Ashtanga Yoga Weekend Workshop

The Saturday focuses on breath, bandhas and drishti -- how to use 'the breath as a muscle' as I often say in class, how to harness your core energy locks so that your movements are stronger but lighter, and the different points that you direct your gaze depending on which posture you are in. Learning to bring these three fundamental techniques together is key to developing a deeper, stronger, more focused practice that allows you to shut out external distractions and focus more inwardly on your own experience of the posture. It's these experiences that teach us about ourselves, our fears, and how to overcome our perceived limitations and push the boundaries of what we can achieve both on the mat, and off the mat in everyday life.

On Sunday the focus will be on opening the front of the body to facilitate deeper backbends. Most of you are working towards being able to lift up into the full backbend (urdhva dhanurasana) at the end of the primary series practice. We will work through techniques that strengthen the spine and open the shoulders so that you can begin to learn this posture safely. And of course, it will be a fantastic opportunity to put into practice what you have learned the previous day, and to see how combining the fundamentals of breath, drishti (gaze), and bandhas (core energy locks) make lifting up into 'difficult' poses lighter and easier than just using physical effort.

Both days will start with a led practice in the traditional Sanksrit count, and we will end with some chanting and pranyama (seated breathing techniques).

You do have the option of just attending one day -- I appreciate that weekends are busy times.

You can contact me on this email address or phone me on 07723000678 to make a booking.
Anyone who's not familiar with the story of my own introduction to yoga, or who would like to read a little more about the philosophy behind Ashtanga Yoga, can look up my website:
www.newflameyoga.co.uk