First post: singing my whale song

One of our teachers on my yoga teacher training said the best way to find your people is to go out there and sing your whale song. With my new website and these blogs, I’m starting to sing my own whale song in a way.

This reminded me of a story about a lonely whale, from a podcast I listened to recently. Marine biologists have been following this whale by detecting ocean sounds, using a device called a hydrophone. His song is unique and a little different to most whale songs.

The scientists studying him have never been able to ‘hear’ any other whales nearby, he seems to be travelling alone, his song apparently unanswered. No one has ever seen him, but people imagine him as lonely. I imagine him as sounding out his song as he navigates the ocean, waiting for his people to join him.

I think my whale song would be unique too, made up of 27 years of experiences, good and bad, my hopes and my dreams. Right now, my song would transmit my explorations into somatics and embodiment, and how I’m intertwining them with my yoga practice.

To me, somatics is building trust in my body, learning to slow down and listen to what it might be trying to tell me. When I finally started listening, I realised it had been shouting at me. I didn’t have any trust in it back then, it felt unknown, an enemy which represented pain, discomfort, tension. I certainly did not want to consciously tune into it. I have a lot of patience for that version of myself – who could blame me for wanting to step out of my body amidst all of that?

I’m very grateful to now have a diagnosis for my symptoms and for my journey into somatics ever since. My whale song would broadcast the power of building awareness in your body, noticing its signals and warning signs, tuning into what’s happening inside and integrating it into your daily life.

I can’t wait to start sharing my whale song through my somatic yoga classes online and yoga classes in Edinburgh. If you’d like to join my first official online class in October I would love to meet you! It’s by donation to a local charity here in Scotland, Support in Mind. They do amazing work supporting people whose lives and communities have been seriously impacted by mental health problems. Find out more and RSVP here.

You can also sign up to a weekly message from me on my home page – I’ll send out new blogs and updates about my yoga offerings. For now, thank you so much for taking the time to read my first post and for hearing my whale song.

Georgia xx