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Lou Grace: Posted on Saturday, November 19, 2011 2:13 PM
Business has been very slow recently and I had seriously considered putting Loulibelle yoga on the backburner whilst I went and worked for someone else. As much as I love the work I do with Loulibelle Yoga, and I love working for myself, my family and I still have to eat and put a roof over our heads. My husband and I really want to buy our own home but we both need to have a regular, decent wage coming in to do this. So how do I balance doing what I love with making money. I think my dilemma has come about because when I have no classes I start to doubt what I do. |
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Louise Grace: Posted on Monday, September 26, 2011 11:57 AM
I'm really excited.
Those of you that occasionally look at theLoulibelle Yogawebsite, or follow us on Facebook will have seen my recent posts about my collaboration withMonica Mitoli . My husband first
introduced me to Monica about 8 months ago. He had spoken a little about
her when he came home from his Friday nights training at the Training
Studio, but only to say that she was an Italian Ballerina with the most incredible posture he had ever seen.
Loulibelle Yoga
had been struggling to find a home in which to base our classes for well
over 12 months, all the spaces I looked at although lovely were either
not big enough, unavailable at the times and days that suited us or just
too noisy. |
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Posted on Thursday, August 25, 2011 11:48 AM
Since I got married in December I have been more than a little slap dash in my Spiritual Life. Now this has
nothing whatsoever to do with my amazing husband, he is one of the most
Spiritual people I know. He is an oasis of calm and Being and he does very little navel gazing. My reason/excuse/problem...has been that last year when still a single Mum, I decided how my day began and en ded,
I read prolifically, I focused on what I wanted from life and I smiled
from deep inside. Then life being what it is I had a series of events
that meant I needed to work through them and grow Spiritually in the
process. |
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Louise Grace: Posted on Thursday, August 25, 2011 11:46 AM
Let me paint a scenario for you... You've with a
group of friends, well they're acquaintances really, you like them,
they're fun to be with and chat to, but the only time you socialise with
them is in the pub or Christmas and New Year. Someone asks you what you do for a living or asks you about where your son goes to school, and then the fun begins. It's at moments
like this that I realise that my family and I are really not on the same
page as everyone else, in fact if we're reading the same book I'd be
very surprised. |
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Louise Grace: Posted on Thursday, August 25, 2011 11:44 AM
I was speaking to
my husband during our Sunday morning lie-in and debating what we wanted
from life, what we had achieved so far and wanted to achieve in the
future and what, if anything was holding us back from achieving the
goals we had. And here was our conclusion. You see, despite
knowing that if I trust the Universe and if I am clear in my intentions
to achieve what I aim for then it will appear, I still have moments
where I question why something isn't happening. For example, my
business Loulibelle Yoga. |
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Louise Grace: Posted on Thursday, August 25, 2011 11:42 AM
Today I had a class booked with
a very enthusiastic Mum. She called in the week and was really keen on
coming to a class and for me to then teach a group of her friends at a venue loca l to them. I arrived at The
Studio early to st up and make sure that it felt as welcoming to tiny
ones as possible. This isn't really difficult. The Studio is a large
hall, filled with plants and birds and with an amazing atmosphere of
peace and happiness. 10am came and
went 10.30 came and went, no sign of my new clients. |
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Lou Grace: Posted on Friday, May 13, 2011 9:24 AM
This week I've taught a lovely age range of children, it still amazes me how quickly children develop physically from the age of eighteen months upwards.
On Wednesday I had a class of beautiful eight year old girls. Initially I had a slight moment of panic when I realised that there was no electricity for my Ipod speakers and I was going to have to lead the class without the accompaniment of music.
Music is an integral part of my sessions usually and a brilliant asset when it comes to calming down or livening up a class of up to 30 children. |
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Lou Grace: Posted on Wednesday, May 04, 2011 11:11 AM
My lesson this week for my 5 to 11 year olds is about the Bee who helped with a case of hayfever.
Props for this class are very easy, a beautiful flower for each child to colour in
  and a lovely bee for them to have on their fingers and buzz from flower to flower.
I always do a mini plan of positions and a basic story for classes, like the one below. They don't have to be too detailed as I like the children to come up with ideas of what could be happening next in the story. |
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Lou Grace: Posted on Thursday, April 28, 2011 12:31 PM
As women, mothers, business owners we all fill our days with so many activities we often lose ourselves in our roles, rather than in who we are. Even those of us who know how we should relax, meditate and chill out forget from time to time.
Life in the Grace/Carle-Brown household can be pretty busy.
We're a household of three, my hubby, my ten year old and me, with extended family of two older daughters and grandsons nearby. Hubby runs his own business, I run mine, we all do martial arts or yoga training up to five nights a week, I'm studying three courses and my son is home schooled. |
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Lou Grace: Posted on Monday, April 18, 2011 3:05 PM
I asked my husband what he thought a good blog subject would be, his answer was "why not blog on the first question everyone asks you...Baby Yoga...err What's that?!" So here goes....
