11th June - free activities in the park for all of you!!!

Good morning my lovely yoga, pilates and tai chi friends!

Today is a very busy day for us!

If you are a member in Bannatyne's gym in Luton, I might see you for bootcamp @9am (soon!!!) followed by pilates @10am and yoga @11am.

If you are not a member and you want to do some classes with me today - FOR FREE!! - come to Discovery Centre in Stockwood Park - if you want to join me for luch, I'll be there eating around 12.30pm, we will start our Tai Chi Get Together just after we all finish our nice meals. We will finish Tai Chi around 3.30 and we will start pilates @4pm - we will finish pilates few minutes sooner and instead of cooling down and meditation we will make our way out from Discovery Centre, as they will be cloing at that point, to meet all the ones who will join us for yoga - if you want to do yoga with me, we are meeting @5pm in front of the Discovery Centre entrance and find our little place for our practice :)

Well, it sounds amazing, plus the sun is out there and the weather, once again, should be there for us!

I will see you soon :)

Namaste!

Eka Pada Koundinyasana II (“Flying Splits”) Step by Step

Eka pada koundinyasana II (pose dedicated to the sage Koundinya II) is a split-legged arm balance that is sometimes dubbed "flying splits" as it resembles a front split hovering away from the floor.

This challenging asana has become a staple in many vinyasa classes:

"From downward facing dog, inhale, lift the right leg up; exhale, knee to chest; inhale, back to three-legged dog; exhale, bring your right knee to your upper right arm, and—if you want—you can take it into eka pada koundinyasana II."

Sounds familiar? 

Like with many arm balances, maintaining a chaturanga - like arm position is essential for a safe, sustainable eka pada koundinyasana II. As you practice chaturanga, pay special attention to keeping the fronts of your shoulders lifted away from the floor (they should remain as high as, or higher than, your elbows as you lower), and staying broad through your collarbones and chest. 

The initial flying splits setup described below starts with a lizard variation and moves into a "leg over arm lunge" (sometimes called "airplane lunge" if you extend both of your arms out to the side like "wings"), making poses like these especially useful preps.

Poses like these are great for learning to work your leg up over your arm too, and will also help to prepare your hips for eka pada koundinyasana II.

And other poses that stretch the hamstrings, like utthita hasta padangusthasana, supta padangushthasana, and hanumanasana. 

This variation provides you with another great way to stretch your hamstrings, and gives you a chance to practice walking your front foot forward at a diagonal (like you will in your peak pose) from a more stable position, making a shape that's likely more similar to the shape you'll make when you're airborne than a traditional split is. 

If you (or your students) are facing similar frustrations with eka pada koundinyasana II, or if you're just looking to more deeply explore and refine your "flying splits," you might find the following step-by-step breakdown to be useful. And while there are certainly those who will prefer the three-legged dog transition, or find it to be easier initially, you may even (like me) discover that after playing with coming into the pose via lunge for a while, incorporating it into your vinyasas (via the three-legged-dog transition) seems a lot more accessible!

How to to it

• Come into a lunge with your right foot forward, and bring both of your hands to the inside of your front foot. 
• Lift your back thigh (especially your back inner thigh) up toward the sky and sink your front thigh down and forward. Stretch your legs apart from each other like you're stretching your mat in two as you reach your chest (not your chin!) forward, leading with the sternum like you would in warrior III, so that the weight of the upper body begins to balance out the weight of the hips.
• This is where you work your right shoulder under your leg (just like you would for the deep lunge or "airplane lunge" variation mentioned earlier). Some people find it helpful to walk the right foot a little more to the right for this, but personally, I find that walking the foot a little more toward the left (so it's more toward the center of my mat) helps me to feel more stable coming into the pose, and to work my arm under my leg more easily. Experiment with both and see what works best for you. 
• Then, to work your leg under: Lift your right heel up off of the floor (like you're wearing a shoe with a high heel); bring your right hand to the back of your calf, and lift the flesh of your calf up. Then move your right thigh back (out toward the right) to make space to work your shoulder under. Continue to work these actions: calf up, thigh back, shoulder under, until you get to the point where your shoulder is as "under" as it's going to get! 
• Once you've worked your arm under your leg, lower your right heel back down, and plant your hands on the floor (on either side of your front leg; think chaturanga arms here). Broaden through your collarbones and lift the fronts of your shoulders up away from the floor. 
• Start to walk your right foot forward at a diagonal, toward the upper right corner of your mat. Then, lift your right heel up off of the floor, and see if you can inch your right foot forward (at that same diagonal) a little more. Then, see if you can spread your toes and lift your entire foot up off of the floor! Keep your elbows bent, your collarbones broad, and your gaze slightly forward.
• With your right foot lifted and your right leg extended, start to shift your weight a little more forward to come high up onto your left toes (keep your collarbones broad and maintain chaturanga arms), and, using your toes like a lever or a seesaw, shift your shoulders and chest forward, and see if you can lift your back foot off of the floor too. You'll have to "negotiate" your weight as you shift forward and back a bit, perhaps eventually finding the "sweet spot" where both feet can hover away from the floor. Until then, hopping up and down on your back foot is totally fine! Keep the fronts of your shoulders lifted, level, and not dipping below your elbows. Spread your toes and stretch out through both legs with your gaze slightly forward. 
• Return your back foot to the floor, then step back to downward facing dog. Take a few resting breaths, then repeat on the other side. 

