ganesh

What is Yoga?

The word Yoga means “union” – to cultivate synergy between mind, body and heart. We spend so much of our life searching for love, harmony, wellbeing. Yet it can be hard to make sense of our humanity and feel joy and happiness in a complex, fast-paced and changing world. So you may want to practice yoga now to bring your life into balance – to de-stress, learn to relax, raise your energy levels, stretch out tight muscles, release a painful lower back, or improve other physical and mental health conditions that cause you tension or discomfort. This is the starting point from which to explore whom you are.

Yoga can help you to enjoy, relax and navigate through the complexities of modern day life. As relevant today, as when Patanjali wrote the yoga sutras over two thousand years ago, yoga is the art of cultivating self-awareness, understanding and insight. As a yoga teacher, I hope to encourage you to develop a yoga practice that creates new possibilities, touching mind, heart and body long after you have rolled up your yoga mat. This is the living, breathing gift of yoga.

 

What kind of Yoga do you teach?

There are so many different Yoga traditions; all of which lead inwards to our inner source of wisdom and truth. Each of us will be drawn to follow our individual style of yoga, regardless of the name that we then put on this.  We all see life differently; so too, our individual experience of yoga will be unique. As such, there is something for everyone to discover and explore in Yoga.

I don’t aspire to follow a definitive Yoga lineage which is like this or that. As a teacher, I would rather guide you to plant unique seeds of positive intention, flow and change in coming to class, and to create a yoga practice which lives and breathes with you. As the mind and body open, you will then start to enjoy and feel the positive benefits of your yoga practice through the rest of your life.

Can anyone do yoga?

It truly doesn’t matter whether you are a complete beginner or a seasoned yogi – everyone has a first time of coming to a yoga class. My classes are open to everybody regardless of your age, fitness level or physical condition. If you have a health issue, please let me know beforehand. My classes are warm, friendly and welcoming, with a wide range of people practicing from all walks of life.

A yoga class might include:

  • Physical exercise known as Asanas to strengthen, tone and purify the body
  • Cleansing practices or Shatkarma to release and cleanse emotional and physical stagnation and energy blockages
  • Breathwork or Pranayama to enhance life energy and balance mental activity
  • Inward reflection or Pratyhara to sharpen and focus mental attention and perception
  • Meditation to cultivate insight and awareness