Nutrition
Mindful breathing for calmer yoga sessions
Two halves of one practice
Yoga and meditation are usually sold separately, which is a fairly recent invention. The postures were originally a way of making a body comfortable enough to sit in for a long time. Putting the two back together changes both, and it does not take much.
How to begin without making it a project
Ten minutes, once a day, in a chair. Follow the breath, count to ten, start again when you lose count.
Sit upright but not rigid. A chair is entirely fine.
Set a timer so you are not checking the clock.
Losing the count is the practice, not a failure at it.
Same time each day beats a longer sit at random.
Ten minutes daily is worth more than an hour on Sundays.
Keep the timer short enough that skipping it feels absurd.
Do not grade the sit afterwards; there is nothing to grade.
There is nothing more advanced waiting for you later. That is the whole method, and it works because it is dull enough to repeat.
What changes on the mat
The first thing most people notice is that they stop leaving. A ten-minute sitting practice trains you to notice when attention has wandered and come back without making a fuss about it, and that skill transfers directly into a flow class. You spend more of the hour actually in the room.
Meditation does not make the mind quiet. It makes you less interested in whether the mind is quiet, which turns out to be better.
The second change is slower
After a few months, the relationship to difficulty shifts. A hard shape stops being something to survive and becomes something to observe, which sounds like a small distinction and is not. It is also the point at which the practice starts affecting the rest of the week rather than just the hour.
If sitting still is unbearable
Some people cannot go straight to stillness, and there is nothing wrong with that. Move first: a few minutes of slow, simple movement, then sit. That is exactly how our Meditative Yoga class is built, and it is the reason it works for people who have tried and failed at meditation apps for years.
Start with ten minutes tomorrow. Then do it again the day after, badly, and keep going. That unremarkable repetition is the entire method.
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No. Every class is taught with options rather than expectations, and our Fundamentals and Gentle sessions assume no prior practice at all. Tell your teacher it’s your first time and they will look after you.
Comfortable clothes and a water bottle. Mats, blocks, straps and bolsters are all provided, and there are showers and lockers in the changing rooms.
Yes. Drop-in classes and pay-as-you-go class packs sit alongside our memberships, so you can practise as often or as rarely as suits you.
Fifteen minutes before your first class, and around five for every class after that. It gives you time to check in, settle and set up your mat without rushing.
Pause or cancel anytime with 30 days notice. There are no joining fees and no lock-in contracts, and any unused class credits stay on your account.
We do. Several of our teachers are qualified in pre and postnatal practice and in therapeutic yoga. Let us know before class so your teacher can adapt the session for you.