Category: British Wheel of Yoga

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Gentle Years Yoga Class Online

Gentle Years Yoga Class online

Welcome to Yogasmiths gentle years yoga class OnLine!

We are pleased to be taking our Gentle Years Yoga Class online.

Our Gentle Years Yoga Class Online is a chair based yoga suitable for anyone who wishes to or needs to take their yoga practice a little more gently. This can include people with age related health conditions or health conditions that require a yoga practice that is modified.

We have been teaching Gentle Years Yoga since January 2018. We were some of the earliest teachers to be trained in Gentle Years Yoga through the British Wheel of Yoga. Our classes have proved very popular and lots of friends have been made.

Gentle Years Yoga Class online
Gentle Years Yoga class – chair based yoga

Gentle Years Yoga is an authentic traditional Hatha yoga practice that has been modified to be chair based. A 75 minute class will include breathing exercises, pulse raising activities, concentration activities, co-ordination activities, resistance work, yoga postures and a relaxation. It is suitable for all and can be adapted for all.

Class is followed by optional chat on Zoom for people to chat to one another.

Gentle Years Yoga Class
Having a chat and cuppa after our Gentle Years Yoga Class, we can do this online after our Gentle Years Yoga Class Online
HOW TO ATTEND / JOIN

You can purchase access to our Gentle Years Yoga online class at our shop, the link is here: Shop

Upon purchase a window will open with the meeting ID and password, please make a note of these.  You will also receive an email with the Zoom meeting ID and password for you to use to access this on-line class. Please make a note of this meeting ID and password. The email will also contain a link that you can click on that takes you directly to the class.

Here is a link to Zoom https://zoom.us/

We are British Wheel of Yoga and Yoga Alliance trained teachers, fully insured through the British Wheel of Yoga.

You get two friendly teachers for the price of one which ensures safe practice and plenty of attention and modifications are offered  to ensure the classes are inclusive for all abilities.

Cost: £6 per person

Student Health Questionnaire

Please see our website Student resources  where you can complete or download a health questionnaire. This must be completed and returned prior to attendance at the class. Please email completed questionnaires to enquiries@yogasmiths.org. The easiest option is to complete the form online via this link and then click submit Yogasmiths Student Health Questionnaire

The webpage also has information and advice about attending a yoga class for the first time. There are also biog’s for both teachers on the website.

You will need a chair to sit on to attend this class.

In our face to face classes we use balls, bean bags and resistance bands. You may wish to have a cushion to hand and a couple of tins (metal food tins in place of bean bags), also a dressing gown cord or a belt (in place of a resistance band). Do not worry if you do not have any of these items as they are not essential for attendance.

We look forward to guiding you through your yoga practice.

Paul & Steve Yogasmiths

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British Wheel of Yoga Diploma course certificates

Our British Wheel of Yoga Diploma Course Certificates arrived earlier this year. We finished the training last year but the certificates take a little while to be issued. But they are certainly worth waiting for!

British Wheel of Yoga Diploma certificates
Paul & Steve modelling their Diploma certificates!

The British Wheel of Yoga Diploma in teaching yoga is a Level 4 diploma. Learning hours on the course are a minimum of 500 hours. It comprises eight units as follows;

  1. Applied Anatomy and Physiology and the Teaching of Asana
  2. Yoga Breathing Practices and Relaxation
  3. Planning for Teaching and the Responsibilities of a Yoga Teacher
  4. Planning and Delivering a Yoga Course
  5. Teaching Asana: Observation, Adjustment and Protection of Vulnerable Areas of the Body
  6. Hatha Yoga and Pranayama
  7. The Teaching and Philosophy of Meditation
  8. Progression in Yoga

As a result of the above units you get a fantastic grounding in all things yoga. The British Wheel of Yoga qualifications actually prepare you to teach yoga.

OFQUAL regulated

OFQUAL regulated qualification

In the corner of our British Wheel of Yoga Diploma certificates is the OFQUAL logo. OFQUAL is the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation and regulates qualifications, examinations and assessments in England. (Here is their website: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofqual ) This means that the British Wheel of Yoga course must meet certain regulatory framework requirements. It also means that every course has a verifier who check the standard of the training and the written work.

The world of Yoga teacher training is unregulated and as such the quality of trainings vary massively. This varies from short courses below 200 hours and even some correspondence courses. The industry standard is 200 hours which is often crammed into a month long period via a trip to an exotic location. As a former learning and development professional I know that cramming intense learning into such a short period of time is not good practice. Can you really learn a profession in one month? With the British Wheel of Yoga you are getting an OFQUAL regulated 500 hour training course. This really is a reassuring mark of quality.

