5 good reasons to start ‘Complete Beginners’ yoga in 2015

If you are interested in trying out yoga, but are intimidated by the thought of exotic bends and legs wrapped behind heads, then read on…

The most wonderful thing about yoga is that ‘Yoga is for everyone’, virtually anyone can practice it, with a modified practice to suit you. Forget visions of Cirque du Soleil type students bending around in your local community hall, yoga is for people of all shapes, sizes, ages and abilities.

Walking into an established yoga class however, especially when you have never done yoga before, can be really daunting, and this is why Yoga-Fitness has developed the ‘Complete Beginners’ Yoga Course. Only for the complete and utter beginner, (so all students in the class are the same level), this five week course will introduce you into the world of yoga via the key yoga poses (asana), basic breathing (pranayama), and relaxation techniques, all in a safe and friendly environment. The physical postures will help to improve tone, strength, flexibility and balance, whilst the breathing and relaxation techniques will help you to rejuvenate and relax.

You won’t come out a fully enlightened yogi by the end of the course, but you will certainly know your way around a downward dog, know how to breathe using the full capacity of the lungs, and have a confidence you didn’t have before.

If you need more encouragement to roll out your mat and get started, read below for an insight into just some of the benefits of this ancient practice, (there are so many it is impossible to list them all):

Some of the benefits of yoga

1. Stress relief - Yoga encourages you to relax, slow your breath, and focus on the present. By encouraging relaxation and performing the breathing exercises, yoga helps to lower the levels of the stress hormone cortisol. Related benefits include lowering blood pressure and heart rate, improving digestion and boosting the immune system as well as easing symptoms of conditions such as anxiety, depression, fatigue, asthma and insomnia
2. Flexibility - Improved flexibility is one of the most obvious benefits of yoga. During your first class you probably won’t be able to touch your toes. But if you stick with it, you’ll notice a gradual loosening, and eventually, seemingly impossible poses will become possible
3. Muscular and Cardiovascular Health - As a result of practicing yoga, your entire muscular system can become stronger and more elastic, and therefore thus less susceptible to injury. Standing and balancing postures strengthen and lengthen the big muscle groups, whilst floor postures strengthen the muscles that support the spine and head. Even a gentle yoga practice can provide cardiovascular benefits by lowering resting heart rate, increasing endurance and improving oxygen uptake during the class
4. Space and Balance - Regularly practicing yoga increases proprioception (the ability to feel what your body is doing and where it is in space) and improves balance. People with bad posture or dysfunctional movement patterns usually have poor proprioception, which has been linked to knee problems and back pain
5. Better breathing - Yoga also promotes breathing through the nose, which filters the air, warms it and humidifies it, removing pollen and dirt and other things you’d rather not take into your lungs. It also encourages people to take slower, deeper breaths, using the full capacity of the lungs. This can help to improve lung function and increase the amount of oxygen available to the body, nourishing the cells.

In a nutshell, yoga just makes you feel better, its effects are almost immediate and you don’t often know why. When practiced regularly, yoga can increase our sense of physical health, emotional well-being and mental clarity

The Yoga-Fitness ‘Complete Beginners Course’

Voted ‘Netmums Favourite Adult Class in Richmond 2014’ runs throughout 2015. See below for the courses due to start in January 2015.

• WHERE: ETNA Community Centre, East Twickenham
• WHEN: Sunday eve 8:05pm - 9:15pm on the following dates: Jan 11^th, 18^th, 25^th AND Feb 1^st, 8th

OR

• WHERE: The Training Works, 120 St Margarets Road, Twickenham, TW1 2AA
• WHEN: Thursday eve 8:05pm - 9:15pm on the following dates: Jan 8^th, 15^th, 22^nd, 29^th AND Feb 5th

Pregnancy Yoga Classes in Twickenham and Isleworth

If you would like to give it a try, Sammie Mason will be starting a new pregnancy yoga class in Twickenham, from January 10^th 2015 as well as continuing an evening class in Isleworth. See details below:

• Saturday mornings: 9:45am - 11am, Heart Twickenham, 1^st Floor, 67a Holly Rd, TW1 4HF (behind M&S)
• Monday evenings: 6:30pm - 7:45pm, St Johns Church Hall, St Johns Road, Isleworth, TW7 6NY

Pregnancy yoga classes are suitable for anyone from 15 weeks of pregnancy, and no previous experience of yoga is necessary. Sammie Mason is a qualified Yoga teacher with the ‘British Wheel of Yoga’.

For further details or to book contact Sammie:

• contact@yoga-fitness.co.uk
• 07758 866834
• www.yoga-fitness.co.uk