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.
Read More45 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.
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
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.
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 More