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.
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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 :-)
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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.
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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.
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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).
Read More50 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.
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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.
Read More45 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 :-)
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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.
Read More60 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 :-)
Read More60 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.
Read More60 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.
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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.
Read More60 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 :-)
Read More60 Mins
Strong Abs - Core Centric
Good movement through the body and a healthy spine is reliant on a strong and flexible core. The beauty of many Yoga poses, practiced carefully and consciously at the appropriate time, both occur together. The beauty of this class is we include, hip stretches, arm strength, balance, backbends as well as direct abdominal work to really stabilise the core of the body so we can move our limbs in all directions and across different planes without bucking in the middle.
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Psoas Lengthening - Body Lifted
The psoas muscle originates around from T12 - L4 on the spine and wraps around the inner pelvis and connects to the lesser trochanter on the leg. When short or feels tight it can contribute to lower back pain or sciatica and prevent us from feeling as though we can stand up tall. Here we look at lengthening the hip flexors, in particular the psoas muscle and all the practices that help us feel as if we can lengthen out from the very distil points of the body (hands and feet) without restriction at our core.
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Backbends - Mobilising Our Open & Lifted Ribcage
This is not a deep backbends class, it combines well with forward bends and focusing us on moving the torso in different directions. Posturally we underuse the spine’s movement in this direction and it is super important to counter the effects of dropping in the chest and rounding the shoulders. All these methods are accessible to everyone and vital to maintain healthy functional movement of the spine.
Read More60 Mins
Hip Love & a Dash of Arm Balancing
The majority of hip asanas in this practice are from the wide leg family of poses that open the hips, stretching the adductors and externally rotating at the joint. Our approach is to also create mobility around the whole joint and experience different ways of moving in and out of poses and creating a feeling of mobility even in the stiffest of hips. We add in a couple of weight baring poses based around the side arm balance to play and experience essentially the same pose from many different angles.
Read More65 Mins
Binding Times - Rotation, Opening & Folding
In our previous class we focused on twists and the movements that concentrated on what happened above the pelvis. This week we rotate and take it a step further, by including hip openers (external rotation) and the option to take some stronger binds or cross overs that require an even bigger rotation through the torso. By including some hip openers we can observe how this helps us to free up movement in the spine as well as testing out what’s going on in the hips and where we may need to open and or strengthen more. Please take extra lift for your seat when doing some of this work, do not ignore joint pain in your knees!! Always support and adjust or come out completely of anything that does not feel right.
Read More65 Mins
Ajna - The All Seeing Eye
Our 6th Chakra, Ajna is located at the third eye centre, between our eye brows. It is considered the ‘seeing’ chakra, our inner sight which guides our intuition and also clear sight in to the things we want and can visualise achieving. This is when it is in balance and also enables us to recall our dreams and past memories. When imbalanced we are caught seeing things from only one perspective, can’t see or imagine the future, could have nightmares, obsessiveness and confusion. In this practice we focus on drishti, where our gaze falls when we move as well as meditation focus and viewing our practice from inside. Affirmations to consider:- I see all things in clarity, I am open to the wisdom within, I can manifest my vision.
* Please note in my post covid brain this is not Hakini mudra (we review this next week). And we should have practiced eye ball movements instead of the neck practice. We review this next week as well. But consider practicing moving your eyes around as if following the numbers on a clock face, holding for 10 - 15 seconds at each point.
Read More60 Mins
City of Jewels the Naval Chakra - Manipura
The 3rd Chakra is located at our naval centre/solar plexus and is considered the city of jewels, the energy centre that governs our sense of self; power, individuality and identification, our self worth and self esteem. ‘I am enough’ countering ‘I am not enough’ … knowing our inherent value. It’s clear passageway is also key to a healthy digestion and a balanced metabolism. In this practice we explore ways to open the space, connect to it with movement, mudra and mantra. The element associated with this chakra is Fire and it’s colour is yellow. Light it up!!
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Vertical Spine
I would say this was Part 2 to last week’s class entitled Up Up and Away but of course can be practiced alone. From teaching this in person I learnt that the vertical spine and being able to lift up out of the armpits is fundamental to balancing safely upside down. It’s also key to ease, I never felt as though it was strength alone that kept me balancing in inversions, it’s about strong fundamentals, foundations and a lightness that comes with practice and letting go of fear and knowing where and when to prop. This is preparatory, you absolutely do not have to do the full inversions, but can enjoy the process and the preparation along the way. Shoulder and upper back opening and side body lengthening in all it’s glory.
