Ruth Mackman Celebrant and Kind Heart Yoga with Ruth

Ruth Mackman Celebrant and Kind Heart Yoga with Ruth Celebrations and ceremonies for life's important occasions & yoga for everyday life

When this time of year doesn't fill you with happiness, because there's someone missing ...I'm thinking about the famil...
22/12/2025

When this time of year doesn't fill you with happiness, because there's someone missing ...

I'm thinking about the families I helped this year, who lost a loved one and will be facing the prospect of their first Christmas and New Year without them.

Bereavement can be the most painful experience, and this time of year can make the loss of a loved one even more difficult to navigate. There's so much hype about happy families gathering together, having the most wonderful time, not an argument in sight ... but that's not the reality for many people.

I send my best wishes to all the families I met this year, who gave me the honour of helping them to remember and say farewell to someone special. I hope this will be a time to remember their loved one, with love and gratitude, and also with kindness to themselves.

I wanted to share this link to ‘Coping with Grief During the Holiday Season’ ... it comes from a bank of resources offered by The Good Grief Channel. I hope it might help.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezomkQ5IU40

I also wanted to leave you with some beautiful words, not mine, but I can't recall where I found them or who they are by, but I hope they might be of help.

Have faith in love and do not fear the sadness that comes
when someone has gone away, for love is deeper
than the deepest sorrow, its light can reach beyond the darkest day.
Have faith in love for love is sure and constant;
a tie too strong for time and loss to sever.
And for those who love there are no final partings.
Where love has been there love will be forever.

with love, and kindness,
Ruth



Well, it's the last week of yoga classes before the end of the year. I'd like to thank everyone who's joined me on the m...
15/12/2025

Well, it's the last week of yoga classes before the end of the year. I'd like to thank everyone who's joined me on the mat over the last year, it's been a pleasure to practise with you.

I've had a lot of wonderful experiences this year:
continuing my Thursday evening classes in Badby, welcoming new students
adding a new class to my weekly offering - a Wednesday morning practise at The Barn, Houlton. This was a generous gift from my good friend and yoga teacher Caron, Red Hat Yoga, who was moving away from the area, and asked if I'd like to lead practise for her students. What an honour, both to take the lead from Caron, and to be welcomed by her students
running several morning / half day retreats on Saturdays - it's amazing how relaxed and re-set you can feel after a couple of hours yoga, and it's always lovely to chat and have something to eat afterwards
having the privilege to cover a number of classes at Lisa Valentine's yoga studio in Fenny Compton - a pleasure and an honour
and running two long-weekend retreats in The Cotswolds, which gave retreaters time to really unwind, immerse themself in yoga and nature, and meet some lovely, like-minded people.

I also managed to go on retreat twice myself, once to the beautiful House of Light in Spain, with VayuYoga, and then to Suffolk, for a three night silent retreat with Daryn Wober. Both were a great opportunity to step back from everyday activity, to immerse myself in yoga and reacquaint myself with the reasons I fell in love with the practice - the way it makes me feel, how it quickly settles a lot of the tensions and worries I carry about with me, and how it invites me to seek ways to find ways to be more present, less pre-occupied in my day to day life. And that comes down to practise ... something I want to gift myself more of.

I am looking ahead to next year and sharing more of the magic of yoga, and collaborating with like-minded colleagues to offer introductions to Tai Chi Qi Gong, sound baths and more.

So, thank you if you've joined me on the mat this year, thank you to everyone I've learnt from this year, and welcome to anyone who's curious to find out what yoga can do for them.

best wishes
Ruth



Today is National Funeral Celebrant Day ... It's a real privilege to be a funeral celebrant. Meeting families at such a ...
21/11/2025

Today is National Funeral Celebrant Day ...

It's a real privilege to be a funeral celebrant. Meeting families at such a hard time in their lives, having lost a loved one, helping them to decide how they'd like to remember that person. Many times we remember with love and laughter, some times we remember with sadness and regret. A skilled, empathetic celebrant can help make a sad or difficult occasion at the least easier to bear, and at the best a heartfelt celebration.

A celebrant-led service can be as unique and individual as the person was themself. You can choose the words, the music, the place. Yes you can choose to hold the service at a crematorium, or burial ground if that feels right, but you can also have a memorial in a woodland, a village hall, on the beach, at their favourite pub ... whatever feels most appropriate.

It's true that many people are becoming interested in what are called "direct cremations", where there is no funeral service, but that doesn't mean you can't or shouldn't have a separate memorial or celebration of life service. I think, as human beings, we take comfort in other people's company, and in being able to share stories, or just share time in reflection together.

I'm always happy to talk to families, or to people wishing to plan how to mark the end of their own life, to help them understand the options available and to set out their wishes if they'd like to do so.

Wishing you every kindness if you have recently been bereaved, or this is a time of remembrance for you.

Ruth
x

It's getting to that time of year when the shorter days and longer nights can sap our energy, and of course it's natural...
23/10/2025

It's getting to that time of year when the shorter days and longer nights can sap our energy, and of course it's natural to feel like hibernating until spring. But how about doing the opposite? I'm suggesting you take up or come back to yoga. It's a great way to replenish your energy, as well as help to improve your breath, as well as your balance, physical mobility, flexibility and strength.

My students tell me they often sleep better after their yoga class, feel calm and more energised. I think a lot of people could benefit from that.

And yoga keeps on working after we've packed our mat away, it really does give us tools and techniques that we can use every day to help us navigate the pressures and stresses of life with less discomfort, more ease.

If you're new to yoga, or new to my classes, I'm offering a first class for £5, so you can come and see what it's like. My classes are always small, friendly and welcoming. You really don't have to be able to do headstands or touch your toes, and the most flexible thing you need to have is attitude.

