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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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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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We are BWY Foundation Course 1 Tutors! 2020 Course Details….

Our certificates have come through from the British Wheel of Yoga, we are now officially BWY Foundation Course 1 tutors.

Paul and Steve with the BWY Foundation Course 1 Tutor Training certificates


This is the next stage for us in our journey as BWY teachers. We attended a fantastic 4 day tutor training course in Grantham with Belinda Emberson. As a result of which we have been approved as BWY Foundation Course 1 tutors. Here is a blog about the Foundation Course 1 training here: https://yogasmiths.org/2019/11/09/bwy-foundation-course-1-tutor-training-in-grantham/

Course starting April 2020

We have submitted and had approved our 60 hour course plan. Hence, we are now advertising and accepting applications for our first ever BWYT Foundation Course 1 which will start in April 2020. Places are strictly limited to 18.

The Foundation Course 1 is a wonderful personal development course where we go deeper into the rich tradition of yoga. It is an opportunity to deepen your knowledge and to discuss the ancient yogic texts. The syllabus covers topics such as preparation for practice, asana, mudra, basic breathing, kriya, pranayama, concentration techniques, relaxation techniques, mantra, talks and discussions on the context and meaning of Yoga.  

The BWYT Foundation Course 1 runs one Sunday a month for 10 months in beautiful Hoylake on the Wirral. The venue for the course is Hoylake Parade Community Centre, Hoyle Road, Hoylake. It is a lovely community centre that used to be an old school, in fact, Paul’s mum, Mavis attended at when it was a school.

The course is taught by both of us, Paul & Stephen Smith, directors of Yogasmiths Limited. This will ensure that you get different perspectives and allow for attentive teaching of asana.

Find out all the details about the course including the application form at: BWYT Foundation Course 1

Our course is also listed on the British Wheel of Yoga Website at; https://www.bwy.org.uk/national/event/1347/

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Happy 1 Year Anniversary of our public classes!

First and foremost thank you to everyone that has supported us over the last year since we moved from teaching one to ones to group classes!

This includes all those that have come to our public yoga classes, our one to one clients and our corporate clients!

Thursday 19th April 2018 marked the one year anniversary. A one year anniversary is traditionally known as the paper anniversary, so what better way to mark this than by giving away some of our gift vouchers!

We decided to add up who had attended the most classes and give something back to our biggest supporters.

Our leader board was as follows;

1st place – a gift voucher for a block of 6 classes – Jane Walsh

2nd place – a voucher for 3 classes – Janet Deighton

3rd place – a voucher for 3 classes – Julie Forshaw

4th place – a box of fancy chocolates – Graham Cowell

There were also Co-op vegan doughnuts for everyone after class, a fine selection of both custard and jam. One of our class members, Margaret can be seen feeding us doughnuts in the picture below whilst demonstrating our peak poses of Cobra and Upwards facing dog.

Thank you again for all your support

Namaste

Paul & Steve xx

 

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Gentle Years Yoga classes – Hoylake – Chair based yoga

We are very pleased to announce that we are starting our British Wheel of Yoga Gentle Years Yoga classes in Hoylake starting on Friday 12th January at 10:30am at Hoylake Community Parade Centre, 31 Hoyle Road, Hoylake, Wirral, CH47 3AG.

Gentle Years Yoga 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.

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, a pulse raising activity, concentration activities, co-ordination activities, resistance work, yoga postures, relaxation and an important element of fun. It is suitable for all and can be adapted for all.

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Please find a link below to the British Wheel of Yoga Gentle Years Yoga research results. As can be seen in the research document, the people in the pilot had conditions such as osteoarthritis, hypertension, depression/anxiety, hypercholesterolemia, rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, dementia, cancer and cerebrovascular disease.

Results-of-the-BWY-Gentle-Years-Yoga-Research

The pilot group demonstrated the following benefits from Gentle Years Yoga;

  • Better mental well-being
  • Better quality of life
  • Improved leg strength
  • Improved lower body flexibility
  • Improved resting heart rate
  • Improved physical function – chair raising and walking
  • Improved flexibility
  • Reduced pain
  • Stress relief / calming effect
  • Improved mood
  • Reduced frequency of panic attacks
  • Enjoyable social interaction and making new friends

After the 75 minute class at the Hoylake Parade Community Centre all attendees are encouraged to go to the cafe on the ground floor for tea, cake and a chat.

If you have any queries about Gentle Years Yoga either for yourself or a friend / relative please do not hesitate to get in touch either by using the contact form on the website or emailing us at enquiries@yogasmiths.org or alternatively you can call us on 07834268052.

We have gift vouchers available that can be used to purchase a block of 6 gentle Years Yoga classes for a relative. A great birthday or Xmas present.

Here is a link to the Facebook event for our first Gentle Years yoga class;

Gentle Years Yoga class – Facebook event

We look forward to welcoming you to our new friendly Gentle Years Yoga class

Namaste

Paul & Steve

 

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