*Please note we had problems with WiFi when we recorded this so my phone had to do the Zooming and the recording.
Read More60 Mins
Up Up and Away
Elevating the chest lifts the rib cage, expands the lungs and is key to a backbend practice that utilises the whole length of the spine. Here we start moving towards deeper backbends by practicing poses and sequences that open the chest and expand the heart but through the connection with the legs and pelvis like navasana (boat pose), . I love this practice!!
Read More70 Mins
Hips & Hammies
There is a lot of hamstring lengthening here but we also explore widening the top of the thigh to help get more support as well as length. Our focus is on poses that require the hamstrings to lengthen but also for the area at the top of the thigh front (hip flexors) and back (hams) and the hip joint to mobilise the pelvis for not just forward bending but also squatting movements that are required in our daily lives and for longevity of movement. Although these Yoga movements may not appear to be actions we make on a daily basis, the muscles involved are.
Read More60 Mins
Overlapping Hands - Effective Side Chest & Armpit Opening
I love experimenting and new ways to move and open up the body. Opening the arm pits frees the chest, sides and back of the chest and lungs. It also makes you taller! We open the palms, get super long through the arms and extend out, we also play with balance, tipping and extension, stabilising and strengthening the hip, knee and ankles joints.
Read More60 Mins
Heart Leading the Brain
We don’t often think of our yoga practice in terms of it’s coherence and integration. Or maybe you do, sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t. What is key as we start to switch on to the fact that everything is connected, is that we do not move in isolation and we do not exist in isolation. Most of the movements in this practice focus on us leading with the heart, opening and lifting the chest whilst remaining stable and strong in the legs and lower back/abdomen. One action doesn’t over take everything else, even if it is a focal point, the whole body needs to integrate to make the asanas feel coherent and so we don’t injure ourselves in the process too ;-)
Read More60 Mins
Up and Over - Backbends
I neglect my backbend practice and it shows up when you go to do shoulder opening work or inversions. This is a varied practice, we have inversions, going upside down which may or may not be possible. BUT it’s the journey that matters most and attempting to embody each and every asana no matter it’s accessibility. Some of the simplest poses can be the most complex and be build towards some persons so there is always a place to be in the practice. With backbends the secret is not to focus on the parts that don’t move much but in stabilising the ones that do. You will always feel taller after back ‘bending"‘, they focus on really opening our front body that shortens up over the course of daily life.
Read More65 Mins
The Quads & The Psoas - The Body-Leg Connection
Often when we practice we can identify with an area that is being ‘worked’, or we can identify an area in our body where we feel ‘something’ - whether it be from a feel of lengthening, contraction, discomfort or total ease. In each case our awareness is shifting and the more we can get inside our body the more we can look around and discover what is going on. We may notice we have ‘tight’ quads, or hip flexors and a lack of movement in our spines but when we stretch our minds inside we can see how everything is connected and we can open much more of ourselves. Here we focus on front body lengtheners that target the quads and the psoas and also incorporate chest openers, back bends and twists. This frees the chest and the lungs to lift and expand, helps free the shoulders too, something you probably wouldn’t expect when stretching the front of your thigh.
Read More60 Mins
Hip Huggers & Arm Lengtheners
Learning to lift up and out of our pelvis by hugging in the outer hips unlocks the key to greater lift and length in the abdomen and chest. Posturally it prevents sinking and slumping in to the lower back and distension of the abdomen. Alongside this we choose postures that widen the legs apart, lengthen the adductors of the inner thigh and open the hamstrings. Exploring how the hugging of the hips allows us to better connect the legs to the torso and for the whole body to move connectively.
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Ascend and Suspend - Core Lengthening
When we lift up we often localise the movement. When we start to lift from our base, our points of contact with the earth, it is then the feeling of ascent is much more significant. The lift doesn’t start at our chest it starts from our pelvic bones, a lengthened core (the space between our pelvic crest and floating ribs) and translates to a feeling of floating suspension, not rigidity. Here we look at the ways in which different postures and shapes alter the abdomenal space, aiming for feelings of length and depth, not shortening and compression. Core lengthening at it’s finest.