Do get in touch if you're interested - I'd love to share the light of yoga with you in these darker days and nights.

I am very fortunate, living in a small village,to be able to get to know the people who live here too. When I started te...
03/10/2025

I am very fortunate, living in a small village,to be able to get to know the people who live here too. When I started teaching yoga, I felt it was important to teach here, and I've been blessed to meet and teach some lovely students. And I've also been privileged to lead funerals and celebration of life ceremonies for local families. Today, it was a privilege to be part of a family's gathering, which included them commemorating this lovely bench. She would have loved knowing it had been placed there, and I can imagine many walkers and parents watching children on the playground, will be glad of a rest.

What a lovely weekend ...Friday morning covering a class at Lisa Valentine Yoga in her beautiful studio, later that day ...
25/08/2025

What a lovely weekend ...Friday morning covering a class at Lisa Valentine Yoga in her beautiful studio, later that day having my first experiencenof a moving meditation with Annalisa from Organic Living, at Holycombe, whichbwas amazing, and then on Saturday leading a movement and meditation session for the humans (and horse) for Catherine Isobel Roy on her Balance & Align Equestrian Relationships Coaching weekend, followed by an invite to take part in a beautiful outdoor sound bath with Wild Indigo ...humans and horses loved it. And of course i got to see my own lovely horse, Paddy, every day.

Not quite ready to say goodbye to the summer yet but it has been nice to have a few weeks off, to rest and do a few diff...
18/08/2025

Not quite ready to say goodbye to the summer yet but it has been nice to have a few weeks off, to rest and do a few different things. I am looking forward to getting back into more of a routine, and am also looking forward to planning yoga for the coming autumn / winter months. I've enjoyed deepening my insights by reading more over the summer, and am keen to weave these into my teaching. I always remember being told during yoga teacher training, "Sometimes the teacher, always the student," and that's very true. My Wednesday morning and Thursday evening classes have a few places remaining, so please do get in touch if you've been thinking about trying yoga ... I'm happy to answer any questions and help you ease in gently and confidently.




This time last week my bride and groom were getting ready to celebrate their marriage. The weather was perfect. The sett...
09/08/2025

This time last week my bride and groom were getting ready to celebrate their marriage. The weather was perfect. The setting at Bridge House Barn was English countryside at its best. The ceremony included personal vows written for one another, and a visit from a VID...their Springer Spaniel.

I love the variety that teaching yoga offers.A couple of weeks ago I was asked to provide an hour's yoga for a lovely he...
01/08/2025

I love the variety that teaching yoga offers.

A couple of weeks ago I was asked to provide an hour's yoga for a lovely hen party, co-ordinated by GloPamper. They were a lovely group, having a weekend away, the barn they were renting had its own field so we took advantage of the space and the weather to take our practice outside. They had a great time, and I hope they're now almost ready for the wedding, which is in a couple of weeks.

I've also been asked to provide a movement and mindfulness session for Cat of Balance & Align Equestrian Relationships Coaching, who runs regular horse relationship courses in Northamptonshire. Our relationship with horses shines a light on our own state of energy, confidence, ease ... which resonates completely with what yoga does. So yoga for horse-lovers is a great fit. Really looking forward to it.

I'm taking a couple of weeks off from teaching my weekly yoga class. I know how much my students love their practice, but it can feel hard to know where to start when you're on your own. Yes, you can pop a video on, do an online class, but I think there is something fulfilling about doing yoga from the heart, on your own.

It doesn't have to be fancy, you don't have to be on your mat and have lots of props, it doesn't have to last an hour.

Last night I offered my students this simple invitation ... each day to choose three yoga poses and do them, for themself. Obviously you need to be mindful not to go into any challenging poses without having done a little warm up, but most of the asanas we do in our class are easily done without too much prep.

The invitation is to breathe, to tune in to the body and the breath, then to think about the pose - the shape, what the aim of the pose is, how it feels as you move in, pause and move out of the pose.

It won't take long. And, as that oft-quoted saying goes, "Yoga's not about touching your toes, it's about what you learn on the way down."

So, I hope they enjoy the little challenge - and I'll be interested to hear what they felt about it, when we return later in the month.

Although the weekly classes are pausing, I am running a morning yoga retreat on Sat 9 August, from 10-2. It will include a leisurely morning of gentle, flowing yoga and relaxation, a lovely lunch provided by Ciao Italia, and the option to go for a swim at Bare Hill Lakes, in Badby.

There are two places left, if you fancy coming along please get in touch.

So this week I wanted to go to yoga with one of my favourite teachers, Lisa Valentine Yoga ...but work got in the way. S...
26/07/2025

So this week I wanted to go to yoga with one of my favourite teachers, Lisa Valentine Yoga ...but work got in the way. So I treated myself to my first reformer pilates class at Pose fitness in Weedon. It certainly woke my core up. And followed it up with a lovely swim at Bare Hill Lakes. Hoping to build some momentum in August and do lots of nice movement practices.

21/07/2025

I'm trying to keep an intention I set, which is to get back to practice in class, and try different styles of yoga. I had my first experience of kundalini yoga yesterday. A lovely practice, very grounding and my hips and spine feel good today, having felt very stiff for some time. Geet Fateh guided us through the practice beautifully. Feeling grateful to have been able to take part.

Address

Church Green
Daventry
NN113AS

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 7pm
Tuesday 9am - 7pm
Wednesday 9am - 7pm
Thursday 9am - 7pm
Friday 10am - 7pm
Saturday 10am - 4pm
Sunday 10am - 4pm

Telephone

+447591166551

Website

http://www.ruthmackman.co.uk/, https://www.yogahub.co.uk/listing/unite

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Ruth Mackman Celebrant and Kind Heart Yoga with Ruth posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category