Backbends
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ONLINE STUDIO with GEMMA NASH
45 Mins
Moving Across Space - Mobilising Joints
Mobilising our muscles and connective joints and tissues with repetitive fluid movements that help us move through the whole body. Feeling space and extension open up as fascia gets juiced and movements become freer.
45 Mins
Shoulder/Balance Blast
Moving our arms in all directions, focusing on mobility around the joint as well as strengthening and toning the arms. We practice mobility drills, mixing up how we practice traditional poses and finish with some wrappy pretzel type poses just for fun :-)
45 Mins
1/2 Lotus, Lotus Prep
Hip opening focused on working towards 1/2 lotus and full lotus. These are the final postures we attempt, along the way we focus on those movements that open and soften the hip joint, mobilise the legs in different directions as well as open the whole front body.
45 Mins
The Power of the Legs
Strong legs are integral to a strong core, they make function and movement so much more efficient when combined with flexibility. This will make your abdominals stronger and is a lot of fun to practice this sequence regularly.
45 Mins
Simplicity, Synchronicity and Usability
This class was created to be part of a daily practice sequence. A coverage of movement and mobility through the entire body with a balance of all the elements to open everywhere; abdominals, vinyasa, shoulders, balance, hips, and a long constructive rest sequence at the end.
45 Mins
Hippy Dippy
This will get you deep in to your hips joints, hip flexors and hip rotaors. We explore a way of practising standing poses on the floor that opens you up in a way you could never do whilst standing. Allowing for much greater freedom of movement and even the possibility of moving in to half lotus (maybe even full lotus).
45 Mins
Lift & Elevation - Structure
Like any good structure, our bodies rely on a good foundation and good mechanics to function well. There is a lot of pubic bone action in this practice, calling attention to the LIFT safeguards our lower back, stabilises our pelvis, works our ‘core’ and allows us to connect to the legs below and the chest above for satisfying back ‘bends’ AND incredible forward ‘bends’. A note to say it’s not really bending, it’s extending.
45 Mins
Transitions - Variations In Movement
It’s good to mix things up and feel playful in your practice. What keeps our brain functioning well is doing new things or the same things in a different way. There is nothing unfamiliar in the posses we do in this class but the way we move in to them and the transitions are all different. This can mean that we take ourselves by surprise and find accessibility in the seemingly inaccessible. Have fun :-)
45 Mins
Twists & Turns
Working on keeping the spine’s ability to move in all directions is key to long term spinal health. Rotation of the torso is dependant on the super highway of muscles that connect from and to the pelvis and shoulders and all that passes in between. They help keep us upright, help move, rotate and extend the torso. Here we explore twist and rotations aimed at freeing the ribcage.
50 Mins
Tree Posing
Everything moves around the humble tree pose in this practice, combining hip opening, inner leg lengthening with side stretches is the perfect marriage. If we can work with the hip rotators and lengthen the inner thigh we can then begin to increase the distance between the pelvis and the ribcage, preventing ‘shrinkage’ and helping us to remain lifted and giving all our vital organs the space to function well.
60 Mins
A Touch of Yin - Nice Poses to Stay In
Sometimes it feels good just to stay a little longer. Staying longer can happen when the conditions of feeling comfortable are met and we can give our body the time it needs to let go and become more passive. In order to stay longer the poses should be more accessible for all, comfortable enough that you can stay in them, as opposed to strenuous poses that you wish to rush through. The Yin element is connecting you to the body and breath that allows to a more peaceful state of being.
50 Mins
Shoulder Strength & Mobility
We mainly focus on shoulder mobility with some added strength work for the shoulders here. Our arms are designed to move with far more range than our legs and with this there are 4 Fascial arm lines, which shows you how versatile and useful they are intended to be. With this comes the tendancy to wear them out. Our arms and shoulders connect to the side, front and back muscles so we neglect them at our peril. This is also a useful class for post operative shoulder work.
50 Mins
Open Chest Strong Back
In a lot of Yoga poses we over use our arms and shoulders to do the hard work. If we take the arms away and focus on the strength of the legs and the paraspinals muscles in our back we can develop muscles else where and share the load throughout the body. Ultimately this level of work also supports and strengthens the abdominals, all contributing to healthier movement through the whole spine and stronger backs free from discomfort.
50 Mins
Open Palms Open Arms Pits Open Chest
Every action we make is connected to the next and in movement every body part we connect to and work with, links us to another along the chain. Whether this be kinaesthetic, muscular or skeletal. We can practice with total focus and mindfulness on how we can open the body this way. Here as the title suggests we look at the role of opening the palms and arm pits to open the chest and shoulders.
50 Mins
Shoulder Rotations & Freeing the Upper Back
This is an exploration on how we can free the shoulders and open the upper back. Working through the different rotations in the arms and direction of the fingers in a way we can’t with other parts of our body. After all our feet cannot rotate all the way around to face behind us and yet are fingers can. This is accessible and an interesting way to practice that creates big change in the freedom we feel in our upper body.
50 Mins
Moving Through the Spine
Opening the chest and moving through the spine whilst connecting to our heals is a great way to explore back extensions. By lifting through the entire leg chain to pelvis we can see how we can focus on one area of our body to open whilst drawing strength from our foundations.
