Yoga & Retreats
“Yoga – meditative strength”
Tuesdays (term time only) at 6.50pm – 7.50pm
Donations basis
At St Mark’s C of E Primary School, Tunbridge Wells
All donations are towards St Mark’s School’s staff wellbeing.
Having practised as a massage therapist for many years, I can see the repeated patterns of movements that we feed our crooked postures with, myself included. In this yoga class, I would like to focus predominantly on relaxation and movement from a relaxed body, being fully aware of any unconscious tensions and knowing how to let them go.
I would like to maintain the spiritual part of yoga practice in this class, not only increasing the intensity of the asanas. For example, we do not do sun salutation in order to warm up our bodies solely, but also as it is a salutation and a form of a prayer, we aim to remain soft and with devotion in it. It is more of surrender than being forceful, more perceptive than expressive.
In this yoga class we focus on “less is more”. We will practise to control our bodies’ internal environment with our will. We will go deeper into our movements with imagination, and we will assign meaning to our movements. We will be explorative and playful, dynamic, and still. We will soften our hearts and be present. Cultivating awareness of the body even with the smallest movement; and further, through meditation and meditative movements, we purify our mind.
I also like to include somatic movements. Somatic movements address accumulated muscle tension that develop in response to stress. What you can’t feel, you can’t move. I like to slow down and feel more. Gradually enhancing body awareness, the mind-body connection, and retraining the brain to relax the muscles and undo destructive habitual patterns, we will be able to achieve a totally relaxed state.
I would like to share these two talks I have seen recently, as they portray what I would like to aim for. It is mainly to take ownership of our own bodies and have some baseline knowledge about our body functions. So, throughout the yoga classes, I would like to aim to gradually teach you some tools and techniques to connect with your own body and hopefully dive deep into the mystery of body-mind connections.
I would like to share two online talks which recently really resonated with me; both conducted by Dr Rangan Chaterjee:
“David Bidler – An Epidemic Of Mental Illness: Fix These Lifestyle Habits To Take Back Control Of Your Body & Mind”
“It’s not that exercise is an antidepressant, it’s that not exercising is a depressant.”
David’s core belief is that if we could teach all the kids around the world the fundamental skills of breathing, nutrition, movement and rest, as a priority over the current education system, we could see a huge change to the rates of poor mental health.
Not only do I believe that we can teach our children but also us adults, too. We have handed over our bodies too much to the power of advertising and then dashing to the doctor to fix us. We should be able to navigate our own nervous system, feel our natural responses to our environment and be able to act accordingly. We can all have a natural body skillset to combat the continuous chronic numbing and overstimulation, potentially leading to a burnout. We need to know how to control our inner state. So, I like to include the physiology in my yoga classes, just like David Bidler.
Another talk takes this a ‘physiology’ step further; to the exercise itself. What type of exercise, how frequent, how long and at what intensity? The World-renowned sports scientist Professor Stephen Seiler is really worth listening to: “Habits To Heal The Body: Truth About Exercise, Burnout, Muscle & Preventing Injuries”:
His main point is sustainability, the art of a long game. Life is a game of endurance and Stephen has observed that 80:20 rule is the most effective for performance and health. He explains why hard workouts are a stressor on the body, putting us in fight-or-flight mode – so they’ll increase your risk of burnout if the rest of your life is stressful too. There is a way of scaling your fitness up or down, whatever your starting point. Stress is not what happens to you but how you respond to it; leading again to knowing our physiology first.
Past retreats:
Connect to your feminine energy & reclaim your power
Saturday 24th June 2023
10 am – 4pm
Scords Farm, Toys Hill, Westerham TN16 1QE
Venezuelan Cacao Ceremony, mindful walk in nature, healthy plant-based lunch, female talk about cycles, mindful movements to release tension.
