Hatha Yoga

What is Hatha Yoga?

Hatha Yoga has been around for thousands of years and originated in India. It places special emphasis on controlled breathing and posture. In a Hatha Yoga class, you move your body slowly and deliberately into different poses that bring many benefits to the body and mind.

Some of the benefits of practicing yoga include:

• building strength

• increasing flexibility and balance

• improves posture

• helps keep your joints healthy

• lowers blood pressure

• relaxes the nervous system, reducing stress

• is a powerful mindfulness practice

• helps you to make healthier life choices

How my classes are structured

At the beginning of class I guide you into the space with short grounding where you can let go of any stress you have been carrying and come into the present moment. I then talk you through the breath techniques we use to support our practice.

We then move into a gentle warm up before entering into our posture practice where we move in and out of the poses for four breaths which we do to establish the connection between the body and the breath, as well as to find the positioning of the body that feels good to our unique self. We then hold the pose for up to four breaths. I encourage you to practice Ahimsa which means non harm throughout the duration of the class. It’s not about what the pose looks like on the outside, it’s about how it feels on the inside; if you need to use a prop- go for it! If you need to position your body slightly differently- do it! If you need to come out of a pose early or choose not to take it at all- honor that!

The class will end in shavasana where I will guide you through a blissful full body relaxation before coming up to sit in a short meditation going deeper and connecting into the heart space for a moment of mindfulness.

It is my hope that you leave class feeling wonderfully centered, calm and balanced in all areas of the mind, body and spirit.