Houghton Regis Leisure Centre

Houghton Regis Leisure Centre
Parkside Drive, Houghton Regis, LU5 5PY

8 Nov             @10:45                 Pilates
13 Nov           @ 8pm                  Pilates
14 Nov           @8.30pm              Fitness Yoga

A beautiful day out in Ashridge Forest

Ashridge is at its best in Autumn - and Autumn is my favorite season, anyway. Visiting in the coming weeks will bring you face-to-face with nature's very own fireworks as the ancient trees turn gold. Don´t forget to bring a camera with you and do some Yoga Poses, if you can - it is great fun! :)

Warrior III

Warrior III / Virabhadrasana III

(veer-ah-bah-DRAHS-anna)

Virabhadra = “warrior” the name of a reincarnation of Shiva

 

1. From Virabhadrasana Prep. Bend forward from the waist and bend your right or front knee shifting your weight to your right leg.

2. When you are balanced, lift your left or back foot off the ground and keep leaning forward and straightening your right leg.

3. Stop when your left leg, torso and arms are parallel to the ground and your right leg supports your weight and is perfectly straight.  Be careful not to raise your left buttock.  Keep your pelvis, torso and shoulders square to the ground and your back left toes pointed.

4. Find a spot on the ground to focus to help improve balance, or look straight ahead at your thumbs.

5. Maintain the pose and release, practice the other side.

Benefits
-Improved balance and posture
-Strengthens ankles, legs and abs
-Stretches back and shoulders

Cautions
-High Blood pressure
-Vertigo

Beginner Tips
Do not allow the torso to swing forward as you lift up as this will throw off the center of balance
Be careful to keep the hip bones parallel to the floor

 

Choose a class that fits you the best

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Private tuition

For private tuition contact me on my mobile number: 07766 873 666 or email: alengova@gmail.com.

Fee for one hour of Private tuition is ​​ £30.​

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​Group classes

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​Harpers Fitness at Dunstable Leisure Centre

(Court Drive,Dunstable, Bedfordshire, LU5 4JD)

Fee - £5,35 (paid at the Reception)

Monday          8pm - 9pm                    Power Yoga

Thursday       10:50am - 11:50am       Hatha Yoga

Thursday       12pm - 1pm                  Yoga for Healthy Precnancy

David Lloyds Gym and Fitness Centre Luton 

Plot 910 Capability Green Luton, LU1 3LU

Thursday       7pm - 7:55pm                Hatha Yoga*

Friday            9:30am - 10:25am         Hatha Yoga*

*I teach these classes till Christmas 2013

Outdoor Yoga (ussually held in Stockwood on Memorial Park in Luton)

You can find more info about the days and times of Outdoor Yoga Classes here:

Where do I cover Classes

David Lloyds Gym and Fitness Centre Luton 

Plot 910 Capability Green Luton, LU1 3LU

 Covered classes

Luton Bannatyne Health & Fitness

1 Regent St  Luton, Bedford LU1 5FA

Covered classes

Tiddenfoot Leisure Centre
Mentmore Road, Leighton Buzzard, LU7 2AF

Covered classes

Houghton Regis Leisure Centre
Parkside Drive, Houghton Regis, LU5 5PY

Types of Classes

Power Yoga

Power yoga is a general term used in the West to describe a vigorous, fitness-based approach to vinyasa-style yoga. Though many consider it to be "gym yoga," this style of practice was originally closely modeled on the Ashtanga method. The term came into common usage in the mid 1990s, in an attempt to make Ashtanga yoga more accessible to western students, though, unlike Ashtanga, power yoga does not follow a set series of poses, so classes can vary widely. With its emphasis on strength and flexibility, power yoga brought yoga into the gyms of America, as people began to see yoga as a way to work out.

Is Power Yoga for You?

Though power yoga classes can vary widely from teacher to teacher, they will most likely appeal to people who are already quite fit, enjoy exercising, and want a minimal amount of chanting and meditation with their yoga. Prepare to work hard!