When searching out Yoga Teacher training courses, you are preparing to make a significant financial investment in your training. As a result make sure you do some due diligence to avoid being disappointed. The British Wheel of Yoga offer an unrivalled quality of teacher training as one would expect of the Governing Body for Yoga in the UK. You can check out their website here: https://www.bwy.org.uk/

We wrote a previous blog about our journey on the British Wheel of Yoga Diploma which you can find here: https://yogasmiths.org/2019/09/23/the-british-wheel-of-yoga-diploma-journey/

British Wheel of Yoga Diploma certificates
Paul and Steve with their British Wheel of Yoga Diploma certificates
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World Book Day 2020 – Svadhyaya (self-study)

World Book Day 2020

Today is World Book Day 2020 and we are going to look at how it links with the 8 limbs of yoga.

In the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali one of the 8 limbs of Yoga are the Niyama (limb number 2). These are five virtuous behaviours that Patanjali recommends that we cultivate in ourselves. The 4th Niyama is Svadhyaya. This translates as self-study. How does this fit in with World Book Day 2020?

There are two elements to this idea of self-study. There is the study of the self and there is self directed study. As today is World Book Day I am going to discuss the later.

Svadhyaya as self-directed study is the reading of books that will enrich our lives. Books that allow us to develop in a positive way. This is very much in line with what we would call “life-long learning’.

It is the study and reading of texts / films or documentaries that will enrich our lives. Material that will result in increase our knowledge of ourselves. Modern research has shown that continuing to learn new things late into life can in some cases help to fend off dementia and cognitive decline.

In his book Samadhi, Gregor Maehle interprets Svadhyaya as prioritising the desire to answer the following questions;

  • Who are we?
  • What is our true identity?
  • What is the purpose of our life?

Applying svadhyaya to life

Svadhyaya has quite a life changing implication here around our consumption of such things as newspapers and television. Are we watching television programmes that inspire us and enrich our lives? Or do we use television as “chewing gum for the eyes”? Are we reading newspapers that educate us? Or do they instil us with fear of the world? Svadhyaya is mindful consumption of television and media. Being aware of how such things make you feel.

Over the years I have reduced my consumption of television dramatically. As a result only choosing to occasionally watch documentaries and films. This has had a positive effect for me, I became aware that often certain television programmes left me feeling annoyed, frustrated or down. Removing this source of negativity can have an uplifting effect on your general mood. This all comes down to mindfulness and having a greater awareness of how such things make you feel. I have found more time to read books and to undertake study. I have always found books to be a rich source of inspiration not just philosophical books or yoga books but also biographies. Biographies can give us a good insight into other peoples experience of life, this can help us foster feelings of empathy and compassion allowing us to put ourselves in the place of the author.

My own love of books and reading

I have always enjoyed reading and this is something that my parents encouraged in me as a little boy. Growing up we didn’t have a lot of money but my parents always bought me a new book when I had read my current one. As a result this was encouragement to read! Mum would take me down to Chapter One bookshop in West Kirby and I would pick a Willard Price adventure book. These books transported me to exotic lands and exciting adventures and gave me a desire to travel when I was older.

I also loved Enid Blyton. Newton Post Office had a selection of children books and I would love looking at the selection of Famous Five titles. I read some of the Secret Seven books but my favourites were the Famous Five. The escapades of the five and Timmy the dog had me enthralled. Their adventures on Kirin Island felt almost possible for me with Hilbre Island sitting in the estuary. I remember my Dad telling me that smugglers used to use Hilbre Island and this made it all the more exciting and real!

When I was 7 years old we got a lovely little dog called Sandy and she was my “Timmy the dog” from the Famous Five stories. We would have lots of adventures in the fields around Newton, finding dens and watching foxes, rabbits and hares. This sense of exploration and interest in life and nature came directly from the books that I read.

This interest in books and knowledge stayed with me into adulthood and is a continuing gift that my parents gave to me by providing me with books as a child and by taking me for walks in nature.

World Book Day 2020

Today is World Book Day, Thursday 5th March 2020. The impact that reading and access to books can have on a child and the subsequent adult is great. I feel that encouraging reading is as important as ever in this age of modern technology. The purpose and aims of world book day from their website are below;

World Book Day is a registered charity on a mission to give every child and young person a book of their own. It’s also a celebration of authors, illustrators, books and (most importantly) it’s a celebration of reading. In fact, it’s the biggest celebration of its kind, designated by UNESCO as a worldwide celebration of books and reading, and marked in over 100 countries all over the world.