50 Mins
Hip Angles - Range & Movement
Some repetitive, almost meditative, prescriptive movement patterns for the hips. Creating strength and mobility in the hip joint by moving and rotating the legs in different directions in different poses. Adding in some forward folding and seeing how this mobility helps us going forward as well as moving in all directions.
50 Mins
Big Toe Goodness - Stability & Stackability
The big toe holds major importance to the way we move and for the efficient functioning of walking and running. There is a kinetic chain of muscles that connects our big toe to the arch of the foot, which acts as our shock absorber, and a force of motion that goes up the kinetic chain to the hamstrings and the glutes. So training our big toes to be strong and flexible will not only help us move well in everyday life it will be an effective way to switch on our glutes and effective stretch the hamstrings without strain. Your feet will thank you too!!
45 Mins
Piriformis - Outer Leg Stretch
The piriformis is a muscle that runs from your lower spine through your butt to the top of your outer thigh. It aids in almost every movement of your lower body and the sciatic nerve runs underneath it. It is a muscle I have become more and more aware of the more I ride on a spin bike. Often our injuries or niggles are our biggest learning tool and it highlights where we may be loading or over using certain parts of our body and where we need to seek balance or healing. This is an indulgent class for me because all of these stretches target the piriformis and outer leg/IT band, easing tension in the hip rotators and lower back.
45 Mins
Compression to Expansion
In this sequencing we explore hugging in and stretching out the legs. It is helpful to explore poses that require long extension of our limbs by first feeling how it feels to shorten the leg first, going from small to big. Still stretching but in a different way, we notice and feel different sensations in the body.
45 Mins
Free and Open Upper Back
This is fun class and recorded in the first week of the new year so great for when you have some energy to expend and you also want a jump start. Energetic standing poses and transitions with a focus on opening the upper back and the back of our body is our focus. We also explore lifting the chest and not always moving immediately with our heads in and out of postures.
45 Mins
Open Heart Clear Head
An open heart and a clear head indicate a good practice. Mood elevation and the capacity to see clearly are the benefits of practicing yoga through all stages of life. Here we open the chest with some accessible back bends that open the chest and shoulders but also integrate with poses that lengthen the psoas and open the hip flexors and quads, cue pigeon and splits prep :-)
45 Mins
Leg Extenders
Sometimes are legs are shortened by tight leg muscles, whether this be the hamstrings, quads, hips flexors, adductors or the IT band. We can create a greater feeling of ease and length in the legs by the asanas we focus on. The title picture is misleading because although we do crow pose our focus is on elongating the legs, which in turn frees congestion in the abdomen, making the whole body feels as though it can expand.
45 Mins
Lotus & Binding
When playing with the poses that lead to lotus and binding we look at poses that open both the hips and the shoulders. So whether we can catch the foot in a bind or bring our foot in to lotus or not doesn’t prevent us from moving through the steps on the way. Twists, shoulder openers and strengtheners, going upside down, chest opening, and then possibly twist with lotus where the body allows, other base positions are readily available :-)
60 Mins
Crossing Over - Full Body Extension
Here we extend the side body with a little bit of a twist. We make our limbs travel further by crossing them over, we also add in IT band and hip rotators working this way. We stretch and open the front body and flexors in this practice too. If it’s possible to play Yoga Twister this is it :-)
60 Mins
Hip Compactness
Being held together is kind of how this feels. Moving with stability is key to increasing mobility safely and effectively. For this we need to learn how to feel our different muscles and how to engage them. Our focus here is mainly on the hips and how we can connect to them by how we position and use our feet. Lots of movement flow, hip openers and a delicious unwinding to close.
60 Mins
Backbending - What’s behind us?
When we start to open the chest and front body we often do this with movements that place our attention behind us, where we cannot see what is going on. Whether this is with practices that open the shoulders, arch our spines or contract our glutes to effectively and safely master back bends, big and/or small. The primary focus here is actually the legs and the glutes, leading to ustrasana (camel), but the fun is on the journey, not the destination as we bring awareness to the unseen parts of our bodies.
50 Mins
Palms - Connecting the Palm to the Shoulders
We often take for granted how much what we do with our hands has to do with the movements in our shoulders. Here we practice (with the the bricks as a learning tool) how to open the palms and access a route in to opening the armpits, shoulders and upper back. An open chest helps our posture, elevates our mood and can tip toe us towards fun back bends and arm balance play. As well as helping us strengthen our arms and shoulder joint.
60 Mins
The Front Body - Quads & Shoulders
A Yoga practice should allow you to move your attention around your body and direct this attention so the mind can attune itself rather than being scattered everywhere and outside of ourselves. A lot of the time when it comes to our movements, we fall in to habits and finding routes that are easy. I personally find my front body much harder to open than my back body. Posture shows us that this is true for a lot of people. So here we focus on poses that stretch our hip flexors and quads but also open our shoulders so our arms can sit where they are supposed to, well ideally where they are supposed, to the side of our body rather than at the front with palms turning back in to our body. It’s fun to explore and there are some easy daily practices we can all do to open up and be playful.
60 Mins
Crossing Over - Outer Leg Stretching
This practice for me gets in to all the hard to reach places. The outer leg can be really tight and a lot of yoga poses we practice most often work more on the inner line of the leg and the hip in external rotation. We also experience in this class how much stability we require to attain the most flexibility and this attention can be a reason we always head to practice the things we are most familiar with instead. Crossing over and stretching out, good for the body and proprioception too :-)