Hatha Yoga​​

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Hatha Yoga describes any of the physical practices of yoga. (Remember that yoga has eight limbs, only one of which, asana, involves doing yoga poses.) When you do Iyengar, this is hatha yoga; when you do Ashtanga, as different as this may seem, it is hatha yoga too. Hatha means forceful in Sanskrit, according to Ellen Stansell, PhD, RYT, a scholar of yogic literature and Sanskrit. The physical yoga postures must have seemed forceful compared to the other more subtle practices that were in use at the time that hatha emerged.

These days, hatha is most often used to describe gentle, basic classes with no flow between poses. A hatha class will likely be a slow-paced stretching class with some simple breathing exercises and perhaps seated meditation.  This is a good place to learn beginners' poses, relaxation techniques, and become comfortable with yoga. 

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Is Hatha Yoga for You?

Many people try a hatha class and love the relaxed feeling, others decide that yoga is too slow and meditative for them. If you fall in the later category, try Power Yoga next time for a completely different experience.

Yoga for Healthy Pregnancy​

Yoga can help women get through their pregnancy with minimal discomfort. It also helps the birth and post-delivery stages.

Independent midwife Manijeh Nedas says: 'In my experience, I believe that yoga plays a very important role in pregnancy. Generally, pregnant mums who do yoga exercises appear healthier, both in mind and body. Their bodies are more flexible, which enables them to adapt to various positions when in labour and the ligaments are more elastic, which in turn can help to reduce labour pain.'

Andrea Fox, an antenatal yoga teacher in Sommerset, says that yoga classes help to boost circulation and also help with fluid retention. The stretching exercises relieve aches and pains.

Posture is also improved by yoga and this can help ease back problems, which are common in pregnant women. She adds: 'Yoga helps to prepare for the birth - it encourages breath and body awareness, reduces worry and teaches women to adapt to new situations.'

And yoga continues to have benefits after pregnancy, too. Postnatal yoga, which can be started about six weeks after the birth, strengthens abdominal muscles and your pelvic floor. It also helps you to get back to your pre-pregnancy shape faster.

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​Outdoor Yoga Classes

Escape the stressful hustle and bustle of the city by stretching, breathing and relaxing joining our outdoor yoga class in Luton´s beautiful Stockwood Park. This classes highlight both the physical, mental and wellbeing benefits that yoga can bring to an individual and in turn how it can create a stronger sense of community. Yoga can also be fun, inspiring, incredibly beneficial and accessible to everyone, regardless of age or level of fitness.The session lasts for an hour. These Outdoor Yoga classes are open to all, join us at Stockwood Park, off Farley Hill, Luton, LU1 5NR at the first car park on right as you come in to the entrance of the Park. Cost is £5 per person.

Yoga was (and is) traditionally practiced outdoors in India. But it is usually sequestered inside yoga studios in the other countries, most likely because its popularity began in urban centers, where finding outdoor practice spaces can be a challenge.

But in the last couple of years, many studios and individual teachers have begun bringing their asanas back outdoors again. And plenty of practitioners have taken their individual practices to their backyards, local beaches, parks and even mountaintops post-hike. 

I do most of the yoga I do these days outdoors (well, at least in late spring, summer and autumn), as I value the time I spend enjoying the open air and sky, and I think that it's actually easier to focus on my practice when I'm immersed in nature. I'm lucky enough to live near a huge park.

Some TIPS for Outdoor Yoga Classes:

Bring extra water

If you are used to getting through class without water, reconsider if you are practicing outside. It may very well be warmer or more humid outside compared to even an un-air-conditioned studio space. And take a larger bottle of agua than you might need; it's always best to have extra, especially if there is a hike or walk to the space you will be practicing. 

Bring a hand towel

It's always a good idea to have a towel to clear off sweat, but outdoors, you may get damper (see above) and you also might want to wipe sand, earth or dew from your body.

Remember the wind

When we practice indoors, wind is not an element that we have to contend with. Outdoors, it can bring a wonderful sense of cool and refreshment (not to mention the beautiful aural enjoyment of the wind through trees' leaves). But it can also blow hair or any loose clothing around. As long as you are prepared for this inevitability, you'll have a good time. 

You might get interrupted

I find that my best yoga practices have taken place outdoors, but that doesn't mean that interruptions don't exist. Weather can change, friendly dogs can approach you with wagging tails. Most of the time, it will be a great experience, but keep in mind that you are outside, and that when you do yoga outdoors, you are part of nature's dynamic system, which never stops moving.

