Foundational Hatha

This is the class you do to first check in with and then maintain your current levels of well being as you work steadily to improve them. While we can joke and laugh and talk a little in the first part of the class, we then move into a quiet space where you are guided to work rhythmically, flowing from one technique to another and thus putting the mind into the alpha state that is so restorative and relaxing. 

The classes follow a pattern rather than the easier glamour of titillating students with something new each week. It's only by working with a pattern that one can acquire that depth of experience & knowledge of the body required to reprogram it.  A certain element of predictability also allows the paradox of working strongly without feeling as if you are. 

So the class elements are: 

  • targeted stretching 
  • any one of an extensive range of breathing practices 
  • progressing through a sequence of 10 postures that target all the major systems in the body: no 1) brain & left/right hemisphere balance no 2) central nervous system & spine no 3) autonomic nervous system & solar plexus & nos 4-10) successively on each one of the main hormone secreting glands: ovaries/testes, adrenals, pancreas, thymus, thyroid, parathyroid, pituitary & pineal
  • relaxation building towards meditative practices 

Although this is a pattern, in any one class there'll be up to 5 variations of the postures ensuring extension work but still targeting the key areas while the limbering will always be deliberately chosen and adjusted to suit the needs of the class and the psychological climate.  The themes of each class will also vary according to whatever is relevant.  This means there can be consistency and consciousness in the practise of the techniques, without complacency. 

Participation in this class ensures that you will be maintaining a certain level of balance in all your body's major areas. 

 

Experienced Hatha

These take the same format as the foundation classes but just work at a deeper level.  Naturally, when you consistently practice, you progress.  Once you have a certain level of experience, ie it is important to be able to practise in a dedicated class of committed people without newcomers unwittingly redirecting the momentum of the class.

 

Progressive Yoga Relaxation

This is the opportunity to progressively release layers upon layers of tension and clear the subconscious of negative programming. ‘PYR’ is a steady journey of processing all of those factors in our experience that have led to us being less than we can be.  And you do all of this simply by lying down under a blanket! The Teacher guides you down into the depths of yourself and into a very quiet space of stillness, starting with the release of physical tension and working on various themes and topics throughout the term. The teacher works with you in meditation while you are in this space.

 

Integrative Restoration

This is very similar to Progressive Yoga Relaxation but follows a more structured, traditional & predictable pattern.  Again you are lying down for the hour and guided to work progressively and schematically through the various physical, emotional and mental levels as presented in a traditional yogic framework.  The difference with this is that the teacher’s voice is guiding you the whole time and the emphasis is more on your own active participation and input where with PYR, the transformation occurs more through you being in a passive receptive & allowing  state.  

 

Extension class: Also known as ‘Triple E: ‘Experiment, Explore, Expand!’

This class is where you have the opportunity to ask questions and to break down and concentrate on areas where you are feeling locked up or limited or blocked.  In this class, we work on a particular facet of our yoga in a way that workshops that area to help us understand why it  feels limited, while providing a series of techniques & stretches to really target it and help us to feel tangible progress. 

eg for one term, it may be tight hamstrings and the lower back, another it may be the hips, another it may be the foundational breath, another it may be a particular yoga posture, etc

We will often do partner work in these classes and, as with all the classes, you will be supported with resource sheets that reinforce what we learn with in class.

 

Study Group

This class is a sit down in a circle class where we learn about many of the yogic teachings that underpin and enliven the physical hatha practices.  It is a discussion cum study group.  We will look at a precept or teaching, or even work with a book for a term, try the yogic ideas on like a coat or a shoe for a week and come back and report on what we discovered or uncovered. 

The more you learn about the why of the yogic practices the more exciting and meaningful and potent the what becomes as in the actual techniques themselves. 

There can also develop, in these classes, an amazing sense of strength and mutual support from our fellow class participants as we share our stories and encounters along the way. 

 

Meditation: An Introductory Exploration

We're all acclimatised to the daily experience of being mentally engaged with the world: communicating, examining, investigating, exploring, analysing, listening. Especially in the age of the internet & smart phones, this uniquely human activity can occur on an unprecedented and sometimes unceasing level. 

I call this our 'horizontal communication'. 

What we're not necessarily trained for, or encouraged in, is what I call 'vertical communication' & this, in yoga parlance, is learning to hear & respond to what your higher self/soul, wants you to know. It's a case of a steady training of the mind, emotions and body so that they increasingly register what they may have been previously acculturated to block out.  In the yogic teachings, nearly all imbalances, emotionally, mentally and physically are because, on some level, the soul is not getting through.  However it's not necessary for you to take this on board in order to experience all the health benefits that arise out of a daily meditation endeavour. 

In this class we will be gradually exploring and experimenting with many different 'avenues of approach' and discovering what works best. 

The aim is to initially provide a bit of an overview of the potentially bewildering spectrum of techniques by trying out several of them over many weeks but eventually synthesising the most effective of these into guided practices. 

The class will involve:

  • a small component of physical stretching to help support the body to get into the space,
  • some class discussion and feedback each week with the opportunity to ask questions,
  •  input re the workings of the brain & other general background information and
  •  a guided practice session.
  •  the techniques, as they're introduced, will be accompanied by resource sheets to help you remember them.

Because I took the long difficult arduous path re learning to meditate I believe I can use that experience to help circumvent it for others!