MY CLASSES
What type of practice?
YIN YOGA
Release Deeply Held Tension
TUESDAY CLASS ONLINE & THURSDAY IN PERSON
Tuesday 8pm-9.15pm Yin Yoga at Home Studio
Thursday 7.30pm-8.45pm Restorative Yin Yoga at The Yoga Hutch
YIN & GONG
Yin Yoga combined with Sound Therapy
Once every 4-6 weeks at St Mary's Church Hall, Long Ditton, KT6 5HH. Booking through The Yoga Hutch
DYNAMIC YOGA
My Dynamic Yoga classes incorporate a series of yoga postures designed both to build strength and openness throughout the body to create balance. By heightening bodily awareness and breathing technique, practitioners learn to work deeper within the poses.
I use a number of yoga props and modifications as I teach, to assist with alignment, and to allow students to explore their bodies and its capabilities in a safe, supportive and inclusive environment.
The 'theme' of the classes often changes as we work with particular areas of the body and/or specific movements. My teaching is influenced by many schools, including the Ashtanga Vinyasa, Iyengar and Yin. I also utilise Functional Range Conditioning movements (FRC) where it serves to facilitate another pose or build strength in a particular area. We sometimes explore these poses in a slower static style with props more akin to the Iyengar method or more dynamically, flowing with the breath. Occasionally, I mix everything up in a flowing sequence of moves often referred to as Vinyasa Flow as I love the creativity of this form of dynamic practice.
I also use 'hands-on assists' (with the consent of students) with my teaching so that students can understand and feel how to move and work in the pose themselves. This helps develop proprioception - the ability to know where your body is in space.
YIN YOGA
A slower introspective yoga practice, where you hold the poses for a longer duration in stillness and using the breath to unlock deeply held tension in the connective tissue (fascia), particularly notoriously stiff areas like the shoulders and hips.
Yin Yoga works on the Chinese system of energy channels, known as meridians. Yin yoga poses often stimulate a number of these meridians throughout the body allowing the energy to flow freely within them. I include a variety of poses in my classes, some being more classical Yin, others being more Restorative in nature. Classes tend to be themed and I accompany the practice relevant with readings and poetry.
My Yin Yoga classes often include a guided meditation to find stillness in the mind. We often have a pranayama (breathwork) section where we explore a particular technique together. Frequently I incorporate a Yoga Nidra (lying form of meditation) where you explore the liminal space between awake and asleep. It is in this space that the body and mind can completely relax and regenerate.
YIN & GONG
Accompanied by the powerful vibrations of the gong, I teach a 40-45 min sequence of Yin/Restorative postures with minimal instruction so as not to detract from the sounds. These sessions are a slower style of yoga practice to invite introspection. Students hold the poses for a longer duration in stillness and using the breath to unlock deeply held tension in the connective tissue (fascia), The therapeutic vibrations of the gongs facilitate this tension-release as it can transport students into a theta brain wave state ... a state of blissful relaxation.
In the second part of the session students take savasana (rest pose) or a seated meditative pose to enjoy a beautiful sound bath including not only gongs, but crystal bowls, singing bowls and other atmospheric percussion instruments like chimes and an ocean drum. At the beginning of this session I offer some gentle hands on to make students more comfortable while lying down. All in all a perfect evening for deep physical and mental healing.