The Age Well Yin Yoga Programme will be different to any other yoga or exercise programme you will have previously undertaken. It is based not only on my yoga education and teaching, but on my years of experience working as an hollistic physiotherapist. Each and everyone’s experience of any yoga class will be different, as we bring to the mat our own unique experiences of life. So what you take off the mat to integrate into your day to day lives will be different too.
The programme provides an opportunity to explore, how your body moves, feels and connects. Much of the time we function on autopilot. Movement just happens. We learn a movement and it becomes a habit. We tend to move in the same fashion most of the time, some movements will be helpful and others less so. When we move , more often than not that movement will feel ‘normal’, ‘comfortable’. As I say it just happens.
To understand how this translates to what and how you will be learning in the programme, you need to do a quick experiment :-
Fold your arms across your chest.
Look down and note which arm is folded on top of the other arm.
Now fold your arms so that this is reversed, ie so that the arm at the bottom is now folded on top.
How does that feel?
When you first folded your arms across your chest, this is the way you will have always folded your arms across your chest. The movement is automatic, it just happens.
It is not important as to how you specifically perfom this task, but if we take this as an example for movement as a whole then we can start to see how our movements and postures are rooted in habit.
If we work on the premise that we all hold tension of one kind or another. We might have had a physical injury, or gone through some kind of heartbreak, or we might be thinking in an unhelpful negative way. It’s important to note that physical tension can manifest from emotional and mental origins and not just physical trauma.
Our bodies will hold tension, and often we can see this in people’s posture. When we move, we move within the constraints of this tension.
From my years of experience working as a physiotherapist and yoga teacher what I have found generally speaking , is that people move where they have always moved and hold where they have always held.
When faced with a challenge , physical , mental or emotional, our body physiologically responds. Overtime when we bump into these challenges our bodily response becomes a habit or reaction.. As we know not all habits we have are helpful , or indeed healthy!
The Age Well Classes provide you with the opportunity and space to observe these embodied habits. What we become aware of, we are in control of, what we are not aware of is in control of us. By shining the light of awareness, we discover we have choices as to how our body reponds to those physical, emotional, and mental challenges.
Many who undertake the Age Well Yoga Programme, will have some kind of pain, stiffness, weakness and some a sense of not being able to do what they used to be able to do. Some may will feel stuck and looking for ways to become unstuck. What used to work in our younger years may not be working now..
Learning to age well is complex. It will require solutions on several different levels, and most importantly will be unique to each individual. There is not a one size fits all. Becoming more in tune with your body can be a great starting point, and used as a weather vane in helping to navigate your way through your ageing process.
This year I am going to continue to develop and grow the Age Well Mindful Yin Yoga Programme. As previously, I will be teaching in five week blocks based on the chinese five elements and their associated meridians. The movement and lengthening programme will be incorporating elements of Adverse Neural Dynamics. The Yin postures will develop a theme of self compassion in part through the sense of touch. The cornerstones that underpin the above will be breathwork , body awareness, energy flow and core strength and connectivity.
Each class will be accompanied by a related blog and a pre-recording of the class in case the internet goes down during the live session. The blog is particulary useful in engaing the broader issues which surround ageing well, such as diet, social connectivity, sleep etcetc.
Those who are new to the class will be able to get an overview of what to expect, so they can start to get up to speed before starting the programme. I have prepared blogs and a short video to accompany the following topics : -Breathwork, Movement and lengthening, Yin Postures, strength and energy work.
Finally, I look forward to working with you over the course of the next year.
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