🌾 Lammas Blessings from Oca 🌾 As July turns to August, we celebrate Lammas, the first harvest a time to give thanks for the abundance in our lives and the seeds we’ve sown.

At Oca, we follow the ancient Celtic Wheel of the Year, honouring the ancient seasonal cycles that remind us to live in tune with nature and spirit.
Lammas invites us to pause and reflect on all that is ripening within us — projects, dreams, relationships, growth. 🌻
This is a time to:
✨ Celebrate what you’ve built so far
🔥 Release what’s complete
🌕 Nourish what still needs care Whether through movement, ritual, or simply sharing a meal with loved ones, may this season bring you grounded joy and golden light.

Come harvest with us ~ body, mind and spirit connected.

Returning to the Mat: Re-centering Through Yoga, Breath and Cacao

It’s easy to take yoga practice for granted if it’s dialled into your schedule and you rarely miss a class. But sometimes it takes a bit of a shake up to remind you that it’s a powerful tool to deal with all that life throws at you. 

The summer months always seem to be joyfully busy, but often this can leave me feeling really overwhelmed. This month I’ve been intentionally using my yoga practice to balance out the feeling of ‘too busy’, using the theme of stillness to embody this.

Defined by Patanjali's Yoga Sutras — Yoga chitta vritti nirodha - Yoga is the stilling of the fluctuations of the mind. At its heart, this teaches that yoga is not just physical movement, but a practice of returning to inner stillness and calm.

Remember that yoga can offer us the opportunity to focus and quiet the mind, helping us find our inner calm.

Oca’s wandering sage, Buomi (pronounced “Boomy”), came down from the mountain to our little shala yesterday and shared some of his meditations. This is what he had to say.

Are we more afraid of the idea we are in control of our destinies, by our sheer awesome agency or by the suspicion our fate is out of our hands, that any semblance of control might be swept away by events over which we can exert no influence whatsoever? Five reflections can help. 

 

First, there is no purpose in bemoaning a state of affairs which is outside of our control. Second, worrying about an awful thing which may come to pass is wasted energy if we have taken reasonable steps to mitigate the risk of the awful thing coming to pass (and its impact if it does). Third, whatever challenge life presents, we can choose, if we have worked sufficiently on our characters, to meet it with equanimity. Fourth, most of the time, there is scope for things to become better or worse so whatever it is we are enduring will pass and may not be as bad as it could be. Finally, if you have the means to shelter and sustain yourself, it is probable you do at least have the agency to lead a virtuous life. It is down that path that we can find happiness.

Smiling

We can so easily forget to smile when we are out and about or in our own heads. How often do we catch ourselves scrunching up our face deep in thought, tensing our muscles and holding our breath. Smiling reminds us to soften and be more presentas welll as connect with others. When we smile we soften, we let our hearts open a little. When we smile we givepermissionn for others to smile also and this can help build a kinder and more interconnected community where we can be more spontaneous and responsive instead of reactive.

A mindful connecting practice ~ begin by sitting upright and relaxed and bring your attention to your heart area. You can imagine a lotus flower or any flower of you choice gently blooming at the centre of your chest. You can visualise colours and form as you do this. Breathe slowly & deeply and reside there for a while. Smiling also triggers the release of endorphins, dopamine and serotonin, our mood boosting chemicals, helping to reduce stress and lower blood pressure.

Eve x

🧘‍♀️ Join Eve at Oca London:
Thursdays at 10am for Yoga for Elders – a gentle, welcoming practice for all bodies & abilities.
Fridays at 7am for Mindful Flow – start your morning with presence and ease.

💆‍♀️ Eve is also available for massage therapy at Oca on Thursdays and Fridays — the perfect way to restore body & mind.

Come move, breathe, and receive — your space for care and connection awaits. ✨

The art of moving into joy. The ritual of returning to yourself.

Every Friday evening at OCA London, I guide a Brazilian dance class designed not just to move your body—but to awaken something deeper.

This is not about perfection.

It’s about presence.

It’s about releasing the week, shaking off the tension, and stepping into the weekend with sweat, laughter, and full-body joy.

We dance to the pulse of Brazil:

Funk, pop, throwbacks from the 90s and 00s, and music that empowers women—bold, sensual, playful.

Music that makes you want to move before you even know the steps.

And that’s the beauty of it:

You don’t need to “know” anything.

You just come as you are.

With your hips, your breath, your curiosity.

In this space, movement is liberation.

Sensuality is not a performance, it’s a form of self-respect.

You are not here to impress anyone.

You are here to impress your energy into the floor, into the air, into your own memory.

Grazzie.Move is a weekly meeting with beauty.

A moment where your body becomes your home again.

Where softness and strength dance together.

Where we seduce life—and let life seduce us right back.

You will leave smiling, glowing, a little out of breath and more connected to your own joy.

