Hi Yogi’s
Here is a video of a fun Christmas themed Yoga sequence we put together for our classes over the festive period.
The video below is the finale of the song from our West Kirby yoga class on Thursday 21st December 2017.
Thank you to all our Yoga students for being such good sports and enjoying our Christmas themed class.
Thanks
Paul & Steve x
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7CjfJP6Rtk
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.
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;
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
Lets get it clear from the outset that I love the Rolling Stones and have done since my teens. Over the years as I progressed further into my yoga journey I was pleasantly surprised how often the Rolling Stones had a link to and relevance to yoga.
I guess the first time I started to notice this was in the lyrics to ‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want’. In the first limb of Yoga, the Yamas (codes of self restraint), there is non-greed, aparigraha. The lyric “You can’t always get what you want, but if you try some time, you just might find, you get what you need,” pretty much sums up aparigraha. If we are greedy and allow ourselves to be overcome with desire and wants then we will not sit in a happy contended place in our lives. But if you try sometime, you just might find that you have got everything you need.
Through yoga we can observe our desires and wants and begin to see with greater clarity which are “wants” and which are “needs”. It doesn’t mean that we no longer have “wants” but it allow us to contextualise these wants and not allow them to dictate our happiness. Being mindful and living in the present moment. The Zen of the Rolling Stones!
The next yoga coincidence occurred when I visited Exhibitionism at the Saatchi gallery in London to see all of the Stones memorabilia. There was an exhibit about the famous tongue and lips logo and how it came about. Mick had seen the lips on a picture of the Goddess Kali. See below;
Goddess Kali features in the both the Vedas and the Upanishads which are ancient yogic and Hindu texts. Clearly Mick has had an interest in this area since the sixties.
Mick has stated a number of times in recent years that he includes Yoga in his workout regime. He has also been in the press this year talking about his new found love of aerial yoga!
Having a dig around on the internet I found a picture of Mick in Sarvangasana (Shoulder Stand Pose) from back in the early 70’s;
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And another of him in a variation of Shoulder Stand;
A further pic of Mick and Ronnie in Vrksasana (Tree Pose);
There is also a video of Mick warming up for a tour and he does some of the same warm-ups that we teach in our classes;
So basically, Mick Jagger does Yoga, he is 74 and in amazingly good health! So do Yoga like Mick! Get the moves like Jagger….
And lets not forget about Keith who is looking like he has reached Samadhi in a seated yoga pose with a glass of bourbon;
Yeah man! Yoga and the Rolling Stones!
Namaste x
Sources:
Rolling Stones: Never-before-seen photos
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kali
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For all things Rolling Stones related check out their Official website at: https://rollingstones.com/
Tia and Ben, two of our regular yoga students at our weekly Hoylake Yoga class kindly invited us to attend the West Kirby Light Opera Society Stars in their Eyes night.
It was held in Westbourne Hall and was a fantastic night out. Steve and I took my mum to see it and we all had a great time.
All of the performers were wonderful. There was Johnny Cash, Kate Bush, The Supremes, Michael Buble, Dean Martin, K D Lang, George Michael, Roy Orbison, Shirley Bassey, Taylor Swift, Bewitched, Tina Turner, Cindy Lauper, Nancy Sinatra, Grace Jones and more! The Winner was the very fierce Grace Jones. She had everyone on the edge of their seats wondering if they were going to be picked on from a very in character temperamental Grace Jones!
We were overwhelmed by Tia who performed as Shirley Bassey, Kate Bush and Diana Ross and the Supremes. Our personal favourite was her turn as Kate Bush performing Wuthering Heights complete with the famous dance!
The Yoga has got to help with a dance routine like this;
Ben too was in fine voice as the man in black Johnny Cash performing Ring of Fire, complete with a Tijuana Brass man in the background!
Tia is heavily involved in putting the night together and is also a key member of the West Kirby Light Opera society. The night was a great success and we will be sure to return next year!
Check out the website for the West Kirby Light Opera Society and their up coming events here;
West Kirby Light Opera Society
Paul
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!Â
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/