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.

Spiralling Arms

60 Mins

Spiralling Arms

This is like daily flossing for your shoulders. Our shoulders are connected down to our finger tips, to our collar bones and sternum at the front and to our ribs at the back. There are so many ways in which range of movement can be limited, whilst we often over do some movements and under do others we find ease and restriction sometimes in different directions. Take this practice easy and keep coming back to it, or take certain movements from the practice, little pieces and see if you can do a different one every day to keep the shoulders moving healthily in all directions.

HATHA FLOW, Front body lengthening, Breath, Chest opening, Shoulders, Upper Body, BackbendsGemma NashNovember 30, 202260 Mins

Bolster Love and Digestive Health

65 Mins

Bolster love and Digestive Health

The sight of a bolster instantly made everyone in class think of relaxing. The support it offers and what it is usually used for is synonomous with letting go. In this practice we use the bolster in a more active way in our standing poses as well as in more supportive and restorative ways when it comes to certain seated and supine poses. The bolster massages our kidneys, adrenals and posterior diaphragmatic area, whilst creating length and wideness in the stomach, liver and front diaphragmatic region. It’s preferable to have a bolster but if you don’t have one you can use a rolled up yoga mat, a sofa cushion or a pillow (or two).

HATHA FLOW, Front body lengthening, Breath, Chest opening, Restorative, Shoulders, Upper Body, TwistsGemma NashNovember 21, 202265 Mins

Quality of movement and breath

75 Mins

Quality of Movement & Breath

Our breath has different qualities depending on the movements we are making. We can observe these changes and our awareness of how the breath changes by observing it throughout our practice. It is hard to focus and feel the quality of the breath, or take long steady breaths when our body is under strain (when we hold a particularly challenging posture). The quality changes depending on whether we are holding, maintaining or resting. It changes if we are upside down, forward folding, back bending, side stretching, twisting or lying down. Here we practice variety; in speed, in repetition, in orientation, in variation. In practice we trust.

HATHA FLOW, Function, Abdominals, Breath, Mobility, Breathwork, Twists, Upper BodyGemma NashOctober 30, 202175 mins

Forward Folding For the Spine

65 Mins

Forward Folding For The Spine

When we engage in postures that are forward folding we often associate these with lengthening our hamstrings and if we experience these as feeling tight we might groan when thinking about any posture where we forward fold/bend. But what if we think of forward bends as a whole body experience and that the hamstrings are just one part of the circuit. By stabilising the legs and engaging the arms we support the spine in such a way that forward folds are beneficial for our backs. This is less about going in to the full expression of a forward fold initially but preparatory movements and asanas that pave the way to effortless forward folding that are both strong and stable before being flexible.

HATHA FLOW, Legs, Function, Abdominals, Breath, Hamstrings, MobilityGemma NashOctober 15, 202160 mins

Holding / Staying / Feeling

75 Mins

Staying / Holding / Feeling

Holding a posture is often the strongest part of the practice physically. Then we practice staying, making the pose homely so that we can then experience feeling; the doing has been done, nothing has to be held. After the doing and the holding the homely state will start to come more quickly with practice. What we can create, maintain and enjoy in our practice begins to feel limitless and we find a state of peacefulness in many poses that may have started off feeling stressful or difficult. Our mission is for a state of being where feeling homely comes naturally no matter the difficulty. Here we explore breathing whilst holding in a variety of postures that lift and expand our upper rib cage and shoulders, challenging our balance as well as looking for different breathing patterns when the body isn’t straining or stressed.

HATHA FLOW, Legs, Function, Abdominals, Upper Body, Shoulders, Breath, TwistsGemma NashOctober 11, 202175 mins

Moving towards and away from the midline - Adduction and Abduction

65 Mins

Moving Towards and Away From The Midline

Moving the arms and legs in directions where they move away from and towards the midline of our body is called adduction and abduction. It’s an interesting way of exploring movement and the directions we can take our limbs in and the effect this has on our experience. What patterns can we discover in our bodies? it’s strengths and weaknesses? This class is both strengthening and lengthening with it’s possibilities and also requires us to balance our opposing sides when we focus on the opposite, our awareness is drawn in all directions around the body. Ultimately always coming back to the midline.

HATHA FLOW, Mobility, Chest opening, Adductors, Breath, Front body lengthening, Groin, Hips, Twists, LegsGemma NashAugust 8, 202160 mins

Cooling Flow - Taking the heat out

75 Mins

Cooling Flow - Taking the heat out

During hot summer days we need to balance our energy before we become depleted. In times when we over heat we need to devise ways to soothe our body and nervous system and try not to over stimulate or exhaust ourselves. In this class we trace the ebb and flow of energy and try to incorporate practices that have a cooling quality. This is especially important if your body has a tendency to over heat or become hyper reactive when it is hot or when we feel over heated (when feeling angry or reactive). In Ayurveda Pita types are particularly prone to becoming over heated when it’s hot outside and need to avoid over heating and becoming over stimulated to avoid total combustion. Chill.

Like Yin - Slowing down and accepting support

75mins

Hatha Flow 11th December

Sometimes we just need to slow down. Do less, stay longer and take a pause between thoughts and actions. As well as approaching things from a new perspective, supporting postures and giving yourself the space to let go. This class explores classically Yin poses and ways to ‘flow’ standing with minimal effort. This is the class for you when you need to move but perhaps feel low on energy or when you feel exhausted and in need of calming down the nervous system.