Read More65 Mins
Organising Ourselves - Moving Directions
A lot of poses that make up our yoga practice involve us moving in different directions. Not only up and down or left and right, but sending different parts of ourselves in different directions. We are often asking the legs to move in one direction whilst our arms move in another. With backbends this is especially true and especially complex. For me one of the biggest illuminators was the direction I move my pelvis and how I work my legs. There are also lots of surprise ways to move in to a backbend or experience one in many different ways … from many different directions.
Read More70 Mins
When this practice was recorded it was during the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee in the UK. So I thought it only fitting that we explored postures that reference Royalty, including the asanas named after Hindu gods and deities. We have the ‘raja’s’, King Cobra (raja - bhujangasana), King Pigeon (eka pada raja-kapotasana), King Dancer (nata - raga - asana) - or at least the working towards of these more extreme (let’s call it that rather than advanced). And of course the King and Queen of all the asanas, named so for the sheer number of healing qualities they are said to possess if practiced correctly; headstand (sirsasana) and shoulder stand (sarvangasana). In essence we are also practicing how to build up arm and leg strength with upper back flexibility in order to support these inversions and arm balances. Working towards vashitasana and ashtavakrasana. Have fun exploring :-)
Read More60 Mins
When I was thinking how to describe this class and our focus, the main word in my head was ‘pulsing’. That we are very rarely in this practice still or not repeating the movements less than 3 times. Movement and momentum, coming in and then going out, towards our centre and then away. There is an abdominal emphasis and need for integral support from the centre of our body in order to move the legs in and out, as well as up and down, parallel legs and single leg movements. We also combine an element of wrapping the legs. All in all a stimulating practice to the digestive organs and stimulus to blood flow.
Read More75 Mins
Our legs are attached to our torso, the pelvis is the intersection between the two. Freedom of movement above and below is intertwined and as we create more length in our legs, more space in the pelvis the ability to lift the torso and feel longer and leaner is evident. In this class we look at muscles and movements that make us lengthen and extend upwards and outwards heading towards hanumanasana - leaping monkey pose :-)
Read More70 Mins
Here we look at movements and postures where we work on opposites, crossing over, crossing behind, going over, going under. Working on opposites is deceptively tricky as our brain tries to decipher which arm and which leg is doing what. It challenges our balance and asks us to move from a point of stability and strength. See what it brings up … frustration? laughter? tears? And that’s all just from parivritta ardha chandrasana :-)
Read More70 Mins
It is really easy to over look certain aspects of your practice, lots of opening of the back body for instance and neglecting the front body. Lots of active, not enough rest, lots of yin style practices, not enough active for example. I’m guilty of this when it comes to my quads and hip flexors, in comparison to my hamstrings their movement and flexibility is more limited. Which in turn influences how much we can lift and arch in backbends. Here we look at practices which help us lengthen our quads, hip flexors, psoas and also shoulders so we can work towards the “dancer poses”. For which I have an image of the dancer touching her toes to the back of her head when in reality mine only reach my lower ribs even on a good day!!
Read More70 Mins
The shoulders are a fascinating part of the body. They are responsible for lifting and moving our arms and are connected to our sides, back and front torso which then connect to our hips. So we are never uniquely just lifting our arms, we can adapt and focus on lifting and lowering lots of different connecting muscles. We will then see how the stabilisation of the shoulder and the surrounding muscles, careful engagement of the core and connection to the pelvis and legs helps us in to arm balances.
Read More70 Mins
When we practice ‘live’ we often move with the season. This class is the first class back after Christmas and I always focus on lengthening the abdomen (just in case there’s been more time sat on the sofa/eating/drinking etc). This is not the case for everyone and there are many times through the year where we feel we need to fully stretch out the body and this class is perfect for those moments. There are the key elements to lengthen, strengthen and tone the abdomen with a literal twist thrown in here and there. We primarily focus on igniting the lower abdomen through strengthening the legs (inner line/pelvis connection). This is all the things I love to do in one class, weaving in creative changes to familiar poses brings a feeling of newness and regeneration to our practice.
Read More70 Mins
When we look at shape and motion we can start to see that there is a reciprocal effect of one part moving on another. Spreading your palm for instance doesn’t just open your hand, it brings life to a pose, opens the chest and lengthens the side waist. This can change the whole landscape of your practice, once you start to experience the wholeness of an action rather than seeing it as separate from everything else. Here we look at the backbend family of poses that rely on strength in our backs and length in our hip flexors. Not my personal favourites but interesting in that the body as a whole really does come together to create the shape and the motion.
