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Yoga

Yoga is an ancient whole person or holistic practice. The word Yoga translated means “to yoke” or “to join”. It is in part, the practice of bringing us back to a whole state of being or ourselves.

Through the practice of physical posture (asana), breath control (pranayama) and meditation (dhyana), Yoga brings us to a better physical awareness, a stilling of the mind and to a greater union and awareness of our self. Yoga holds a mirror to our self and lets us work with our bodies and minds to expand our limitations.

Yoga is for the benefit of all, regardless of physical physique or frame, age, or limits. For me personally, it is the art of turning “I cant” into “I can”.

Due to my training and experience with Anatomy, Physiology, Sports Injury, Complementary, Sport and Remedial Therapies, plus a love of Yoga for over 20 years, my teaching is with an emphasis on physical alignment, safe practice and working with you to find your practice that suits you. I draw from all my knowledge in all fields of therapy and Yoga to aid you in your personal practice. I offer regular classes, 1-2-1 or small group tuition.

Benefits of Yoga:

Improves flexibility: By working with posture or asanas, modified or progressed to your individual practice, you gain a greater range of motion through your joints and muscles.

Greater posture awareness: In Yoga there is an emphasis with the physical practice or asanas on better posture, to which all other asanas or postures depend. This gives you the chance of a better posture in your day to day life.

Builds muscular strength: Working with the physical practice of asana develops overall strength within all muscle groups.

Nourishes joints and Cartilage: Using the physical practice of Yoga with movement and through postures, helps the stimulate the synovial fluid and circulation around joints, providing nourishment through joints

Improves breathing and lung capacity: By using breathing techniques (pranayama) and by using controlled breathing within the postures, develops lung capacity and efficiency of breathing. This leads to greater oxygenation of the body and it's cells and tissues.

Improves circulation: Through using movement and deeper breathing Yoga helps stimulate circulation throughout the body , providing better nourishment to the body's tissues.

Injury rehabilitation, prevention and pain management: Working with modified postures allows for greater variation of the traditional asanas and leads to safe practice with specific injuries. Due to the posture's ability to strengthen and lengthen soft tissue, this aids recovery from soft tissue injury. Use of breath awareness (pranayama) and meditation (dhyana) can also help calm the mind, which in turn leads to less tension and stress within the body. This may lead to a more efficient healing rate of injury, or aid in pain management of certain conditions.

Nourishes the digestive system: Through use of certain postures, especially the abdominal and twisting asanas, helps self massage and nourish the digestive system. Also use of breathing and relaxation techniques help to calm the digestive system.

Manages levels of stress: Yoga practice can be used to stimulate or calm the nervous system. Physical practice lets us channel our energies, negating levels of stress and regulating our adrenal glands. A calming practice can aid in restorative benefits to the body, especially the nervous system, which is especially good for practitioners with greater stress levels and stress related problems.

Develops a calm mind: The practice of yoga and especially it's relaxation techniques and meditation, helps to slow the mental "chatter" to bring about a calm state of being. This is particularly useful for people with hectic minds or lives. These practices can benefit a person in their day to day activities.

These are only a fraction of the benefits of Yoga, and can benefit anybody at any stage of life.

Please feel free to contact me should you wish to discuss how Yoga can help you. My contact details are listed on the "Contact" or "Home" page.