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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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Yogasmiths Christmas Charity Raffle Donation to Wirral’s Homeless CIC

Thank you to all those who took part in our Yogasmiths Christmas Charity Raffle. As we discussed in class, Christmas and the start of the new year is a great opportunity to practice Karma yoga via charitable giving.
There were many prizes on offer;
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The winner of our top prize, a block of 6 Yogasmiths classes and a box of After Eight mints, was Lisa Shaw from West Kirby;
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We raised nearly £80 from the raffle. We have donated £100 to a local Community Interest Company that feed the local homeless. They are called Wirral’s Homeless CIC. They have a facebook page at;

Wirral’s Homeless CIC

They can also be contacted by email at:

wirralshomeless@hotmail.com

If you would like to donate any money to the group they would be most grateful to receive it and they accept bank transfer of a Paypal. Wonderful local groups like this are dependant on the generosity of others.

Namaste

Paul & Steve

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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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Gentle Years Yoga training – Knaresborough

We’ve had a great weekend at the Yorkshire Yoga Centre, a British Wheel of Yoga Approved Regional Centre in Knaresborough, undertaking Gentle Years Yoga training  with Laura Bissell and Jenny Howsam.

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We have been through lots of seated versions of Yoga postures, supported standing postures and looked at the use of props and equipment to allow yoga to be accessible to all. Some of the props we used included scarves, resistance bands, bean bags, balls and broom handle.

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It was really nice to sit in on a real Gentle Years Yoga class and to speak to the students afterwards and hear what brought them to yoga and why they keep up their practice. Interestingly many of the students had experienced age related falls and an associated loss of confidence. Gentle Years Yoga had really helped to increase their strength, improve their balance and build back their confidence. The programme aims to improve the activities of daily living in those with various health conditions. This is achieved by a mix of gentle cardio activities, resistance band strength work and yoga flexibility postures adapted to a chair.

Inspiring creativy

We are really enthused about the Gentle Years Yoga training programme and its excellent blend of mobilisation, seated yoga, heart rate raising activity, dexterity exercises and not forgetting fun! The training has really encouraged us to be creative and has opened a whole new area to explore when writing our class plans. The use of lots of new and different props provides endless possibilities.

We will be looking to start out Gentle Years Yoga classes very soon, stay tuned for more information and announcements! If you are interested in the classes or interested on behalf of a family member please do not hesitate to get in touch at  yogasmithsorg@gmail.com 

Namaste

Paul & Steve

Link to the British Wheel of Yoga website: https://www.bwy.org.uk/

Check out our other blogs here: Blog

 

 

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