Read More70 Mins
I have mentioned before that what we have with a back bend is that we are moving in a direction where we can’t see where we are going. Not only do the poses and movements require almost every part of the body to be involved we also have to have awareness and the proprioception to feel where we are going. For Instance in Camel (ustrasana) we go back and then try and find our feet, without knowing for sure where they are. This class integrates lots of movements that not only increase flexibility in the back but strengthen it too, not forgetting how important the glutes and the legs are in the whole process of integrating backbends for their healthiest benefits.
Read More60 Mins
Akunchan means to contract and in this practice we explore different postures where we hug in and contract both or single leg movements in to the abdomen. Rather than compressing the abdomen the contractions have a “wringing” action and create more space deep inside the abdominal area. We are in a sense exploring ways in which we can tone the core of the trunk from outside in through poses and movements that are more compact in nature (rather than expanding and lengthening outwards with our limbs).
Read More75 Mins
When we go backwards we are heading in a direction where we cannot see where we are going. We reach back in to the unknown but we take with us what we do know. We also trust. We know how to extend, arch, lift and lengthen. We know where the earth is or where our toes are even if we can’t see them. We know how our body feels moving in space, so as we go backwards we trust our body to take us there. Backbends also require us to open our chests and shoulders, lengthen our abdomen, hip flexors and quads. Opening each part of the spine evenly, not over using our flexible parts or under using our stiffer parts. It’s really a work of art, moving, breathing and backbending.
Read More75 Mins
Our hips move around a ball and socket joint. Muscles attach that rotate and move the pelvis, legs and torso in all directions. The pelvis is in two halves, and although it’s symmetrical in design, it’s more likely to be imbalanced and as we move in different directions we will see that are capacity to move freely from the hips is asymmetrical. In this class we explore the movements and ranges of motion in our hips, what ‘they’ like to do, the directions they don’t and the difference between the sides and the impact this has on movement and extension above and below (legs and torso).
Read More70 Mins
Each week I let the theme I am working with come to me intuitively. This week it started with a seed that started looking in to the month of September and it’s place in Chinese elemental philosophy, which lead me to reading about the element associated with Autumn, which is metal and how this relates to the lung meridian. I also wanted to work towards Urdva Danurasana as this challenging back bend hadn’t been on our menu for quite some time. As it turns out backbends and the path towards urdva danurasana trace the lung meridian perfectly and increases our connection to opening, lifting and increasing range of movement in our upper torso and also our capacity for deeper and fuller breathing. The qualities associated with a balanced metal element are being flexible and malleable. If metal is deficient you can feel very rigid and stuck and experience restrictions with your respiratory system.
Read More70 Mins
One of the things I like to practice most is all the different shapes and poses I can do with straight legs. Sometimes both together, sometimes wide apart, sometimes going off in different directions, sometimes balancing on one and lifting the other, sometimes folding, sometimes revolving. There are in fact endless possibilities and ways in which we can explore our range of movement in these different plains. It does require us to develop both length and strength in the hamstrings but this doesn’t mean we have to experience discomfort if our hamstrings are not overly flexible. We learn our range and movement potential as it applies to ourselves, with adjustments and supports in place the same practice is possible for everyone with this sequencing.
Read More75 Mins
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.
Read More75 Mins
For me I have spent so many years dedicated to lengthening my hamstrings I have relatively neglected to balance out the length in my front body. Here we look at a practice which requires us to lengthen and open the front side of our body. This is a significant component when back bending and using the curve through the entire spine and not just segmenting the spine or just using the most flexible parts (lower back and neck) to move in to a back bend. Most of these poses require us to lengthen the front of the thigh, strengthen the glutes and mobilise the upper back (dorsal). It also gives us some insight in to where we hold on and where we need to let go. A life long balance to seek and find.
Read More75 Mins
In this class we will explore the idea of counter balancing our movements and creating a sense of equilibrium. We move through a sequence of poses where we notice how we are asking parts of our body to move in opposite directions from one another, simultaneously moving apart. If we over use one part and under use the other it creates instability, so we work to try and balance ourselves evenly, as one part goes up, another goes down, as one extends forwards the other goes backwards. This thought process can be applied to almost every movement, an exploration of physics. We focus mainly on forward facing asanas where we split our legs and build towards lifting in to forearm balance and headstand without necessarily lifting both our feet off the ground.
