HATHA YOGA is physical yoga in its many forms & styles. It was developed to prepare the body to sit in meditation comfortably for extended periods of time. It is not a religion, but rather a way of life that integrates the body, mind and spirit. If practiced regularly, yoga calms the mind and creates balance in our lives.
Classes are designed to relieve stress, improve posture, tone muscles, increase flexibility and develop body awareness through physical postures and breathing techniques.
Breath is the key to our practice. We inhale & exhale through the nose. Deep, slow diaphragmatic (rib cage) breathing allows our body and mind to release and relax into the physical postures. We refine our bodies and calm our minds from the inside out.
Yoga is non-competitive and teaches us to honour our bodies and live fully in the present moment.
Every class begins with a 10 -minute centering and ends with a 10-minute relaxation. This time is equally as important as the physical postures because the centering prepares our bodies and minds, while the relaxation integrates all that we have done.
People who take up Yogic breathing may be surprised to find superfluous fat melting away from the waistline, hips and other places where it is prone to gather. It seems likely that the link between breathing and burning up foodstuffs for energy partly explains this result. Pranayama improves metabolic efficiency.
The combined practice of asanas and pranayama also fosters a muscular feeling (kinesthesis) that finds the physical effects of overeating uncomfortable and somewhat reprehensible. This too has a bearing on the way Hatha Yoga slims and reshapes the figure. The postures also break up fatty deposits and streamline the body.