Grazzie, x

💃 Join Grazzie every Friday at 18:00 at Oca London for Brazilian Fit Dance an uplifting 60-minute class that blends rhythm, energy, and joy to get your body moving and your spirit shining.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5J7aP2FYH4

enewal, Community & Courage — Welcoming the Summer Solstice
by Nancy Zein

The month of June so far has been filled with an energy of renewal — something not only I have experienced within myself but also witnessed in the Oca London community around me.

I’ve felt a deep desire to expand my knowledge of yoga, mindfulness, and spiritual practices, and to surround myself with a community of like-minded people who share these values.

breathing exercises for the heatwaves

Take a moment to thank your feet. They tend to get attention only when it’s time to berate them. “My feet are killing me” No, they’re kindly reminding you to take a break.

10,000 steps enclosed in a dark casket. “Who’s killing who?” they might argue.

Regular yoga will have you staring at them often but for me that just adds another layer of abuse, “oof, what a state!”.

They rarely look back at me and reply, “Yeah? Well you look tired mate. And you’re getting on a bit.” 26 bones in each, if we’re lucky. 14 phalanges, whatever they are. A handful of metatarsals, ironically. They’re highly developed, all the way down there. So yeah, thank your feet.

They’ve always been there for you.

By Seb

Join Seb every Sunday at 9:00am at Oca London for a grounding Hatha Yoga class.
Come breathe, move, and grow with us.

Francesca reflects on the Summer Solstice as a moment to pause, honor how far we’ve come, and gently release old stories that no longer serve. Through her contemplation piece “Give the Aches Another Way,” she invites us to embrace change, tend to our heartaches with creativity and presence, and step into the next season more aligned with our soul’s truth.

The wonderful Oca studio opened its doors in May, marking the beginning of a journey.  It gives me hope that opportunities for new beginnings are always around and here for everyone. 

A chat with a stranger, discovering a song, tasting an unfamiliar food or even teaching a new yoga class, these moments have potential to lead to paths of friendship, passion for new interests and community.  It can be a little scary when trying something new, and myself being extremely prone to procrastination I was comforted recently by this version of the proverb by Tao Te Ching. 

"A thousand mile journey begins where one stands"

Simply where you are right now, you are already in the exactly right place to begin! Whether reading this on the bus, at a desk or on your sofa you can choose the next safe moment to do yoga.

Mountain pose
For foundation and stability

Standing, bring your feet parallel hip width apart and ground through the soles. 

Float your hips over the ankles and draw the lower belly up. 

Allow the chest to rise and relax the shoulders away from the ears. 

Turn the palms of the hands forwards. 

Stand tall.

*Pause*

Soften your gaze towards the horizon and take 3 full breaths through the nose. 

Congratulate yourself, you have taken a step on a new journey! 

Love Yee xx

🧘‍♂️ Join Yee every Monday at 18;15 at Oca London for
Vinyasa Flow class to shake off the day!

This is how I always feel in June…

"The Season of Purpose"

For me, June is a quiet turning point in the year. It’s a time when everything around us is growing with purpose: trees grow taller, hedges and flower beds are full and in bloom. Yet, as life gets busier during the spring and summer months, I find it easy to mindlessly live day to day going through the motions. 

Nearing the summer solstice and the longest day of the year, it’s dawning on me we’re nearing half way through the year. The reflection that comes with this milestone is a reminder that time ticks on even without us realising it. I question if I’m on the path to achieving what I wanted from the year. 

I feel like it’s important to remember you don’t have to be at your peak to be making progress. You just have to keep growing.

Let this month be your permission and reminder to move gently but with intention. To nourish your goals, tend to your hopes, and trust that you, too, are in bloom.

With love

Wiz x

🧘‍♂️ Join Wiz every Sunday at 10:30am at Oca London for
Rocket to Relax – a powerful 90-minute journey that blends strength and release, movement and stillness.
Come breathe, move, and grow with us.

This month, I’ve been completely inspired by a book called Breathe by James Nestor.

In my opinion, it’s a must-read for everyone – whether you’re new to breathwork or already exploring conscious breathing in your practice. The book dives deep into the science behind the breath, especially the power of nasal breathing and how it supports our physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing.

What I love most is how it connects ancient wisdom with modern science. It’s reminded me how something as simple as the breath can be our most powerful tool for healing, focus, and balance.

If you get a chance, give it a read – and start noticing your breath today.

With love,
Leah x

Buomi got in touch yesterday. He shared this reflection:

Trying to exercise dominion over our thoughts is like trying to capture the passing clouds in a butterfly net. But it does not follow from the futility of the endeavour to overmaster our thoughts that our thoughts must overmaster us.

We don’t think Buomi he has ever used a butterfly net or that he would approve of the catching of butterflies but we enjoyed this reflection nonetheless.  

 #yoga #yogalondon #wisdom #yogalife

Only by letting go we can hope to hold on