Read More45 Mins
In this fundamentals class we focus on sequencing together many of the standing and backbends we have covered so far in this series. Here we highlight the poses where we are twisting/revolving and stretching the front of the thigh/hip flexors. This particular family of backbends are more front body lengthening, bending in the back is a misnomer. The key to them is the strength and flexibility in the legs, particularly the hip flexors and the strength of the paraspinal muscles and glutes to give you stability and lift off.
Read More45 Mins
In this fundamentals class we focus on sequencing together many of the standing and seated poses we have covered so far in this series. In order to fit these in to a 45 minute session we highlight here the poses where our legs are split, one forward, one back and the chest and pelvis is forward facing; warrior 1, warrior 3, parsvotanasana. The key movement patterns and elements that make up these poses are the rotational elements in the pelvis forwards. But there are some variations to this rule as we include poses where we bring the chest to the legs or the legs to the chest and explore wrapping.
Read More75 Mins
The abdominals muscles are made up of the rectus abdominis, transversus abdominis and the internal and external obliques. In brief they provide support for the spine, support and protect our internal organs and help to regulate breathing. Muscles get stronger in the lengthening process (eccentric muscle contraction). Put simply it is when a muscle lengthens when it contracts rather than when it shortens and contracts. In this class we explore a huge variety of ways in which we lengthen and strengthen our abdominal muscles without a single sit up in sight. There’s lots of variety, movements in all directions and an exploration of all the abdominals muscles.
Read More75 Mins
Having had a pretty heavy few weeks on the hamstrings I decided it was time to loosen up and have a little bit of hip play. Less focused on long holds and forward folds but gaining movement and momentum in the full range of the hips. Sometimes we think there is a movement or a pose that we can’t do but sometimes we can if we approach it in a different way, from a different direction. Or we can access it by adding in a prop or two. Please approach this by exploring your range of movement and not with any idea that one pose fits all.
Read More45 Mins
In this fundamentals class we focus on poses that open, lift and lengthen the upper chest and back. The family of poses that require us to lengthen and lift the front of the chest and ‘curve’ the upper portion of the spine. We include looking at up dog and cobra, warrior 1 and parivritta trikonasana as well as tabletop and bridge pose. Combining what we know about the specific standing poses and the connection to the legs we will progress through the warming up of the chest for table top and bridge. In your own practice you could progress or add in camel and full wheel.
All these poses help us look at ways we can find more length in the front of body in order to more effectively backbend safely. Using the correct action in the glutes to gain lift off, and how the use of props can give us the momentum to get going, be more supportive and give greater depth and ease to our backbends. I would also have to argue a little with the term backward bends because it implies going backwards, which technically you are. BUT it is the extension, the lift and lengthening of the front body that is key to a smooth and fulfilling backbend practice and this takes you forwards so to speak.
Read MoreI haven’t taught a splits prep class in a while, so this is a first for the library. I have had dreams whereby I slide in to them effortlessly, sadly this is not my reality right now, but each year I do get closer to the ground. What is glorious about splits is actually the preparation, you have to open both the front of the body, mainly the hip flexors to allow the chest to lift and for the back leg to be able to extend away, and the back body, principally the hamstrings to extend the front leg forwards.
The pose, Hanumanasana is named after Hanuman, the monkey god, son of the wind (Vayu) who was known for his giant leaps, whereby he could stretch his legs incredible distances. The power of his back leg propelled him skywards whilst his front leg would reach and stretch towards his destination. Feel the powerfulness of this pose, be brave and experiment (safely) with what is possible. Most importantly, enjoy the journey.
Read More45 Mins
In this fundamentals class we focus on poses that open and lengthen the front of the thigh. Cosmic dancer is one of these poses but I would describe this as an accessible Eka Pada Rajakapotasana (King Pigeon). The family of poses that require us to lengthen the front of the thigh and hip flexors also have the backbend element, including virasana (kneeling), ustrasana (camel), danurasana (bow) and virabadrasana 1.
All these poses help us look at ways we can find more length in the front of body in order to more effectively backbend safely. Using the correct action in the glutes to gain lift off, also seeing how the clever use of props can get us going, be more supportive and give greater depth and ease to our backbends. I would describe this as a fun and uplifting classes, accessible to all.
