One of the biggest myths about yoga is that you have to be flexible to do it.
People with little or no experience of yoga often think of it in terms of skinny, young, usually white women contorting themselves into positions no human being has any business being in!
With the exception of a couple of the more modern incarnations of ‘yoga’, there is no emphasis on flexibility, and it certainly isn’t a prerequisite to practice – in fact, there are no prerequisites. If you can breathe, you can do yoga!
The yoga we do is more functional in purpose. So whereas the modern aesthetic-focused yoga uses the body to get into certain poses, we use the poses to get into the body.
Our classes often take from more than one style of practice to provide a truly customised service, but we also offer the following specialties as complete sessions in their own right.
Yin Yoga
Yin Yoga reaches the places other forms of yoga, and most other forms of exercise, don’t. In Yin we largely bypass the muscles to increase mobility and stability at the fascial level. We ask a lot of our bodies, and just as our muscles need to be stressed to make them strong and flexible, so do our other tissues – our tendons, ligaments, etc., and even our nerves. A surprisingly effective class with a laid-back, relaxed feel that uses long holds of relatively gentle stretches to achieve potentially substantial gains. We often finish a Yin class with some static strength work to re-stabilise the joints we’ve been stressing – a bit of Yang to complement the Yin!
Accessible Yoga
More a state of mind or principle rather than a type of yoga, but essentially it’s a practice for those of us who aren’t perfect – so about 99.9% of the population! Whilst it does cover yoga for people with disabilities and health issues, both mental and physical, Accessible Yoga is also ideal for older populations, people living in larger bodies, incarcerated populations, beginners, basically anyone with specific and potentially unique circumstances that aren’t catered for in a mainstream, standard yoga class – or at least aren’t adequately catered for. If you’re sick of feeling unwelcome, or of being given the same old substitute poses from class teachers with no experience or imagination, an Accessible Yoga teacher could be just what you need – and deserve!
Restorative Yoga
Restorative yoga is similar to yin but with even longer holds and even gentler stretches! And where yin aims for increased mobility and stability, restorative yoga targets the body’s self-healing systems to aid in recovery, recover from exhaustion, to literally restore the body to it’s best. You don’t have to be injured or otherwise below par to benefit from a restorative yoga session – it can be a lovely way to treat yourself to a bit of pampering… some proper ‘me’ time for you and your body.
Chair Yoga
Chair Yoga is similar to Accessible Yoga in that people wrongly assume it’s just a practice for old or disabled participants. The yoga chair is an incredibly versatile piece of kit! Just as with blocks, straps, and other props, chairs can be used to make poses ‘harder’ as well as ‘easier’, and also to alter the overall feel and focus of poses, or work on specific aspects of poses or specific muscles or other tissues.