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British Wheel of Yoga Congress 2017-Day1

Hey Everyone, we are attending the British Wheel of Yoga Congress at Warwick University. The campus looked beautiful as we arrived in sunny weather, all of the daffodils still in full bloom.

We attended a fantastic session delivered by Michael Chissick on “How to Use Yoga to Transform Children’s Social Skills and Self Esteem.”

Michael led us through a fun session where we pretended that we were school children participating in a yoga class. Michael has a wealth of experience in this area and has been teaching yoga to children for many years. We learned the importance of interaction  to build self esteem and also class control. Applying the sun salutation in a fun way and incorporating posture based games was inspiring. We will certainly be checking out David’s book and stall in the market arena over the weekend. The session showed us how with imagination and a sense of fun our knowledge and experience as Yoga Teachers can easily be adapted to teach fun and rewarding sessions to children.

Here is a link to Michael’s website Yoga At School

After a welcoming address officially opening the Congress weekend, there was a very inspiring talk from Fazilah Bazari, a yoga teacher from Papua New Guinea. Fazilah has taken yoga to extremely deprived and dangerous areas to help aid real change in peoples lives.

You can read more about the work that Fazilah has been doing here Yoga Unites

The second session we attend was with David Tierney and was on “Core Stability and it’s Role in Yoga.” We looked at all the different muscles that make up the core and targeted them with specific exercises. Then we brought mindfulness to our practice of yoga postures with acute detail to the core and its support in the postures.

Off to bed early this evening as we have a class at 7am tomorrow!

Namaste

Paul & Steve

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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/

 

 

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Yoga Quest by Paul Fox – Book Review

Sometimes we are lucky enough to find the right book to read at the right time in our lives. Yoga Quest by Paul Fox was certainly the right book for me at this point in my Yoga journey. As a result I found this book a very useful overview of yoga.

Paul Fox, the author, is the current Chair of the British Wheel of Yoga. His knowledge and experience of his subject matter is evident.

Joe Knightly’s Yoga Quest

Yoga Quest is a really easy read and quite the page turner. The author’s skill in this novel is to educate you as you read. The book follows the journey of the main character Joe Knightly on his Yoga Quest. This is a quest to discover the true meaning of Yoga. It is a wonderful vehicle for the readers own learning about all things yoga.

Joe’s 2 year long Yoga Quest takes in all of the main types of Yoga, the history of Yoga and the main famous teachers. As a reader I related to the main characters reaction to certain aspects of the Yoga journey and the current trends in yoga. The reader is given a comprehensive overview of Yoga through the plot of the book. The foreign locations in the book really come alive and make me want to visit them.

It is not often I read a book and feel the need to have pen and paper to hand to jot down things to enquire into myself. After finishing reading Yoga Quest by Paul Fox, I now have a list which forms my very own Yoga Quest and I am thoroughly looking forward to starting it! I also have a renewed appreciation and love for Janu Sirsasana!

If you are interested in Yoga, new to Yoga or even on your own Yoga journey, I would recommend this book to you. It is a great read!

Buy a copy here

You can buy a copy direct from the author, Paul Fox, here;

http://corestrengthyoga.co.uk

Alternatively it is also available on Amazon.

Check out our other book reviews here: https://yogasmiths.org/category/book-review/

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BWY Magazine Cover & Interview

Hi Everyone

The current issues of the British Wheel of Yoga magazine has been sent out. We are honoured to be on the front cover and to have been interviewed.

The link to the magazine is below and our interview is on Page 30-31

BWY Spectrum Winter 2016

Namaste x

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