Don't be surprised if one side differs wildly from the other! Once I learned to hover both legs off the floor on the right side, it took me some time before I could do the same thing on the left side! If you too discover that one side is considerably more challenging than the other, try starting with your "harder" side the next time that you practice this pose. This can help to ensure that you spend just as much time (if not a little more) on the side that could use a little more attention. 

Balance out your practice with a few favorite backbends, like shalabhasana (locust) variations, dhanurasana (bow pose), setu bandha (bridge pose), or urdhva dhanurasna (upward facing bow/wheel). From there choose one or two grounding finishing poses, like a simple forward bend variation of pigeon, or a figure four stretch before settling into a blissful shavasana!

Namaste!

ALL changes from September :)

September 2015 is going to be the most interesting month - nearly everything changes in my life... 

I have lived with my friends more than 3 years in a beautiful big house and we used to be like a big family. Time has passed, people changed and it is time to move towards something new, better, brighter, happier :)

So I am in a process of moving to a nice flat and I will have an awesome space to practice my yoga :D 

Also, because I am teaching more and more, my time is precious and I need to plan my timetable to be the most sufficient so I can do my best all the time, in all classes :) 

I know the changes are not great for everyone, but I hope I did my best to arrange the classes so most of you can make them. 

Here is my timetable from SEPTEMBER with all the changes:

Monday
11.30am Fitness Yoga Hitchin
12.30pm Tai Chi Hitchin
6pm Pilates Tiddenfoot
8pm Power Yoga Dunstable LC

Tuesday
11.15am Pilates Venue360
12.15pm LBT Venue 360
6.15pm Yoga TruGym
7.30pm Pilates DLL

Wednesday
8pm Yoga Pure Gym only till 14th September, after the class will be on Thursday at 8.15pm

Thursday
7pm Yoga DLL
8.15pm Yoga Pure Gym - from 14th September

Friday
9.30am Yoga DLL
5.30pm Pilater TruGym
6.30pm Yoga Bannatyne's Luton
7.50pm Fitness Yoga Houghton Regis LC

Saturday
9.30am Hatha Yoga Hitchin
10.30am Tai Chi Hitchin
5pm Yoga Bannatyne's Luton

Sunday
10am Pilates Bannatyne's Luton
11.15am Yoga Bannatyne's Luton
4pm Pilates Dunstable LC
5pm Yoga Dunstable LC

Let´s Yoga in the Park - DLC Power yoga

Today was a great day - we had beautiful weather, I had 3 classes outdoors out of 4, a pretty good statistics :) The last class was in Dunstable Leisure centre and we moved to the park right in front of the BBC radio :P and Gary Cooper :P I really enjoyed this class, we had a great sunset with many warriors, it was a quiet challenging class - well done everyone! And thank you for going outside and for letting me take the pictures :) 

Join us for yoga in DLC on Mondays @8pm and Sunday @5pm!!!

Let´s YOGA today! 21st June 2015

The weather surprised us today and we celebrated the first ever International Yoga Day on the sun in Stockwood Park :) I was well happy when so many of you turned up - thank you all for joining this great outdoor session! 

Here are some pictures:

Is Vinyasa Yoga for You?

Vinyasa yoga, in which movement is synchronized to the breath, is a term that covers a broad range of yoga classes. This style is sometimes also called flow yoga, because of the smooth way that the poses run together and become like a dance. The breath becomes an important component because the teacher will instruct you to move from one pose to the next on an inhale or an exhale. Vinyasa is literally translated from Sanskrit as meaning "connection,". In terms of yoga asana, we can interpret this as a connection between movement and breath.

