Yoga is my favorite modality, the base, the roots for so many things in my life. When I first started practicing yoga I favored strong practices like Ashtanga, Bikram, Vinyasa. I was still in a mindset that I needed to have a strong practice to have a strong body, which is partly true. After 17 years of mothering and working full-time and being a highly sensitive individual I realised that what I needed to be strong within myself is a gentle practice to give my body and mind a break and some nourishment. I now like a mix of Hatha Yoga to keep my body strong and steady and Yin Yoga to extend the Facia, being able to really tune into the body and calm the mind.
Over the years my practice has changed a lot. When I first practiced Yin Yoga I felt like coming home in my yoga practice. My yoga practice is now very intuitive and interwoven with strong and gentle elements, plenty of time to experience the asanas / poses, plenty of variation to accommodate for our different bodies and skeletal structures, plenty of time to breathe consciously and deep and I am providing a space where the mind can become calm and settled and the body feel nourished.
Benefits of Hatha Yoga:
– Enhances strength, flexibility and balance
– Reduces symptoms of stress, anxiety & depression
– Relieving muscle tension
– Improves Balance & Body Posture
– Improves Memory & Concentration
– Helps to cultivate emotional balance
– Increases Blood flow and levels of hemoglobin & red bloodcells
– May increase lung capacity and help oxygenate blood through more conscious breathing
– Increases physical, emotional & spiritual wellness.
Here is one study you might want to read from PubMed “Exploring the therapeutic effects of yoga and its ability to increase quality of life”.
Some physical benefits of Yin Yoga:
– Improve your range of motion and flexibility
– Passively lengthen your muscles through stressing the fascial bags that wrap the muscle fibers.
– Reduce adhesions, which restrict movement between the sliding surfaces of our muscles
– Stimulate growth of fibroblasts, which are the cells responsible for creating collagen, elastin, and the water-loving molecules that hydrate our tissues and joints.
– make your ligaments thicker and stronger through greater collagen production.
– improve lubrication through greater hydration of our tissues, which allows joints to move and fascia to slide more easily
– Keep your skin younger looking though hydration, which provides room for cells to migrate through the extracellular matrix.
– Compress the extracellular matrix to liquefy the ground substance, which is often in a gel-like state, allowing toxins to flow out of the tissues
– Stimulate the chondrocytes and osteoblasts, which create cartilage and bone, helping to reduce degeneration of these tissues.
– Reestablish the normal lordotic curves of the spine, specifically in the lumbar but also in the cervical spine.
– Prevent or reduce contracture, where the ligaments and the joint capsule shrink and reduce the joint’s mobility
– Reduce osteopenia and osteoporosis, which are dangerous reductions in bone density.
– Reduce fixation, a condition that limits the movement of our joints, and thus prevents fusion, a permanent loss of mobility in the joint.
Some energetic benefits of Yin Yoga:
– Awaken, enhance, and balance prana.
– Stimulate and awaken the kundalini serpent, lending towards eventual liberation and enlightenment.
– Stimulate the production and flow of Chi and Jing energies.
– Nourish the organs through acupressure via compression of the meridian lines.
– Replenish the store of Jing in your Kidneys, which in turn helps all your organs function properly.
– Create tiny piezoelectric currents that stimulate optimal cellular responses.
– Create internal pulsed magnetic fields that can restore cellular health.
– Turn off the sympathetic nervous system (fight-or-flight) and turn on the parasympathetic nervous system (rest-and-digest)
– Increase levels of the neurotransmitter GABA.
From Bernie Clarkes book, The complete Guide to Yin Yoga
I interweave Aromatherapy and Sound Healing with my Tibetan Singing Bowls in my Yoga Sessions and longer 2 hour sessions with time for a long Shavasana and Sound Healing at the end of the yoga practice are my favorite.
I also love to hold space for one or multiple day retreats, where the real healing, listening and transformation can take place. Retreats can be customised for the needs of the group.
I am based in Hastings, but consider will consider teaching for retreats nationwide.
I would love to hold space for you.
