Therapeutic Yoga Workshops

 

These therapeutic yoga workshops are a wonderful opportunity to explore your health and wellbeing in much greater depth. Aiming to educate and inform whilst drawing upon the latest medical research and neuroscience, we’ll use tried and tested yoga breathing practices, physical postures, mindfulness and meditation, to equip and empower you with practical tips, tools and techniques that will help in daily life, promoting optimum health and wellbeing

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How to book

Booking is essential for all workshops. Payment can be made by bank transfer or cheque. Any cancellations within one week of the event cannot be refunded.

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Upcoming workshops 2022

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Yoga Nidra for Mental Health - monthly (August, September, October, November 2022)

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       'Hi Sammie, I just wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed and benefited from the yoga nidra on Tuesday.

                                              I felt so deeply relaxed and I slept really well that night'

                                                                                                                       Yoga Nidra Client, June 2022.

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Yoga Nidra is a guided deep relaxation. Translated as ‘Yogic sleep’, it is described as a ‘liminal state’, an in-between space between deep sleep and wakefulness. In this state the practitioner may experience a sense of spaciousness, timelessness, pure awareness and a sense of being able to let go of the everyday. The conscious mind subsides but a level of awareness remains, promoting complete mental, emotional and physical relaxation.

 

Benefits of Yoga Nidra for mental health include:

 

• Relaxation – When suffering from a mental health condition, a person can often be in a chronic sympathetic state i.e. in a constant state of high alert, in fight or flight mode. Yoga Nidra decreases the sympathetic nervous system and increases parasympathetic dominance, providing relief from the symptoms of arousal, anxiety & depression. It promotes increased feelings of comfort, relaxation and a sense of calm and peace

• Lifts mood – Research has shown that levels of dopamine (a ‘feel good’ hormone), increase during Yoga Nidra. When suffering from a mental health issue, particularly stress, anxiety or depression, dopamine levels (and therefore your mood), tend to be low. By increasing this ‘feel good’ hormone, it helps to lift mood

• Provides respite from a busy mind – For many people Yoga Nidra can provide a break from a constantly ruminating mind. Yoga Nidra is a guided task-orientated relaxation, which is fast enough to keep even the most racing mind occupied

• Promotes better mental focus – A common result of suffering from anxiety or depression is often an inability to focus the mind. When practicing Yoga Nidra, practitioners are able to occupy and focus their minds on specific tasks throughout the practice, encouraging concentration and focus

• Encourages mindfulness – Our minds tend to constantly dart all over the place, to the past, present or future. When suffering from stress, anxiety or depression this is intensified and it can be incredibly difficult to move away from catastrophizing thoughts of the future or living in the past. In Yoga Nidra the attention it brings to different parts of the body increases awareness and mindfulness. Remember your body is only ever in the present moment, so by focusing upon this you are practicing present moment awareness….mindfulness!

 

Other benefits of Yoga Nidra include reduced blood pressure and reduced tension in the body.

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When: Tuesday 21st June, Thursday 25th August, Thursday 29th September, Thursday 27th October, Thursday 24th November

Time: 7:30pm - 8:15pm

Where: Online via Zoom

Cost: £12 payable in advance

Also includes an audio recording of the relaxation so that you can use it for home practice.

 

Precautions

Please note that the practice of Yoga Nidra is not suitable if you suffer from low blood pressure, Schizophrenia or have psychotic symptoms.

 

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Workshops 2021

Thursday 28th January - Yoga Nidra for Mental Health

 

 

Workshops 2020

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Saturday 26th September - Therapeutic Yoga Workshop for Respiratory Health

In the current climate taking care of your respiratory health has never been more important. This workshop will bring awareness to your own habitual breathing patterns and examine ways in which to optimise your breath. Evidence based yoga postures and breathing techniques will be used to help build respiratory strength, increase lung capacity and oxygenation.

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Informative handouts and suggested homework practices will be provided so that you can look after your respiratory health on an on-going basis.

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When: Saturday 26th September 2020, 9:30am – 11:30am

Where: Online
Cost: £30 payable in advance

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Friday 6th November 2020 - Therapeutic Yoga for promoting a better night’s sleep

Sleep is a vital resource. It gives the body and mind time to restore and replenish, a time for psychological and physiological processing and revitalisation. For increasing numbers of people, sleep has become elusive or problematic and poor quality sleep can contribute to a whole host of imbalances in both our physical and mental health.

 This 2 hour workshop will examine how to reclaim healthy sleep and exercise good sleep hygiene via yoga techniques and practices. Specifically we will look at the following ways to prepare your body for restful sleep:

 

·Yoga movements/postures to release physical tension

·Yoga breathing and relaxation techniques which will encourage the nervous system to switch on the ‘relaxation response’, calming a busy mind

 

Informative handouts & suggested homework practices will be provided

  

When: Friday 6th November 2020, 7pm – 9pm
Where: Online
Cost: £30 payable in advance

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Thursday 17th December 2020 - The Koshas Workshop

The Koshas, (literally translated as sheaths), are part of yogic philosophy which believes that each human being is more than just a physical body and in fact consists of five different layers, (also called bodies). Each of the five layers are interconnected and in order to obtain optimum health and wellbeing each layer of the Koshas needs to be in balance.

 

The five different layers of the body are considered to be:

• The Physical body

• The Energy body

• The Mind/emotional body

• The Wisdom body

• The Bliss body

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The koshas are often compared to the layers of an onion. The physical body is the outer layer, traveling inwards through more subtle layers of energy, emotion and thought (wisdom), we reach the centre or soul where lies the elusive experience of bliss.

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The Koshas are used in Yoga Therapy as a tool within which we can explore each of the five layers and how they interact, giving us an idea of where there is balance or imbalance. This provides a holistic lens through which to view yourself in your entirety, allowing consideration and reflection of all aspects of your life/lifestyle in the service of promoting health and wellbeing.

 

In this workshop you will be guided through a Kosha exercise which will focus upon each of the five different layers of the body. Upon completion it will provide you with a comprehensive list of helpful/unhelpful behaviours in regards to your overall health and wellbeing, identifying what can be cultivated and/or changed.

 

The Kosha exercise will be followed by a guided deep relaxation, ‘Journey through the Koshas’.

Equipment needed: Plenty of pens and paper. Yoga mat for the relaxation.

Informative handouts will be provided.

 

When: Thursday 17th December 2020 from 7:30pm-9pm

Where: Online via Zoom
Cost: £15 payable in advance

 

 

 

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