Tag: wirral

Posted on by — 2 Comments

Guys do Yoga too!

Yoga was originally an exclusively male activity prior to it being brought over to the West. Often these days yoga class attendance is predominantly and often exclusively female. Men in general appear to have drifted away from yoga and some are often put off by the thought of being the only guy in the class. But guys do Yoga too! 

This week in West Kirby we had our highest turn out of men in attendance at our class. Out of 20 people we had 7 men in the class. This was also on a week when one of our regular male members was unable to come.

Steve and I are pleased that through our weekly classes we are able to share yoga with both men and women. Initially we had just a couple of men in the class and they often sat towards the rear, over the weeks they slowly moved forward and this week most of the front row was male.

So if there are any guys out there that fancy trying yoga you will be welcome at our friendly yoga class and can join or burgeoning group of male yogis! We teach an inclusive class suitable for all abilities. There is no such thing as being not flexible enough for yoga! That is the perfect reason for doing Yoga!

And of course not forgetting our lovely dedicated female yogini’s that come to our class every week!

Check out our other blogs at: https://pauls93.sg-host.com/blog/

Did you like this? Then please share!
Posted on by — Leave a comment

Wirral Summer Solstice Yoga Festival Sunday 25th June 2017 @ Thornton Hall Hotel and Spa

Hi Everyone,

We are really pleased to announce that we have been added to the Wirral Summer Solstice Yoga Festival taking place on Sunday 25th June 2017 at Thornton Hall Hotel and Spa.

This will be a great event and an opportunity to try out different types of Yoga and different teachers.

We will be teaching Gentle Yoga and meditation in the afternoon from 13:35 – 15:00 and there will be tea / coffee and cake available directly after we finish the session, sounds pretty good to us!

18839751_10154478035367019_8093674637565870155_o

I’ve included the link to the event on Facebook below where you can find further details.

Facebook Event link for Wirral Summer Solstice Yoga Festival

Tickets can be purchased at www.yogahealthwirral.com.

Yoga Health Wirral

Hope to see you there for a day of pampering and Yoga!


Paul & Steve

Yogasmiths

Did you like this? Then please share!
Posted on by — Leave a comment

Thank You – Charity Yoga Class for the We Love Manchester Emergency Fund

Thank you to all those who attended our Charity Yoga Class this morning in Ashton Park, West Kirby, Wirral from 11:00 till 12:30. We had a great turnout, thank you for all of your support. It was wonderful to see both familiar faces from our weekly classes and to also welcome new friends to practice with us.

We took our practice into the Secret Garden part of Ashton Park where we were able to practice in nature. We were privileged to be surrounded by beautiful bird song all morning as well as a few cheeky little dogs checking out what we were up to!

We started our practice with a breath visualisation exercise and a dedication to all of those affected by the recent events in Manchester.

18765262_278993702571630_1157524951_o18788969_278993695904964_1403282167_o

Moving through mobilisation and core work we launched into some strong Warrior poses and our peak pose was Vrksasana (Tree Pose). The secret garden had plenty of additional strong trees this morning! We closed our practice with a guided relaxation and Namaste.

18765087_278993859238281_529778897_o18788984_278993655904968_177820823_o

Attendance was by donation to the We Love Manchester Emergency Fund. We counted up the money when we returned home and are extremely pleased to announce that together we all raised £215 to send to the We Love Manchester Emergency Fund! Thank you so much to everyone for their very kind generosity.

We have sent the money to the British Red Cross We Love Manchester Emergency Fund via their Just Giving campaign page. We’ve set up our own Yogasmiths part of this campaign to allow anyone who could not attend to contribute, the link is below;

Just Giving Manchester Emergency Fund Yogasmiths page

Again thank you all for attending, it was a joy to practice in nature in the park and to start our Sunday in such a beautiful way. We were overwhelmed by your generosity and support.

Namaste

Paul & Steve Yogasmiths

18745382_10150897944044980_1111277088_o

Did you like this? Then please share!
Posted on by — 3 Comments

One to one Yoga Sessions – Spotlight on Catherine

I have just got back from teaching a one to one Yoga session to our lovely yoga student Catherine in the sunshine in Ashton Park, West Kirby. What a perfect way to spend the afternoon!

Catherine was completely new to Yoga when I started teaching her in January this year. She has made fantastic progress in her practice with each session and has established a home practice from the handouts and guidance that we provide.

18765149_10150896863804980_587656831_o

Catherine allowed me to take a picture of her (above) in Halasana (plough pose) this afternoon. This posture shows the progress she has made and demonstrates perfect form with strength, stability and ease. Catherine has noticed her strength and flexibility improve and has found the breathing techniques and relaxations beneficial in dealing with life in general!

18766981_10150896863744980_1510176914_o

The second picture above is how we end our practice, with a guided relaxation. Today we had the pleasure of being able to relax in the warmth of the afternoon sunshine in the beautiful natural surroundings of Ashton Park. We had a curious little blackbird wandering around whilst we practiced!

In addition to our weekly group classes we provide private one to one yoga sessions. For more information please check out One to One Yoga

Did you like this? Then please share!
Posted on by — 3 Comments

Tips for your first yoga class

We share with you our top tips for your first yoga class. This may be your first yoga class or you may be returning to yoga? That’s great news and we’re excited to have you join our friendly class! We love yoga and the benefits (both physical and mental) that come with practicing yoga and we are excited to share this with you.

However you may be uncertain as to what to expect from the class which is natural of course when trying anything new!

Tips for your first yoga class

So here is some useful information for your first class that will hopefully put your mind at ease:

What do I wear?

  • Wear loose, comfortable clothing. A t-shirt or vest and joggers or shorts are typical clothes worn during class.
  • When doing the poses you will have to take your socks off. This is for safety reasons (socks on yoga mats can be slippy!) but it also allows us to feel more grounded during the practice by having our feet in contact with the mat.

What do I bring to class?

  • All you need to bring is yourself! If you have a yoga mat then bring that along too, but if you need a mat we will have some available.
  • For comfort you might want to bring something warm to wear and/or a blanket for the relaxation part of the practice if you want but these aren’t essential. Although the room will be comfortably warm you may find that you feel cool as you relax as the breathing and heart rate become slower. Also, you might want to bring a cushion to sit on for the breathing practice but again this isn’t essential. (Tip: a rolled up blanket is also perfect for kneeling to protect the knees)
  • Bring a bottle of water if you’d like in case you get thirsty at any point.

Can I eat before class?

  • It’s okay to have a small snack 15-20 minutes before class but it isn’t recommended to eat a large meal up to 2 hours before doing yoga (so no three course meals or Chinese banquets before class! What you do after class is entirely up to you though!)

What do I do during a yoga class?

  • Our typical class will incorporate a short period of breathing practice to settle the mind and prepare our mind, body and breath for the physical posture work.
  • We will then move onto warming and mobilisation postures before moving onto stronger postures. Everyone will be included because we explain and demonstrate how each posture can be modified to benefit any student regardless of ability, experience, shape or size. A modified version of a posture has exactly the same benefits as full expressions of the postures.
  • Often there will be a theme to the class, and/or or one or two peak postures which we work towards during the class.
  • The physical posture work will be followed by a guided relaxation. There are many different relaxation techniques that can be used. Guided relaxation is an excellent method of helping us manage stress and calm the body and mind.

If you have any more questions about what to expect from your first class please let us know! Further information is provided in the student resources section of our website under ‘Info for new clients’.

We look forward to welcoming you all to class!

Links

Book a place at one of our yoga classes in our Shop

https://www.bwy.org.uk/

 

 

Did you like this? Then please share!