Is Movement & Nutrition’s Yoga Practice right for you?
This page will help you answer that question. Because the perfect yoga practice isn’t the same for everyone.
But first a question for you. Why are you interested in practising yoga? As you read this page, please keep that question in mind.
What is Yoga?
Yoga is an ancient philosophy with its roots firmly planted in ancient eastern soils. One of its defining texts is Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra. Patanjali describes a path to a meaningful life with eight “limbs” or steps. The final step is Samadhi or enlightenment.
Asanas, the postures practised in Yoga, are the third step in the journey. Their purpose is to prepare the body for meditation. But there are no clear instructions. Neither from Patanjali or any of the other ancient texts. The truth is most of the yoga poses practised today are less than 100 years old. And they owe more to gymnastics and calisthenics than ancient yoga texts.
Modern yoga asana practice has splintered and diversified into a mindboggling choice of styles to suit today’s exercise marketplace. And if you know what you’re looking for, that’s a good thing. You’re sure to find a yoga style to match your needs.
Still, a word of caution. Some teachers and schools use the origins of Yoga to make health claims based in pseudo-eastern mysticism, not science. Practising yoga does have many proven health benefits. But none are unique to Yoga. And those that don’t have scientific proof to support them? Well…
Movement & Nutrition’s Yoga Practice
I am a Yoga Alliance registered yoga teacher. I was introduced to yoga at 20 years old. But my journey to becoming a Yoga teacher took over 30 years.
I only practise and teach yoga asanas and sequences of asanas. And my style is most closely aligned with BKS Iyengar. But it’s heavily influenced by my background outwith yoga. A background that includes,
- Achieving a 3rd-degree Taekwondo Black belt and teaching this dynamic martial art for over 10 years.
- 15 years of kettlebells training and teaching hardstyle kettlebell training for more than 5 years.
- Teaching movement for injury prevention and recovery in an osteopathic clinic specialising in lower back pain.
- A degree in nutrition that developed my ability to critically assess health science research
The result is a yoga practice that concentrates on developing and maintaining your natural mobility. At the beginning of this page, I asked you “Why are you interested in practising yoga?” Well, this is why I practise and teach yoga.
Because yoga is not the best way to develop absolute strength. Nor is it the best way to increase your cardiovascular fitness. But yoga is extremely effective at combating the negative effects of our modern sedentary environment. It reduces stiffness, improves your posture and increases your mobility. Yoga can help you safely reclaim and retain the natural range of movement you were born with.
Still, many yoga poses that demonstrate impressive mobility don’t actually develop it. And others can be harmful if you’re not born with the right anatomy. Because your anatomy is unique and sets limits on your range of movement in any direction.
As a result, there is no perfect yoga pose. And there’s no perfect alignment in any yoga posture. But there is a perfect alignment for you in the correct asana for your needs.
If you create strength in your centre and stability from the ground up, you develop control at your current end range of movement. Over time you can safely deepen the pose and increase that range until you achieve your true natural mobility.
What you can expect from Movement & Nutrition Yoga Practice
- Yoga taught as a skill to be practised, developed and improved
- A graduated sequence of yoga poses at a level matching your ability and addressing your mobility priorities
- A physically demanding and challenging practice
- A focused practice that clears the mind – there will be no room for other thoughts
- A minimalist focus on the fundamentals that provide the most benefit
- Some more challenging poses that are beneficial, but above all fun!
- The use of breathing to increase focus and create space in the poses
- Homework – yoga poses and routines to practise between sessions
- An improvement in your mobility and core strength
- Reduced joint stiffness
- Improved posture
What you won’t get
- Forceful “assists” to help you achieve the perfect posture
- Unsubstantiated health claims
- Meditation – despite the benefits of meditation, it doesn’t have to be part of your yoga practice
- Savasana or corpse pose to end the practice – you’ll feel good without it
- Spiritual healing
- Talk of chakras or energy flows and vortexes
- Pranayama (breath control) practice
- Enlightenment
So, why are you interested in practising yoga? If the answer is to improve your mobility, your core strength and to be physically challenged, then we should talk.
I teach yoga 1-2-1 or in small groups, but only in person. If you’d like to know more reach out.
Unfortunately, online isn’t the right medium for effective movement teaching. So I don’t offer virtual yoga sessions. I hope you understand.