Every yoga teacher has their own style of teaching, this is what makes each of us unique. I like to hope people will find my style of teaching welcoming, because I feel yoga should be accessible to everyone.
My classes begin seated, I will show you several ways you could sit in order to sit comfortably - because not everybody can comfortably sit cross legged. Once we have found our comfortable seated position we take 3 deep grounding breaths together, to allow us to settle, breathe away worries and tension and anchor us in to the present moment.
Of course, yoga can't remove your stresses and worries, but what it can do is teach you to take an hour away from them, to give your mind and body a chance to reset. Over time this will help you to become more resilient to the everyday stresses that often take over our lives.
After our 3 grounding breathes we might set an intention for the practise, often I offer a shared intention, usually around the theme of self care within your practise - 'I will listen and be kind to my body, never pushing it too hard, being grateful for it, exactly as it is'. You could always set your own personal intention based around what you feel you need to say to yourself, or you could dedicate your practise to a loved one, sending them loving supportive thoughts.
Often we then perform a breath practise, in yoga we call this Pranayama. Equal breath is a favourite, where we keep the inhales and exhales equal in length, this helps to calm the body and mind, focusing on the length of the breath also helps you to focus on your practise and let go of external distractions.
Then we move in to our asana practise, the yoga postures. We begin seated and take some movements that will gently begin to work the muscles around the spine and ribs. These movements help with the mobility of our spine and gently stretching the muscles around the ribs helps with chest expansion - perfect for taking those deep yogic breaths.
Some people are nervous of the movement aspect of a yoga class, this is understandable, especially if you are new to yoga or haven't done much physical activity for a while (you are not alone here, lockdown changed many peoples lifestyles, yoga can help you to get back to more movement in a mindful manner).
Rest assured, everything in my classes is optional. There is zero pressure from me for you to try every posture, and if you particularly like a certain posture and feel you want to stay in it longer, that's always fine by me. I teach the postures in stages, I offer building blocks of advancement and you pick what feels right for your body. And if a pose isn't for you at all, I will do my best to offer an alternative.
In all my classes I offer props (yoga blocks, bricks, straps) these are there to help you! People often think they will make the poses more demanding, quite the opposite! I show you how to use props to get the most form the postures and to offer you any added support you might need.
The yoga postures we look at fall into different categories:
Seated - poses performed sitting down - gentle twists and side stretches and forward folds
Standing - poses performed standing - such as the Warrior (Virabhadrasana) or Triangle (Trikonasana) postures
Prone - poses performed laid on our front - Sphinx pose perhaps
Supine - poses performed laid on our backs, Happy Baby pose often features in my classes!
Inversions - the main inversion we explore is Downward Facing Dog (Adho Mukha Shvanasana), an inversion is a posture where the heart is higher than the head
Balances - Tree Pose (Vrikshana) is a real favourite
These postures over time will help us to build strength, they will also help us to maintain and very often improve our flexibility and mobility.
Definition of flexibility - how far we can move through our joints with out experiencing discomfort.
Definition of mobility - building strength to be able to actively move our joints, this means using your strength to perform a movement.
Within the class we aim to move our spines through their full range of motion:
Forward folding (flexion)
Back bending (extension)
Side bending (lateral flexion)
Twists (rotation)
This helps us to maintain good posture and keep our spine healthy.
After our asana practise we close the class with a short guided relaxation meditation. A lot of students enjoy this part the most! Simply lay back, allow the whole body to soften as I talk you through releasing tension and relaxing the body one stage at a time. We then lay completely relaxed for a few quiet moments.
At the close of the class we come back to sit comfortably on our mats and close by saying Namaste together.
And that's it! I really do try to make you feel at ease, welcome and to find movements that feel right for your body. I would love to welcome you to a class soon, if you have any questions at all please feel free to contact me either here on the website or on any of my socials.
Namaste
Steph xxx