This is the 23rd year there’s been a World Book Day, and on 5th March 2020, children of all ages will come together to appreciate reading. Very loudly and very happily. The main aim of World Book Day in the UK and Ireland is to encourage children to explore the pleasures of books and reading by providing them with the opportunity to have a book of their own. That’s why we will be sending schools (including those nurseries and secondary schools that have specially registered to participate), packs of Book Tokens and age-ranged World Book Day Resource Packs (age-ranged into Nursery/Pre-School, Primary and Secondary) full of ideas and activities, display material and more information about how to get involved in World Book Day.

From www.worldbookday.com

Support World Book Day in any way that you can, it is a fantastic initiative!

Here is a link to the World Book Day website where there are lots of great resources; https://www.worldbookday.com

Check out our Book Review blogs at : https://yogasmiths.org/category/book-review/

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Gentle Years Yoga© certificates and new weekly class

Gentle Years Yoga Class online

We received our British Wheel of Yoga Gentle Years Yoga© teaching certificates recently. This marks the end of a two year period since undertaking the initial training. We were in the second wave of teachers after the pilot study to be taught how to teach the Gentle Years Yoga© chair based classes.

Yogasmiths with their Gentle Years Yoga© teaching certificates
Yogasmiths with their Gentle Years Yoga© teaching certificates

The Qualification

The qualification involved being assessed on age related anatomy and physiology. We were also assessed by a British Wheel of Yoga Diploma Course Tutor teaching the classes. In addition to the course work involved we have also prepared two case studies each to contribute to the growing body of anecdotal evidence to the effectiveness of chair based yoga. Thank you to the class members who very kindly assisted us with the case studies.

The initial pilot study demonstrated both physical and mental health benefits to the chair based yoga. As a result there is now a nationwide trial of Gentle Years Yoga© taking place which we are pleased to be part of. We will certainly share the result of this interesting piece of research once the trial concludes.

You can read about the research pilot with a link to the paper on this blog: Gentle Years Yoga classes – Hoylake – Chair based yoga

The Research Trial

You can find a previous blog about the start of the research trial here: A Great Start to the BWY Gentle Years Yoga National Research Trial

Our new weekly class

We have a new regular weekly Gentle Years Yoga© chair based yoga class starting. The class starts on Friday 28th February 2020 at 12:45pm in Hoylake Parade Community Centre. It takes place on the first floor in the Rehearsal Room. There is parking, disabled access and a lift.

The class includes full body mobilisations, strengthening activities, gentle pulse raising activities and modified yoga poses. We explore elements of yoga philosophy, breathing exercises and guided relaxations. In addition to all of that we have a social element to the classes. After each session we head down stairs to Popsy’s cafe and have a chat over tea and coffee. Consequently we get to know each other and it is a great opportunity to make some new friends.

You can find a link to the event on our Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/events/207148843819466/

You can also find further details on our website at: Classes

Gentle Years Yoga© class
Our Gentle Years Yoga© chair based class in Hoylake
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The Science of Teaching Yoga for Athletes training completed!

Paul recently completed his 40 hour Yoga Teacher Training course in The Science of Teaching Yoga for Athletes. He luckily won this training course in a competition run by the Institute of Yoga Sports Science website https://www.yogasportscience.com/ The Institute of Yoga Sports Science are listed as a recognised centre by The British Wheel of Yoga. This recognises that they show excellence in their specialist field of yoga.

It is an interesting course which focusses on looking at specific sports and the most common movement patterns involved. As a result, intelligent yoga interventions can be formulated to suit particular sporting populations. Paul chose swimming as he used to be in a swimming team in his teens. He has always maintained this sporting hobby. Practicing the sport specific yoga alongside having some improver swimming lessons has resulted in him improving his front crawl stroke.

The Science of Teaching Yoga for Athletes
Paul with his Science of Teaching Yoga to Athletes certificate from The Institute of Yoga Sports Science

Further training

This year we are furthering our training in the area of Sports Yoga. We have already trained with Sarah Ramsden, the yoga teacher who worked at Manchester United and Manchester City football club for many year. Completing The Body Aligned training with her was a fantastic CPD course. We enjoyed it very much and consequently have decided to do the next level of training with her called Sports Yoga -The Body Athletic – teaching yoga to athletes and in sport. As part of this training we will both be working with a sports person or athlete over the summer and are looking forward to this.

We love undertaking additional training and continuing our professional development. In doing so we can provide our yoga students with the best experience possible and further our own knowledge.

You can find out details of all the training we have undertaken here; https://pauls93.sg-host.com/about/

Details of how we have been consistently listed on the Three Best Rated website for Best Yoga Class in Wirral since we started our business in 2016 can be found here https://pauls93.sg-host.com/2020/01/13/best-yoga-class-in-wirral/

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