Bugs!

I've never had a problem with insects (other than biting mosquitos) while doing anything outdoors, including yoga. I find that people who are the most anxious about bugs tend to attract them, so realizing that they are just part of the balance of the system — and have little to no interest in you — may help you focus on what you are doing, rather than what's flying around you. Some lavender oil rubbed on pulse points will keep most insects at bay, and keep scented hair products and moisturizers to a minimum so that local bugs won't be encouraged to come check you out and stick around. 

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Outdoor Yoga Classes

Half Moon Pose

Half Moon Pose / Ardha Chandrasana

(are-dah shan-dras-ana)

ardha=half
Chandra=moon

1. Begin by standing in Tadasana Mountain pose and take a big left step back and align your hips parallel with the side wall. Spin your back left heel in at a 45 degree angle and keep your right foot pointed forward. Keep the front heel in line to the inside arch of the back foot.  Extend your arms out to the side. Variation: Practice against a wall to help with alignment and balance.

2. Exhale and bend your right knee shifting all your weight to the right leg. Shift forward and lift your left leg off the floor. Flex your foot and keep your toes pointed to the side. Raise your leg so that it is approximately parallel with the floor. Simultaneously tip from the waist and reach your fingertips down to the floor keeping your shoulders stacked upon one another reach your left arm into the sky.

3. Continue rotating your chest open and keep your hip bones open to the side wall. Gaze up at your hand in the sky. Variation: To make this pose easier, gaze down at the floor to help you balance.

4. Maintain this pose for up to one minute and carefully lower the back leg down to exit the pose. Practice the same steps as outlined above but switch legs.

 

Benefits
-Helps to improve balance
-Aids in digestion
-Strengthens quadriceps, ankles, spine and glutes
-Stretches out hamstrings, abdominals, shoulders

Cautions
-Migraine
-Neck injury
-Low blood pressure

Lord of the Dance Pose I / Natarajasana I

Lord of the Dance Pose I / Natarajasana I

(not-ah-raj-AHS-anna)

Nata = actor, dancer or mime
Raja = king

1.  From Tadasana bend your right leg and grab the bottom of your right foot with your right hand. Make sure your left leg is straight and solid lifting your kneecap up.

2.  Pull your right leg up until your thigh is parallel to the floor and your left arm is in front for balance parallel to the floor.

3.  At this point reach back with your left hand and grab onto the inside of your right foot.  Next release your right hand and bring it up around the front over your head and grab onto the outside of your right foot.  Keep your elbows close to the side of your head pointing up toward the ceiling your right thigh remaining parallel to the floor. Gaze upward.

4. From here shift your gaze to the front of the room and start to shift your weight forward lifting your right foot with your hands until your toes are above the crown of your head.

Benefits
-Stretches your thighs, groins, abdomen, shoulders and chest
-Stimulates abdominal organs and lungs
-Strengthens your legs
-Improves balance and posture

Cautions
-Do not perform if you have a back, knee, neck or shoulder injury
-Do not perform if you have low blood pressure

Warrior II / Virabhadrasana II

Warrior II / Virabhadrasana II

(veer-ah-bah-DRAHS-anna)

Virabhadra = “warrior” the name of a reincarnation of Shiva

1. From Tadasana lunge forward with your right leg bending your knee so that it is on top of your right ankle. Your back leg remains straight and your left heel pushes backward so that your left foot is on a 45-degree angle with your toes pointing toward your core.  Push into the ground with the out side of your foot.

2. Your right heel should be in line with the arch of your left foot, which will pivot your pelvis so that it is facing sideways.  Turn your torso to face sideways as well and lift your arms so that they are parallel with the floor and in line with your legs.

3. Turn your head so you are looking forward over your right hand.  Make sure that your belly button is pulled in toward your spine and that your shoulder blades remain down your back.

Benefits

- Stretches your legs, ankles, groins, chest and shoulders

- Strengthens your legs and skeletal structure

- Stimulates organs in your abdomen

- Relieves back aches

Cautions

-Do not perform if you have a neck injury

-Do not perform if you have high blood pressure