Any little one up to the age of two and a half I would call a baby. After that they are very independent and prefer to show Mum exactly what they are capable of. My baby classes start with little ones of about 6 weeks old. I would encourage Mums to take a Baby Massage Course with their little ones too, it helps you bond and gives Mum a lot more confidence handling her baby. |
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Lou Grace: Posted on Thursday, April 07, 2011 11:47 AM
Ever been to the gym an noticed the beautiful people in the latest sports gear. Tight lycra leggings and teeny weeny tank tops?
Well at Loulibelle Yoga you won't find anyone dressed like this. My Baby and Mum, and Toddler and Mum classes are about fun, inspiration and relaxation. If you are going to run, jump and rough and tumble with the liveliest toddler do you really want movement restricting clothing or something that is going to make you hotter than you're already going to get? I know I don't. |
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Lou Grace: Posted on Thursday, March 31, 2011 9:22 AM
When I'm not teaching at a Nursery or After School Club, or taking a private class in someones home I spend my time studying.
I've been teaching children, particularly toddlers for the past 7 years, I started to teach Mums and babies about 3 years ago, so my next challenge is teaching adults.
My free days at the moment are spent studying for an Adult Hatha Yoga Qualification. It's an indepth course where I study bone structure, muscle formation and much more.
To pass my qualification I have to attend 150 hours of someone elses classes. |
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Lou Grace: Posted on Tuesday, March 29, 2011 10:14 AM
Sunny days are the best days of all when you teach yoga.
Instead of a yoga studio where the air is recycled I get to take my class to the local park and in a shady spot beneath a tree we can create our story in fresh air.
There is nothing quite like the cool, tickly feeling of grass beneath your feet to make you glad to be alive. Sunshine makes everyone smile and it gives little ones the freedom to explore the world around them. How can it be anymore fun than discovering a ladybug on a leaf and incorporating it into our story? |
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Lou Grace: Posted on Monday, March 28, 2011 10:27 AM
I learned early on that props are all well and good, feathers for tickling, butterflies for blowing, but they that they can also distract from the class.
The key to a successful lesson is to be passionate about the subject. A couple of days before a class I will plan a story line and then create an interactive activity to link the yoga moves and story together.  This picture is from the five little ducks. The children had to use props such as pipe cleaners, buttons, feathers and of course ducks. The props were found at various points in our journey and at the end we created a picture with our collection. |
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Lou Grace: Posted on Sunday, March 27, 2011 3:17 PM
In the summer of 2008 I was introduced to an amazing lady called Ingrid (Nthabiseng) and her gorgeous daughter Georgia. They came along to my home with a couple of other Mums for a taster session.
It was to be a blossoming friendship.(Secretly I think Ingrid just came for the relax and the home made cakes and biscuits we chatted over after class.)They came weekly, and we had a ball. Ingrid who's from South Africa loved to take part in activities with her lively little girl and they were an inspiration to teach. |
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Lou Grace: Posted on Saturday, March 26, 2011 2:50 PM
All lessons start with us asleep on our mats, snoring is usually provided by the extroverts in our group.
The cockerel crows, with several little voices joining in, we stretch on our mats and then sit up, a huge yawn, patting our mouths to make interesting sounds.
We climb out of bed run downstairs and jump off the bottom step. What shall we have for breakfast...porridge?...toast?...fruit?...we make our breakfast using our bodies as knives, bowls, toast. |
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Lou Grace: Posted on Friday, March 25, 2011 11:48 AM
So I had Nursery Classes under my belt, now to tackle the private market.
I printed hundreds of colourful flyers, visited every place I could think of that Mums may visit, Gyms, Libraries, Toddler Groups. I looked for venues for group classes, Church halls were the most controversial, they didn't like the link to other religions that Yoga can suggest, so lots of Church Hall wardens refused to let me book.
My best bet was to book a room at the local Leisure Centre. Expensive unless I could pull lots and lots of Mums in. |
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Lou Grace: Posted on Wednesday, March 23, 2011 1:45 PM
So my journey had started. I came home practised, planned lessons, collected props and wondered...where do I find my customers, how will they react to me, am I good enough?
I waited 3 months before biting the bullet and producing flyers to promote my business. I decided to target Private Nursery Schools to start with as it would be an easy way to target a lot of children and mums in one fell swoop.Out of my first batch of 20 letters I picked up one nursery. I taught 20 3 year olds for 30 minutes. |
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Lou Grace: Posted on Tuesday, March 22, 2011 1:40 PM
My Yoga Journey began 6 years ago with an advert in a parenting magazine.It asked form Mums who wanted to work with kids to get in touch.
I love kids, I have 3 of my own, and now 2 gorgeous grandsons, so I wanted to use the skills I had honed as a parent in a positive way.
So on a sunny morning I drove to Oxford, parked in the Park & Ride and hopped on a bus to the City Centre. After getting royally lost several times I found then smallJericho Community Centre.
Altogether there were about 15 of us from very different backgrounds, Hippys, Yummys, Eco-Warriors and me. |
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