, I think. And really it's a space.
to talk about the deeper aspects of yoga. So I didn't feel like there was enough space when I was teaching classes or even in one-to-ones that there's more space there or even on a course. I just wanted to go deeper. I wanna have deeper conversations about how yoga helps us transform our lives, heals us,
Katja (25:41)
Mm.
Helen (25:42)
changes us in the most powerful and beautiful ways. And just what an incredible ancient.
tool to put it in a really
Katja (25:51)
okay.
Helen (25:51)
rubbish way what an incredible practice it is.
Katja (25:54)
Yes, and so relevant today.
Helen (26:00)
my god. Beyond relevant and necessary.
Katja (26:02)
Even more so. Yeah.
So be still and note.
Helen (26:10)
notice
yeah we'll link it will you link it in there showing it to people thank you
Katja (26:14)
Yes, put it in the show notes for sure. Yes. And your website.
Helen (26:19)
my website is shraddhaya yoga dot co dot uk again we'll link it thank you because i was like is it dot com or is it
Katja (26:27)
But yes, we'll link it for sure.
Helen (26:34)
is that nap it's made me go
But yes, and so I teach yoga, group classes and one to ones. And I'm also a Kirtan leader. So devotional chanting, I hold a local community Kirtan here in Northamptonshire, a little place called Findon, which is just a really beautiful community. And we're to be doing some Kirtan on the retreat, which I'm very excited for.
Katja (27:07)
We are going to do that, yes.
Helen (27:09)
which I've ended up with a beautiful group of women. I didn't say specifically women to come, but I do think women gravitate and it's a beautiful thing to bring women together. Yeah.
Katja (27:18)
Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. I think there's
a negative draw towards that.
Helen (27:25)
Absolutely, absolutely. And the other thing I do is transformational life coaching, which comes into the one-to-one yoga teaching. It's just kind of a natural progression.
Katja (27:38)
Yes.
Helen (27:41)
So yeah,
Katja (27:41)
Yeah.
Helen (27:42)
that's me really.
Katja (27:44)
Wonderful, wonderful. Okay, so everything definitely will be linked in the show notes and yes, we are going to do that on a regular basis so that whoever is listening can
get to know us little bit more, know what's the what the retreat will be, also notice that a little bit more. And we're always going to link as well the retreat page. So
Helen (28:16)
Absolutely.
Katja (28:17)
so you can have a look what's happening there.
Helen (28:21)
Absolutely.
And early bird, super early bird pricing is open at the moment. So grab
Katja (28:25)
Yeah. That's fine.
Helen (28:28)
it while you can because it's not going to be there for very long. And you can see everything that's included in a beautiful location, beautiful rooms, beautiful yoga Sharla, isn't it? It's gorgeous.
Katja (28:39)
Beautiful, beautiful
Yogashala. I mean I really I had no idea. It was a recommendation by one of my students and she really liked it. And but it is such a special place. the rooms are all really nice.
they are standard superior and they are all really lovely and Adi Yogashala was just yeah beyond everything is
Helen (29:10)
It blew me away actually. I
didn't think it would be that nice and it is this beautiful big space with a wood burner.
Katja (29:17)
Yes, yes. Window front and
It's
just it is just absolutely lovely and that's why we know people will have a pause there because it just that it has this vibe of stillness, of cal and natural calmness where you where you naturally slow down without without doing anything else.
Helen (29:47)
Yeah.
Katja (29:48)
And just looking at the nature is absolutely
Stunning there and so we that's we're going to do every day one walk, right? Even if it rains.
Helen (29:59)
Yeah, we tried one out
when we were there, didn't we? Because you can literally walk straight from the house, literally straight
Katja (30:05)
Yeah.
Helen (30:05)
from the house. You don't have to drive anywhere already in beautiful woodlands. There's a little lake by the house, there's beautiful gardens that you can... Old Victorian
Katja (30:13)
Yeah. One
Helen (30:15)
garden.
Katja (30:17)
Really
lovely, lovely. Yes, totally. Not manicured, just really naturally yes, absolutely lovely.
Helen (30:29)
Yes.
Katja (30:31)
So more from that soon.
Helen (30:34)
Yeah, more from us, we're going to be coming at you with loads of lovely
Katja (30:37)
Okay.
Helen (30:39)
ways to pause and really get into that zone. And if you have any
Katja (30:41)
Exactly. Yeah.
Helen (30:44)
questions, you can reach out to either of us, can't they, Katja?
Katja (30:48)
Absolutely,
you can reach out to either of us, definitely. And we are happy to explain and help and and orient.
Helen (30:58)
Absolutely.
Katja (30:59)
Okay, good. So that was it for now. Thank you, Helen. And bye bye. See
Helen (31:05)
Thank you. See you next time.
Katja (31:10)
you next time. Bye bye.
Katja (31:15)
Thank so much for listening to Rooted in the Seasons. If you enjoyed this episode you can subscribe or follow Rooted in the Seasons on Spotify or Apple podcasts where new episodes land automatically for you. And if you like more support between episodes you can download my free guide
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And if something in today's episode resonated, I'd genuinely love to hear from you. You can connect with me on Substack or send me an email. I always read and answer them. Until next time, stay rooted in the seasons. Bye bye.