Read More45 Mins
In this fundamentals class we focus on Utkatasana and it’s related family poses. What movement patterns and key elements make up this pose and poses like it. It is one pose, alongside downward facing dog practiced regularly in every class that causes varying scales of discomfort. This is until you learn to love it, and you learn to love it the minute you experience it without discomfort and then the body and the brain celebrate as you practice it with ease. It’s deceptively hard because it requires flexibility in the shoulders, stability from your core and strength in your legs. In this class we look at creating flexibility in the ankles and lower leg, strength in the glutes and thighs, flexibility in the upper back and shoulders and an element of core strength to manage the correct alignment of the pelvis.
This is a pose, that when your crack it will increase your lung capacity (because of the stretch in the ribs when you take your arms over your head) and improve your posture. It will help support and strengthen the knees and strengthen the core to protect the back, which can tend to excessively arch in this pose if not practiced correctly. In this class there are tons of preparatory poses and variations of the pose to play with. The introduction of the actual full pose is from the wall so it gives you a feedback loop to know how it should feel. Then when practiced in space the angle of the pelvis, lift in the chest and extension of the arms will feel natural. Enjoy ;-)
Read More45 Mins
In this fundamentals class we focus on Virabhadrasana 1 and it’s related family poses. What movement patterns and key elements make up this pose and poses like it. It is different to Warrior 2 and Trikonasana with the rotational elements in the hip joint where the pelvis angles forward. The front leg is bent like warrior 2 and parsvakonasana but the back leg is straight like parvottanasana. Lots of names for you to remember :-) But once you get used to the key standing poses you will see how all yoga poses have similar elements in common and you will be able to carry with you your awareness from one pose to another. It is true though that you will experience it differently in different planes. Here we explore variations of virabhadrasana 1, standing, on our back, kneeling and balancing on one leg. You will see how the normal imbalances of the pelvis influence this particular pose, it has elements of a back bend so tends to be the problematic standing posture. Here we work to open the hamstrings, as well as the hip flexors and focus on lifting and opening the chest and upper back to elevate the arms up and over our head.
Read MoreSometimes you realise there are elements of your practice you are neglecting or ignoring. This can be consciously or unconsciously. It’s always nice to practice the things that come to us effortlessly and that we enjoy whilst resisting the things that make us uncomfortable or are practices that we don’t enjoy. Blockages can be physical, if we are injured or feeling poorly certain practices should be avoided, but it is deciphering if we are always avoiding the same things because of what we tell ourselves we feel about this certain movement or practice. Sometimes it’s about finding a different path, a different perspective and a new way of approaching or looking at something. Backbends are the perfect practice to explore this. When they come easy the practices are energising and fun and make you feel strong and alive. But when you you feel stuck, heavy or resistant they can leave the body and mind (ego) feeling depleted and deflated. This practice gives an accessible route in to back bending/front lengthening that can be kept very simple or advanced as your mood, body or practice decides. One thing to emphasise is that back bending shouldn’t cause you lower back pain. Once we learn to use our legs and open the upper back and chest properly the lower spine and pelvis are completely stable. Please discontinue practising any movements that cause pain or lasting discomfort.
Read MoreThe psoas muscle wraps around our body, connecting our torso to our legs, traversing through the pelvis along the way. It is a major stabilizer for the spine as well as being a hip flexor and can cause major asymmetry in the body. It effects our posture, and when imbalanced (too tight or too stretched) can cause lower back pain, contribute towards tight hamstrings and play a part in your stress responses and good digestion.
Here we look at trying to balance the psoas, view it from a right and left perspective as well as looking at ways to stretch it, strengthen it and flex it. Then observe, is their greater ease of movement? How? Where? “With a healthy psoas our weight is naturally borne through the bones, and walking is initiated at the solar plexus instead of the knee or hip joint.” Sandra Anderson. This is by far one of my favourite practices to do and feel in my body afterwards. Sweet release.
Read MoreIn this class we attempt to explore the range of motion in the hips. Playing with all round hip flexibility and strength. By moving the leg at different angles in relation to the pelvis, lifting, rotating and extending to the side, back and front we can see what range of movement we have. We can then see what motion we have in the hips and how this influences how we can move in to and out of a pose and the extent to which we can improve flexibility and balance around the whole circumference of the pelvis; hip flexors, hip rotators, the hip joint, sacrum, and adductors. This is a great class to prepare your hips for padmasana (full lotus), although we practice to half lotus here.
Read MoreFreeing the breath by lifting the chest and lengthenin the legs. Lengthening the front body
Read MoreCan we gain length in the hamstrings by contracting the hip flexors first? Strengthen to lengthen
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