Group Classes
Practicing yoga in a group is a completely different experience to practicing in your own. The collective energy of a group of people moving through a focused yoga practice together helps to bring each member into the present moment and into their own personal practice.
I teach regular group classes for both beginners and more experienced students. These take place at Yoga Ananda Holistic Centre and are bookable directly with them.
There may be reasons why group classes are not suitable for you or you may wish to deepen areas of your practice with personal tuition. If this sounds like you, then a private yoga class may be beneficial for you.
Beginners Classes
These classes are aimed at students who have little or no yoga practice or for anyone that wants to go back to basics. I teach the fundamentals of yoga. The majority of the class is the asana (pose) practice but other aspects of yoga are also introduced. There is no rush to move out of a beginners class. It is better to stay doing beginners classes forever, than to go into a general class too soon.
I teach two beginner classes a week. On Monday evenings at 6pm, I teach a hatha style class. This starts a pranayama (breathing) practice to settle into the class, followed by practicing the more common yoga poses that will crop up in classes and ends with relaxation and a 5 minute meditation.
On Tuesdays at 8pm, I teach a Vinyasa Flow Beginners class. Vinyasa Flow means ‘specific movement with the breath’ and this class helps to build an awareness of coordinating movement with the breath. It also begins with a period of Pranayama and ends with relaxation. The main difference between this and my Monday class is that on Tuesdays I break down Sun Salutations which usually feature in Vinyasa Flow classes. This means that this is a great class to learn your Sun Salutations but equally means that it can be a bit more challenging than the Monday class.
Vinyasa Flow
My Vinyasa Flow classes are aimed at those who have done some yoga practice and have mastered their Sun Salutations. I teach at the level suitable for those in the class but if you have little or no yoga experience, then it is important to attend some beginners classes first.
I teach Vinyasa on Tuesdays at 6:15pm and Thursdays at 7:30pm. The emphasis is always on movement with the breath. Once the breath is settled, many people will breath quite slowly; around 4 - 6 seconds per inhale and per exhale so this is how long we are aiming transitions between poses to be. As well as the transitions, we also have time to stay in most of the poses for a few breaths so we really feel both the physical and energetic effects of the pose and not rushing through the practice.
I always guide everyone into and out of the pose as this is just as important, if not more important than the pose itself.
Yin Yoga
Yin Yoga classes are on Fridays as I find it is the perfect end to the week. I teach a lunchtime class at 1:15pm and an evening class at 7pm.
Yin is suitable for almost everyone, regardless of experience. The only requirement is the ability to get down onto the floor as the poses are all floor poses.
This style of yoga is slow and meditative and completely different to the other styles I teach. There are A LOT of props involved. The idea is that each pose is held for a while with the support of props allowing you to slowly relax tension and holding from the body. This form of yoga doesn’t do any strengthening work what-so-ever but it can be really good for flexibility.
The slow nature of the practice also gives me time to give extra attention to anyone that may have questions about any of the poses so you get the most out of the practice.