A cat-cow stretch is an example of a very simple vinyasa, because the spine is arched on an inhale and rounded on an exhale. A sun salutation sequence is an example of a more complex vinyasa. Each movement in the series is done on an inhalation or an exhalation.

This style allows for a lot of variety, but will almost certainly include sun salutations. Expect movement, not just stretching. Whether the class is fast or slow, includes chanting, or is very alignment-oriented will depend on the individual teacher. Some very popular yoga styles, such as Ashtanga and Power Yoga, make use of the vinyasa method, but they are most often called by their individual names for the sake of clarity.

When vinyasa is used as a noun, it describes a series of three poses that are done as part of a sun salutation sequence. When the teacher says, "go through the vinyasa at your own pace," she means do plank, chaturanga, and upward facing dog.

Is Vinyasa Yoga for You?

Vinyasa’s strength is in its diversity. There is no single philosophy, rulebook, or sequence that teachers must follow, so there is a lot of room for individual personalities and quirks to come through. This makes it essential that you find a teacher you enjoy and can relate to. If your first flow class doesn’t rock your world, keep trying different teachers. If you like having things a little loose and unpredictable and like to keep moving, this style is definitely worth a try.

Timetable 9/6 - 15/6 2014

New week - here´s the new timetable (without the private classes)

We are still doing the TWISTS :)

Monday

11.30am Fitness Yoga Hitchin
1pm HRLC Pilates cover
6pm Pilates Leighton Buzzard LC
8pm Power Yoga Dunstable LC

Tuesday

7.30pm Pilates DLL

Wednesday

6pm Tai Chi Hitchin

Thursday

10.40am Yoga cover Dunstable LC
7pm Hatha Yoga DLL
8.30pm Fitness Yoga HRLC

Friday

9.30am Hatha Yoga DLL
10.50am Pilates cover HRLC
5.30pm Power Yoga Storm Gym

Saturday

9.30am Hatha Yoga Hitchin
10.30am Ta Chi Hitchin
12.30pm Power Yoga Dunstable LC
13.30pm Anti Natal Yoga Dunstable LC

Sunday

10am Pilates Bannatyne´s Luton
12pm Pilates cover DL Stevenage

Let's Twist

Twisting Poses will help restore your spine's natural range of motion, cleanse your organs, and stimulate circulation. 

Try asking some nonyogis what they think happens in a yoga class, and at least one will answer that people get "all twisted up like a pretzel." In fact, we yogis do twist a lot in a well-rounded yoga practice: We twist while sitting, standing, and standing on our heads. Because there is such an intriguing variety of twists, you might guess that twists provide an abundance of benefits. And they do. There are physiological benefits to the circulatory system and internal organs, structural benefits to the musculoskeletal system, and focusing benefits to your consciousness.

Indian yoga master B.K.S. Iyengar describes twists as a "squeeze-and-soak" action: The organs are compressed during a twist, pushing out blood filled with metabolic by-products and toxins. When we release the twist, fresh blood flows in, carrying oxygen and the building blocks for tissue healing. So from the physiological standpoint, twists stimulate circulation and have a cleansing and refreshing effect on the torso organs and associated glands. 

Yoga twists involve the spine, as well as several major joints, including the hips and shoulders. In fact, full range of motion in spinal rotation is essential to many yoga poses. Unfortunately, many people lose full spinal rotation in the course of living a sedentary lifestyle. Some losses can occur if joints fuse due to trauma, surgery, or arthritis, but most range of motion loss comes from the shortening of soft tissues. If you don't lengthen the muscles, tendons, ligaments, and fascia (connective tissues) to their full length at least a few times a week, they will gradually shorten and limit the nearby joint's mobility. In the case of twisting, the limitation is usually in soft tissues around the spine, abdomen, rib cage, and hips. If you regularly practice yoga twists, there are some clear benefits to these same joints and soft tissues. Not only do you maintain the normal length and resilience of the soft tissues, but you also help to maintain the health of the discs and facet joints (the small pair of joints on the back of the spine where each two vertebrae overlap).

Bank Holiday Power Yoga in Dunstable

And again, the Monday class was cancelled, so we decided we will have it - in the park just outside Gary Cooper. It was 6 of us, plus husbands and kids :) and we had good fun, we had a great session, the pictures were just perfect and the hot chocolate was the best finish of the class :) We should do it AGAIN!!! 

Thanks everyone for coming down and practicing with me! :)